Date: 2005-08-19
From: stream at mile 1771.6

To: Beaver Brook shelter
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: overcast clouds

There must be some construction site or something close by because we hear heavy trucks stop and then turn. We joke how they are going to get us but they never do. Too bad, that means we have to hike again today. The first five miles are easy and we get to Glencliff just after 10am. You'd think that would be in time for the P.O. but no... they take a four hour lunch break here!!!We almost pass by the Hiker hostel which is the only other thing in Glencliff. I noticed the Hiker Welcome sign but thought people were just being friendly. If I still had the Glencliff page of my guide I would have known that it was the name of the hostel but I lost that page somewhere in Hanover. The hostel guy asks us if we need something and offers us a shuttle to Warren. We go grocery shopping there and have a good breakfast at Calamity Jane's. Hitching back to Glencliff isn't easy but after some walking and thumbing a police car says he'll be back in five minutes. Before that however a local picks us up. We're still too early for the P.O. so hang out for a while checking e-mail and doing some journaling.I have a huge box with my winter gear and am very happy to exchange my summer sleeping bag for my winter one. It's been pretty chilly lately. I also get some of my fleece back. It's hard to say goodbye to my awesome town dress but it's going 'home'. I'm also picking up my stove again just in case it gets really cold and I want something hot to eat.It's after three when we get back on the trail. We have the mighty Whites ahead of us. Mt. Mooselauke is a 3500ft climb. We're not sure we'll make it to the top before dark but we'll try. The guidebook talks about a river ford right after getting back on the trail. We were getting all excited about it. Haven't forded anything in quite a while. We're a little disappointed to find out that it's nothing more than a rock hop.We are pleasantly surprised though when we walk along a cascading creek. We decide to take a break and Prune even goes swimming. Sort of accidental because he was washing up and then slipped. It looked inviting but the weather didn't seem too promising and I didn't want wet shorts for the rest of this stretch. It's a great break but making the top before dark might not happen anymore.The climb starts in earnest when we are about 3 1/2 miles away. We pass our last mowed meadow. It's so random that we fantasize about a guy who has a lawn mower museum close by and just takes the lawn mowers out for a ride on this piece of land. When it gets steeper I let Pirate go ahead and go at a slower more comfortable pace for me. I have excellent radio reception on my MP3 player which makes the climb more enjoyable. It's still a long climb but I don't get annoyed at all and am not really tired either. The higher I get the more cloudy it gets and up top it's completely socked in. Too bad, Mooselauke is supposed to have great views. Instead of views we get a battle with wind and fog. The big orange sign will stand out great in our foggy summit pictures. We debated about camping short of the summit or going on three more miles to the shelter. The decision had been made to go on. When I got to the top however I wondered how smart that was. With the wind blowing and the fog creating poor visibility it didn't seem so safe. We were fine there though. It's when it started to get dark that we really were doubting our actions. It was a rocky descent. In the dark. The Goblins and all were out... What were we doing? Thank god we had each other ; ).When we finally got to the shelter we noticed that we weren't the only idiots hiking in the dark. Some section hikers arrived at the same time we did. The Muppets (who had passed us earlier) had gotten there right before dark and three more hikers showed up after us. These last ones were complete morons, arriving after midnight, shining their headlamps in everybody's tent, talking loudly as to make sure that everyone would be woken up. Then, when they finally selected a campsite, they continued to talk loudly longer than I could stand. I finally asked if they would mind keeping it down a bit. Such idiots!