Date: 2017-08-13
From:  Lyme-Dorchester Rd.

To: NH 25 C
Miles today: 18.8

Today was another long hard day.  We climbed two big mountains, Smarts Mountain and Mount Cube.  Both had substantial sections of rocks and roots and some steep sections.  I was moving slow in the morning.  I'm not a morning person, and physical exercise first thing in the morning just about kills me.  I don't know how I've managed to do this all summer.  It's really hard.  This morning I had no form of coffee before starting and was particularly slow.I forgot to mention that yesterday we had our first section that had rope set up for us to use.  I tried it out, even though it was in a not particularly steep section.  It was helpful.  Today we had a steep section that had three consecutive types of assistance: a log ladder (see photo), followed by stone steps, followed by rebar set unto the rock to make a ladder.  At the top of Mount Cube we saw our first cairns.  These are piles of rocks placed to indicate where the trail goes (see photo above).  They replace or supplement white blazes and are meant to be helpful in foggy conditions when low visibility would make it hard to locate the blazes.  We started the day in fog, but by the time we got to the top of Smarts Mountain the fog had cleared.  It turned into a bright sunny day, neither too hot nor too cold.  Terri and I stopped to have lunch at Eastman Ledges, a rock outcropping on Smarts Mountain with good views.  We planned to limit the break to 20 minutes because we knew it was a very long day.  I planned to take a 10-minute nap, then eat my breakfast concoction that my old roomie Meg made for me.  (It has granola, almonds, powdered espresso, and powdered milk in a Ziplock bag.  I add about half a cup of water and have a powerful breakfast - 460 calories, 16 grams of protein.). But then Bill and Arlene showed up, and our 20-minute break turned into a 45-minute break.  From then on I knew I needed to hurry to make it in before dark.  When we met Bobby Joe going south he told us about the omelet man.  This man has set up a camp near NH 25A and serves free omelets, juice, and bananas to thru hikers.  Terri and I decided to try to make it there before he stopped serving at 5:00.  I soon realized that I couldn't hurry down the mountain: there were way too many slippery rocks and roots. Terri went ahead and got her omelet.  I didn't get there until after he had closed down the grill.  Apparently I could have gotten juice and a banana, but I was in a real rush.  I continue to see lots of locals out using the trail - walking their dogs, running, taking walks.  It's nice that the trail gets so much use.  This afternoon I met a couple who had really unique walking sticks (see photo).  The husband made both sticks out of tiger maple that he got on Mount Cube.  The sticks were painted in bright colors and looked like folk art.  We chatted for a bit, and the woman paid me a big compliment.  I had told her I was exhausted; she told me I looked in really good shape for having hiked so far.  Maybe I don't look as haggard as I feel.Tomorrow we hike over Mount Moosilauke.  We're going to hike the first five miles, to the next road crossing, without packs.  Then Warren is going to shuttle us to the north end of the hike for us to hike south. Apparently this is the easier direction to hike this mountain.