Date: 2003-09-05
From: Hwy 302

To: Concord N.H.
Miles today: 0.0

start Lincoln,NH Destination Concord NH  We started the day by going to a pancake house for a late breakfast. Fried eggs, sausage, pancakes, homefries. Poor Papermaker has been trying to order grits every time we eat breakfast. The waitresses just love him. One thing he and I have learned is that in the north, homefries are not the same thing as they are in the South. Homefries up here are actually pan fried potatoes, where as back home they are fat french fries. We drove to the base of Mt.Washington where we plan to catch the cog railroad up to the top of the mountain. The sky was bright blue, a perfect day to see the distant mountain ranges from the observation deck on the mountain top. We were sure to be the first in line, so we could et the very front seats going up. While we were waiting for our departure, we grabbed some very overpriced lunch, but heck, today we are tourists. The cog starts at 2600 feet and before we reach the top we are over 6,000. The temperature outside also changes as dramatically as we assend. We will cross the AT twice on the ride. It is a long standing tradition that hikers will moon the train as it goes by. Until today hikers have never been on the receiving end of such wonderful behavior. Mudbutt and I decide that "times, they are achanging". Before you know it, and much to Papermaker's dismay, we have convinced 2/3's of the passengers to moon the hikers. I am totally convinced that the rest of the passengers would love to participate, but they are too inhibited to let go. Papermaker tries to fit his six foot plus frame underneath his chair while we anxiously wait for the trail crossing. The trees get smaller and smaller the higher we climb until their is nothing left but rocks, with cairns stacked as markers on the different trails. Unfortunately the clouds have also moved in the higher we climb until there is hardly any visability.The call goes out from the back of the train that there are hikers on the trail just ahead. It must have been the 40 degree weather with the added windchill that kept them from dropping thier pants, because nothing happened. We couldn't very well moon some innocent person now could we? We waited for the next trail crossing with the anticipation of a child in a candy store, well, maybe a teenager with rolls of toilet paper waiting for dark, but even poorer visibility hampered us. There was no way I was going to waste my first and hopefully only attempt at mooning someone with less than ideal conditions, so much to Papermaker's releif, I settled for yelling and waving at the two hikers we saw. They were bundled up so heavy any chance of identification was impossible. Because of a mechanical problem of unknown origin, ours would be the last train of the day, so we only had twenty minutes at the top. We hurried to the observation deck where there is a weather station, complete with a camera running constantly taking a picture of the deck. We called Mudbutt's family to give the the heads up and danced and twisted trying to keep from freezing until our picture came across the computor sceen they were watching from home. Some of the severest weather is found here on top of Mt.Washington. The ride down was uneventful and for the most part completely done in a thick fog. If a person had any control issues this was not a good ride to be on. At one point the front of the train was 14 feet higher than the back of the train. I really wanted to pour some water on the floor just to watch the angle of it. Back down at the base the skies were blue with just a few clouds and the weather was warm again. This has been another blue blaze trip for us. One that has been very enjoyable and also educational in so many ways!! We take more country roads as we head to Concord where I will get my car window replaced in the morning. We take a detour down a country road, looking for signs of moose. The is a small forest road, we park and walk down it quietly, hoping for a sighting of some wild animal. The walk is enjoyable and I drink in the sights and smells of the woods again. We find tracks and droppings of moose and bear, but nothing alive comes into our view. The walk is a treat in itself though, without a pack, feel like I could walk for miles. Hey! I have walked for miles with a pack!! In New Hampshire there are no billboards along the roads, this makes finding a place to eat, somewhat difficult. We find the motel closest to the car dealership. In fact we find it several times before we finally find a place to eat. This causes me to become very antsy. I have a thing about searching for a resteraunt or motel or campground in the dark. This is a result of several years of traveling with Papermaker either in our motorhome or in our car with not very happy results. They are stories in themselves, most funny now, but weren't funny at the time. Finally we find a palce to eat. It is a Japanese steak house. Papermaker gets up enough courage to try sushi, and then spends the rest of the night eating with chopsticks. Mudbutt cringes when I ask for silverware to eat with, then ask for sugar for my tea. We head back to the motel and crash. Another delightful day in the life of thru hikers.