Date: 2015-06-10
From: Galehead Shelter

To: Crawford Gap
Miles today: 14.0

Awoken by the sun, I came to life on the floor of the Galehead Hut. Deadline, LittleDebbie, and I slept on the floor and got to experience some of the hut life.The super-nice hut crew had us stay around until after breakfast and fed us. It was wonderful! Outside of the hut, the weather started clearing up.It was time to hike. The start of today's hike was up a steep climb to the first summit. The slope was steep, but seemed to go quickly. Large rocks and boulders littered the mountainside.At the top, the clouds lifted and the surrounding views were revealed. It was a beautiful panorama view of the adjacent wilderness. At the top of the mountain, we met up with LunchBox again, a fellow hiker that I met way back before the NOC in North Carolina. We had also briefly run into him on the way out from Beaver Brook trailhead. On the way back down, LunchBox hiked with us. The path went through high alpine vegetation and pines blanketed by mosses. Toward the bottom, I walked up on everyone stopped and chatting with a couple of other hikers.I could hear the guy they were talking to mention my name. I got closer and found out it was BullDog! He was the section hiker that I met in Hot Springs!! Now, that is a small world!After that quick reunion, we walked on. Along the trail, the sound of a powerful waterfall came into earshot. It was Zealand Falls, a picturesque falls and hut. Stopping in, we met one of the staff named Roger. He was a nice guy and have us day-old scones or free!!The trail descended from there and leveled out nicely. Boardwalks assisted our walk intermittently. Occasionally, I would hear one (or more) of the guys give a brief yelp as one of their shoes got dunked in the muddy, wet trail.A quick side trail led to Thoreau Falls. It was amazing. I had never seen a curving falls before. On the other side of the falls was a hiker. He was appearing to cross the falls.First, he threw a boot across the water. Sketchy!! Why?? I'm not sure. I would have rather have wet boots, but..... So, the hiker threw the second boot. It did not make it. He Guy "cheryl strayed" his boot! It circled in an eddy and then plunged far down the waterfall and out of view.That was sad. Not good... Not a lot we could do. Hopefully, he had some form of camp shoes.... The last part of today's hike took us to the base of Mt Webster. Right before the road crossing, LittleDebbie saw an interesting frog. It was a large frog which was dark colored and had bright yellow spots on it. It was reminiscent of a tree frog, but with the size of a small bull frog. We checked it out and moved along.We decided to stopped early today for quick resupply on snacks and before our big climb. That next climb is supposed to be one of the toughest on the trail. Deadline was first down to the road. We needed to hitch the three miles to the campground with camp store.    He declared, "Watch this! I will get a hitch with the first car. As the car approached, Deadline did a Michael Jackson/Elvis move while putting out his thumb.   I could see the driver start to laugh and then spontaneously pull over!!! It was impressive, to say that least.We finished the day with beer and hot dogs. It was a nice, easy day. It is important to do shorter days to keep our legs and joints healthy through these mountains.Weather is suspect for tomorrow