Date: 2017-07-23
From: Kinsman's Notch

To: Franconia Notch
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: broken clouds

The day started on an exciting note; a black bear came up the hill into the Collins's backyard shortly after 6 a.m.  It took exception to the three of us, Cheryl, Shop Teacher, and I, gawking at it from the back deck and snapping photos, and dashed into the woods.We were up that early because we had the Kinsmans and a 16-mile hike to Franconia Notch in our sights for today. Yesterday's nine-miler took all day, so we expected the 16-miler to be a marathon. Kelly drove us to Kinsman Notch, to resume from where we had left off yesterday, and told us his truck would be waiting for us at Franconia Notch whenever we got there. Climbing So. Kinsman Mt. was a bear, but it was exhilarating.  Hand over hand, steep rock climbing, forever, so it seemed, is what it demanded of us. I effectively put away my poles, they becoming more of a nuisance than an aid, and relied on roots, small tree trunks, and rocky grips to pull myself up and over the rocks. Going up steep rocky inclines I find easier than going down them; I don't have to worry as much about falling. And it's better on my knees.  But it does get the ole ticker pumping and the perspiration flowing copiously.  When this hike is over I'm going to have the heart of a thirty-year old and the knees of an octagenarian.The views of the Whites from So. Kinsman Mt. made the suffering worthwhile. You could see Mts. Lincoln, Lafayette, Cannon, No. Kinsman, among countless others. I could not see Mt. Washington, it residing directly beyond Lafayette and Lincoln.Coming down from the No. Kinsman was not as difficult as expected. It was tricky at points, but it was not the endless drop into the abyss recently encountered on Moosilauke. The descent even brought us to Lonesome Lake and the AMC hut by the same name. The spot presented additional photo opportunities, with the deep blue lake in the foreground, Mts. Lafayette and Lincoln in the background, and their reflections in the still water.Close to 7 p.m., almost 12 hours of hiking, we reached the Liberty Springs parking lot and found Kelly's truck where he said he'd leave it. While I fiddled with the mirrors, Shop Teacher was busy "saving" a woman's life. Looking frazzled, she had driven into the lot and parked alongside the truck just moments after we got there. She complained of dehydration, and Shop gave her one of the Gatorades in Kelly's truck. The woman was profuse with gratitude. Then the story got odd. Shop jumped into seat next to me and calmly said, "Quick, lets get out of here." It seems the woman had eaten a chrysalis mushroom, mistaking it for a pumpkin mushroom. Didn't see that coming. What in blazes was she thinking? (I assume all mushrooms in the wild to be poisonous and leave their harvesting to those in the know). I then noticed the woman sitting on the curb, looking squeamish, clutching the Gatorade, one blink away from losing consciousness (I exaggerate, of course). I put the truck into reverse. As I merged onto the highway, I said to Shop, "What if she dies? You realize that your fingerprints are all over that Gatorade bottle.  You'll be the number one suspect in a suspicious poisoning.""I gave her one of your energy bars, with your prints all over it," he said. "Now there will be an APB for two disheveled drifters, last seen in a stolen rust-colored Silverado."We drove to El Greco's in Lincoln, enjoyed a huge pizza, and had no run-ins with the law.