Date: 2015-05-23
From: camp by Gordon Pond Trail

To: Rodeway Inn at Lincoln. 
Miles today: 13.0

We broke camp and were walking by 6:00am. It was 24 degrees this morning so walking was a good way to warm up. We ate a bar as we walked and commented on how light our packs were. There was hardly any food left, and we were wearing most of our clothes. The climbing began right away. It seems after we summit these mountains, the back sides are always full of blown down trees. Another day of bushwacking. I do appreciate all of the volunteers that maintain the thousands of miles of these trails. The time and energy they donate is unbelievable. We have met some of them along the way and they are always so nice and truly are enjoying what they do. We ran into mud that was way over my boots. I got a boot full of the smelly sticky stuff. We crossed under a power line, which is never our favorite thing to do. The wind was blowing but we took pictures of the view. We headed back into the shelter of the woods when I fell. I stepped on a rock the wrong way and down I went. I fell hard. My head just missed hitting a rock, but my hand was what took the brunt of the fall. A big bump appeared right away. I took some ibuprofen and just tried to keep it still. We hiked to the shelter which wasn't too far and took a break. I iced my hand and ate a protein bar. Weirman was going to cook up some oatmeal, but we decided to push on. Kinsman was calling. It looked like a pretty big climb, and we really wanted to get to town today. We had only one meal left. That climb was horrific. I had only one good hand, and it was a brutal rock wall. Hand over foot for hours. Weirman had to help me up several times. We had no idea it would be so strenuous. When we FINALLY got to the top, we were so relieved. There was a guy there who took our picture and told us the downhill would be steep and rocky too. NICE. It was Saturday, Memorial Day weekend, and there were lots of people on the trail. It was so great to visit with people along the way. We met a guy who attended the same college as our daughter Tessa. Bradley!! Then we met another couple from Massachusetts. The downhill wasn't nearly as bad as we had expected which was great. We got to the Lonesome Lake Hut, and it was open!! There were lots of people there, but they weren't serving food yet. They had two bunks available, but at $50.00 per person, we decided to push on. We met another nice couple from Boston who gave us all kinds of good tips on what to see and do in Boston. Then Weirman ran into a jogger and she gave him great info about Lincoln. She would have given us a ride into town, but only had room for one of us. Meanwhile I fell AGAIN!!!   No harm this time, the slippery leaves this time. We got to the road and started calling hotels. It was the holiday weekend, so the first two I called were full. The Rodeway Inn had a room so we booked it. She gave me a shuttle number to call and he picked us up!!! We checked into our room and headed off to eat. We hadn't stopped all day to eat!! We went to a little Italian restaurant down the road. We ate great food.   Lots of food.   People in the place were curious, and amazed. We told them were had been hiking for the past ten weeks. A couple we talked to had hiked Franconia and said they ran into a ranger who said it was going to be -20 degrees up there that night with the wind chill. A great night to be in a warm room. Our time on the trail is done for now. We have hiked to 1812 miles and plan to come back in the fall to continue the journey.