Date: 2004-07-17
From: North Woodstock, NH

To: Andover, ME
Miles today: 116.2
Weather: light rain

7/10/04 SaturdayIt was still overcast in the morning, but I had to hit the Trail. The climb out of Franconia Notch was steep and long, and when I reached Franconia Ridge, a long stretch of terrain above treeline, the views were all clouded in. There were crowds of people out on the trail, bundled up against the wind and the mist - more people than I've ever seen on the Trail.The summits of Little Haystack Mtn., Lincoln, Lafayette, and Garfield were completely socked in - visibility at ten feet - so I'll have to go back someday and hike here again and see the views I'm missing now.The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) runs huts in the White Mountains, places where people can hike to and use as a base to hike around the Whites. It costs $80 a night to stay in the huts, which includes dinner and breakfast. Of course, no thru-hiker wants to - or can - pay that every night, so the huts offer thru-hikers the chance to work-for-stay at the huts. The first two thru-hikers get the spots, and the work generally consists of sweeping or washing dishes. They can then sleep on the floor of the dining room, and eat any dinner and breakfast leftovers.I reached Galehead Hut and got a work-for-stay spot. After dinner I hung out with the hut croo, and went to bed on the floor in the midst of a noisy Monopoly game played by a group of paying guests.7/11/04 SundayThe Monopoly game lasted a long time, so I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep, but I got up while the guests ate breakfast, and then swept the dining room and the bunk rooms, and then ate all the breakfast leftovers.I headed out later than usual because of the work, but still made good time, and got to Zealand Hut for lunch. I didn't stay long, but set off again. The next section of Trail was along an old railway bed, so it was nice and easy going for a while. I passed through Crawford Notch, a steep down and equally steep up again on the other side.I came to Mizpah Hut late, but once again got a spot to work-for-stay. Each hut is different, and the croos work well together to entertain and educate the guests. The dinner tonight was great, and all vegetarian - stuffed shells and a spicy corn mixture, with fresh-baked bread, adn chocolate cake for dessert. At Mizpah thru-hikers can stay in bunks in the attick - much nicer than the floor of the dining room!7/12/04 MondayI stayed late again to sweep and wash windows in the hut, and got to eat pancakes and cereal until I was full. So even through I started later I had a great store of energy. The hiking day started off badly, though, as I walked a mile and a half south on the AT instead of north.... I finally recognised the Trail that I'd walked eysterday and turned around, but it made me feel stupid.It wasn't too far to Lakes of the Clouds Hut, where I stopped in for water and a snack before ascending Mt. Washington. The summit was crowded with people who had driven up the mountain, or had taken the cog railroad, and they were in a completely different world from me. I went to the snack bar to have an ice cream bar, and a woman asked if I was celebrating finishing my hike. I told her I wasn't finished, that I had another 330 miles to go, and her face just went blank. She couldn't comprehend that. I directed her to the four foot AT map on the wall and left to continue hiking.Down from the summit the Trail crosses the tracks for the cog railroad. It's a thru-hiker tradition to moon the cog railroad, because it belches foul-smelling coal smoke as it rides up and down the mountain. Apparently it's also tradition for the passengers to throw coal at mooning thru-hikers.After hiking along most of the rest of the Presidential range I came to Madison Hut. I asked if there was space for me to work-for-stay, and they told me there were already four people there but that I could stay because I was wearing a kilt - one of the croo also wears a kilt. The hikers there already were Mouth and the Devas [sic]: Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. There was a lot of time before dinner, so we played Boggle and talked, and did some chores around the hut since they were short-staffed and had a big crowd of guests.When it was time for our dinner the croo set a table with dishes for them and us, and we had a sit-down meal, which was very nice. There was plenty to eat, and we talked with the croo for a while. This was the best hut stay, and friendlies croo, I've come across.7/13/04 TuesdayAfter morning chores and as much blueberry coffee cake and Cheerios as I could eat, I set off with the Devas to hike over Mt. Madison and down its ridgeline back to treeline. On the ridge the wind was intense, strong enough to lean against and have it hold me up. It made it hard to place my poles, since the wnid blew them around.We got down to Pinkham Notch and bought a big loaf of bread from the cafe there, and we borrowed a dish of butter, and demolished it. The climb out of the nitch was steep and slow and drizzly. We were starting to get depressed until we started singing Brady Bunch songs.When we got to Carter Notch Hut, we found a huge crowd of thru-hikers there. Since this hut is a self-serve hut, with no dinner or services other than bunks provided, the caretaker let all of us stay for free, and let us use the hut kitchen to cook. There were: Chewey, Tuckleberry Finn, Stumps, Mouth, the Devas, the Wrens, Unfinished, and Rainbow Bright. We all stayed in a separate bunkhouse, and stayed up late talking.7/14/04 WednesdayWith no chores to do, we could get going earlier, and we all gathered in the hut to cook and eat. It was raining, going from a light drizzle to a miserable gusting mist, making the slabs of granite slick and dangerous, and once again (the story of my hike) providing no views at all.The Trail was mostly downhill, heading for Gorham, NH, the last town before Maine. I stopped at the shelter just outside of town so I didn't have to pay for a hostel. There was a beautiful river next to the shelter, with plenty of swimming holes (too bad it was raining), and I managed to wash the worst of the dirt off myself.7/15/04 ThursdayI woke up early so I could go into Gorham to resupply. It was a rainy morning, and it didn't slack off until I was out of town and climbing again. The terrain on this side of the Whites is the most rugged I've seen: large stones, steep ups and downs, sheer rock slabs to climb up or slide down, and the rain doesn't help anything. My usual hiknig pace is around three miles an hour, but on this trail I wasn't even going two miles an hour. Maybe Maine will be harder than I thought.The shelter was a mostly-enclosed structure, with a large open door. It was full of SOBOs (southbound thru-hikers), and they filled me in on the terrain ahead. There were a couple of big groups camped around the shelter, but they didn't make any noise in the night.7/16/04 FridayI woke early so I could make some distance in what I now knew was difficult terrain. I also knew that in five miles I was going to hit Mahoosic Notch, the most difficult mile of the Trail, a jumbled ravine filled with car- and house-sized boulders.When I got to the Notch the temperature dropped considerably, because there's still ice and snow in between the boulders. The Trail wound in, over, around, and through the boulders, often squeezing under caves formed by the rocks. At one point I slipped while climbing, and fell five feet backwards, landing on my rump on a rock,. I scraped all up my left leg, and left myself with a severely bruised gluteous maximus, making it painful to walk and climb - and I still had most of the Notch ahead of me. I went much more slowly, both because of my injury and because the terrain was just plain difficult.Finally I left the Notch, back to warm temperatures, and the "regular" rough terrain and climbs again. After crossing Grafton Notch the trail became smoother again, and the last two miles to the shelter went by much more quickly.7/17/04 SaturdayThe first order of business for today was climbing Baldpate Mtn., so named because its top is made up of huge sloping slabs of granite. Of course it was raining, so the rock was slick, and it was very slow walking across the treacherous footing, testing each step to make sure I wasn't going to slip and fall down the mountain.After Baldpate the trail was smoother (in most places; it still had some good slippery and rough spots), so I was able to make good time to a road crossing to come into Andover, ME, a tiny little town, in order to resupply. I'm staying the night at The Cabin, a hostel that southbounders have been raving about.