Date: 2006-08-17
From: Jeffers Brook Shelter

To: 15.9
Miles today: 0.0

Oh boy. Hands down this was our hardest day on the trail. Everyone said the Whites would be really hard, but this is absurd! We were up early and went up Moosilauki. It is a four mile climb then straight down. We were on top at 11 AM. The climb down surprised us by not being too hard. We chatted much of the way up which made it go by quickly. The views on top were incredible. We were at 4801 feet and the other mountains were dwarfed. All around us were mountain ranges which had seemed pretty high when we climbed them. But next to Moosilauke only the Whites were large. Large and incredibly intimidating. We're going up those? We snacked on top and had to put on our windbreakers for the first time this year.The first two miles down weren't bad. We enjoyed the continued views and walked around and over rocks to Beaver Brook shelter. This shelter boasts the best view from a shelter on the trail. We soaked it in while eating lunch. We knew we needed a lot of food to put in another 11 miles. We gorged ourselves and set out. It was 2:00 when we packed up to start the descent. We had been warned about this downhill, but the warnings didn't do it justice. The 1.5 mile climb down to Kinsman Notch dropped 1800 feet and took us 3 hours. You literally could not take more than one step without pausing to figure out your next move. We went over and around rocks of all sizes and shapes. I balanced on pointy nubs, jumped down drops as tall as me and used tree roots and limbs as handholds to prevent myself from toppling headfirst down vertical rock slabs. It was excruciating. The worst part was that once we reached Kinsman Notch we still had 7.5 miles left that day -- and they were all uphill!We climbed back up to 3480 feet. The climb was painfully slow and required the use of muscles not yet used on the trail. Some of the steps were so high that I couldn't just push myself off the ground with one leg. I had to launch my whole body, plant my poles and lean forward as I hurled myself up. Usually this full body maneuvere was successful, but occassionally I didn't get enough power and I slid back to the ground, only to have to try again and again until I made it up. Often I scraped knees and shins in the process. When I did successfully scale the rocks I then found myself teetering on the edge of a rock, trying not to let my packweight pull me backwards or throw me forward into the next obstacle.When we weren't awkwardly scaling rocks we were slushing around deep, huge mud puddles. We jumped from root to rock to tiny dry patches of ground. Often the surfaces we found purchase on were no larger than a child's tiny fist. All these gyrations were to protect our precious boots from getting wet.By 6:00 we were disheartened. Our slow progress and the sun's gradual progress across the sky were sure indicators that we would be night hiking. We are not huge proponents of night hiking under even the best conditions. But before long it was getting darker by the minute and headlamps were necessary. We were having trouble seeing where the trail wound through the woods in the dark, Twice we almost lost the trail but luckily we realized our mistakes quickly and did not lose much time. We ended up having to hike until 10:30. Normally shelters are quiet by about 8:30. Hikers tend to go to sleep around dark since their days start so early and are so tiring. We were dreading having to set up camp silently in the dark. When we neared the shelter we heard laughter and talking. Miraculously everone at the shelter was still awake. They made room for us and chatted as we got ready for bed.   We were extremely glad to hear that other hikers thought the trail was as hard as we did. None of them could believe we had done so many miles in this section. Now we realize how hard this area is and will scale our mileage WAY back.