Date: 2007-09-13
From: Crawford Notch

To: Mizpah Springs Hut
Miles today: 6.8

September 13, Argh.Happy birthday, Mr. Haley!Rock Dancer picked us up at 8:30 this morning. I'd had a really hard time waking up and just wanted to sleep all day. But it was a beautiful day and I knew we had to take advantage of the weather.We headed to North Conway for the outfitter but when we got there learned it didn't open until 10 a.m. so we went to breakfast at a cafe (the name of which we can't agree on at this moment).I took my broken pack into Ragged Mountain Outfitter to see if they could fix it and reinforce it in places. Luckily, they could do it. The catch? It would take two weeks. Ahh! I was blindsided. I explained my situation and asked if there was any way I could have the pack back today. Rob, the guy who was helping me, said he could take it and run it under the sewing machine for a minute and if I didn't mind it not looking pretty, I could have it back in a half hour. I told him that worked perfectly. I felt so lucky.Melk was still working to fix her broken pole. Somehow Rob magically fixed that too. So we were all set. I tried to offer Rob a tip but he wouldn't accept. There's no way he understood how much he had just helped me. I couldn't carry that pack without him.So we went to resupply and then Rock Dancer dropped us off at the trail. I should mention that without Rock Dancer, none of this would have been possible. Thank you, Rock Dancer!We started hiking around 12:30 p.m., climbing up Mt. Webster immediately. Three hours later, we finished that climb. It was hard and long and we gained somewhere around 3,000 feet. Along the way, we saw a snake feasting on a frog - whoa. We had good views atop Webster and then proceeded up and over Jackson.The day was full of climbing and was very tough. We got to Mizpah Springs Hut around 6:15 p.m. and talked to the crew about work-for-stay. They had no problem with it and even had bunks for us! We had some great leftovers and are sleeing on great bunks. I had to scrub the stove for my work tonight - not too bad.I am very tired. I almost broke my back today but luckily I had my pack on to save me. I had grabbed on to a tree for support as I climbed down but then my foot slipped on a wet rock and I totally fell. I landed on my back, my pack breaking the fall. It freaked me out and I hiked with jelly legs for the next ten minutes. I'm not sure why but my mood went down the drain today as we climbed Webster. The trail is really hard right now and it's slowing us down quite a bit. I'm not convinced that we'll get to Katahdin on time unless we skip something. And, as much as I really am enjoying this, I'm really very ready to go home. I'm tired of worrying about the weather and I'm tired of being in pain. Hopefully this will pass.- Sound of Melk snoring, Ronin writing.Post Trail Thoughts:This was a very pretty day of hiking - too bad I forgot to mention it. We saw Bunkers on the way to the hut. She was on the left side of the trail looking at maps and shuttle schedules. See, a friend had come to visit a few days earlier and they hiked Washington and some of the other trail together. She thought she wanted to remain pure to her hike and re-do it all to assure a linear hike. She was now thinking that was crazy and trying to come up with a plan to shuttle up to where she'd left off. What a riot! It was so nice to have our own space up in the attic of the hut that night. We also got to eat the leftovers and they were delicious!