Date: 2008-07-25
From: Kinsman Notch, NH

To: NH 25, Glencliff, NH
Miles today: 9.5

I'm writing this first part on the evening of 7.24.08 while laying in my bunk @the hostel.This is actually quite personal, but I wanted, as always, to provide the fullestspectrum of experience as possible to all of you reading.Tonight, despite being surrounded by all sorts of people, I'm feeling incrediblyhomesick and lonely. So, here it is straight up folks, above and beyond thebugs, mud, storms, endless climbs, knee killing downhills, falls, chunky water,wet feet, shitty food, seeing the same color green for way too many months,injuries, exhaustion, and monotony of doing the same thing EVERY singleday...above ALL of these things, the absolute hardest aspect of this hike forme is homesickness and the separation from Karen and my 2 kitties Henry andHank.I've realized another part of my need to be alone out here is because sometimes,it's difficult for me to act "normal" when it takes a tremendous amount ofemotional and mental energy to push away the longing and lonliness, and toconstantly try to ignore the emptiness that exists when your loved ones are notin your physical sphere for prolonged periods of time.There have been more than a handful of hikers who were perfectly capable ofcompleting the trail, but who found it to be too overwhelming being away fromtheir families. And when I think back, almost all of the hikers I can recallhave been men (of course, there are more men out here than women too), and thisactually is cool to me, because those men who admitted this are helping todispell the cultural myth that men are insensitive and unemotional.So what this literally feels like right now is this. I'm laying here, warm,clean, dry, well fed, and everywhere I look..up at the bunk above me, outsideat the grey wet rainy sky, at the trees swaying in the wind, at someone's tentfly drying out on a line...when I hear the voices downstairs laughing andtalking...it's all like a constant drone in the background of my mind right nowwith the dull ache of lonliness in the foreground taking center stage. I'm notin a private space, so it's difficult, and I feel like letting the tears flow,but that's uncomfortable for me when I'm around others. Karen has referred toherself and this trail as my 2 loves, and she's right about that, except thistrail can't provide me with the enriching life that she does, so in reality, Ican't compare the 2 at all. As of now, 100.6 miles stand between ourreunion...and these miles just so happen to be the Whites, so that's dauntingtoo.For those of you who are or will be a hiker's support person at home, let meshare with you what I seem to need out here, and more than likely this willapply somewhat to your hiker.First is I need to know that I can call home and that phone will not gounanswered. It is an awesome vulnerability you live within out here everyday,and sometimes, for me, I need to be able to count on at least 1 thing..and thatfor me is that I can always call home and talk to her.I also need to hear Karen tell me, "I know you can do this." It makes adifference to hear those words from someone you trust...someone who reallyknows you, your deepest fears, weaknesses, thoughts, and yet...they canhonestly tell you, "I know you can do this."Personally, it's important to me to know either the day or town where we'll seeeach other next. It gives me a place to emotionally and even physically focusupon as a goal. There's not many things worse than that open-ended reunion,where you dont' really know when you'll see each other next.I know visits are sometimes impossible or very hard logistically, and I'vecertainly faced the euphoria when anticipating a visit and the deepest lowswhen I had to hike away again.So this is a glimpse into this aspect of the experience. I know and do not takefor granted at all just how fortunate I am to have such an extraordinarypartner, and I realize this is not applicable to all hikers, but to many it is. Emotional exhaustion can and will manifest itself physically, and separation isfar more emotionally exhausting than anything else this trail could throw at me. So there ya have it...on to today's INCREDIBLE hike...my first day in the scaryscary White Mountains.7.25.08I got up, looked out the window and saw a mysterious light that some call THESUN!! NO RAIN!! YIPPY!!! I got ready for my slackpack, and was really readyto finally meet V8 for the first time. I did sleep much better last nite withmy earplugs in, and the B.A. Air Core rocks by the way. It's 2.5" of airsupport versus the popular self-inflating thermarests that I think range from1/4-1 (maybe 1.5") at best.I walked downstairs and there she was..V8 in the flesh..with a big smile on herface! Wow, how cool to FINALLY meet 1/2 of the dynamic duo. Auntie Mame isdriving down from Maine today, so I'll meet her this evening.Lizard and Stripe (CT) are slacking with me today. We loaded up and V8 hasactually hiked the White before, so she had us at Kinsman Notch by 8:45 a.m..She knows all the roads to get around memorized, which is amazing to me. She'sfreakin awesome!So today was a PERFECT day. It was sunny, warm, breezy, and just incredible. Istarted @ Kinsman Notch and hiked sobo over Moosilauke today, which is the wayto do this section folks. First up was fording a high stream. Strip made itover with his long legs, but Lizard and I said screw it and just changed intoour crocks. You can choose to spend 20 min. looking for a place to rock hop ortake 5 minutes changing shoes.I hiked up to a point where this hilarious warning sign said, "TreacherousTrail," on it. This, I assumed was the official beginning of the climb towardsthe summit.It was stunningly beautiful, you hike along Beaver Brook for 1 mile and thismeant enjoying waterfall after waterfall. The trail was quite steep, rooty andbouldery at times, and then there were places that were totally verticle upslick rock face and there were these large wooden block steps anchored into therock to use as steps. (Later that day, several of us were voting on how thoseblocks of wood were anchored...I suggested JB Weld, but figured that waswrong). There was a lot of water, streams, drainage flowing down and acrossthe trail and lots of deep wet mud too. There was also rebar in the rock atsome points so you'd have something to grap and pull yourself up, or step onto. All of this was in the setting of a magnificent pine forest.A little over 1 mile up is Beaver Brook Shelter, so I decided to go check itout. To my surprise I saw what will probably be THE most exotic trail wildlifeon the entire AT. I looked in the shelter and saw a big bucket with a sign onit that said "Please Feed Fish." I looked inside and there was a yellownalgene canteen with a freakin Beta fish swimming around! There was a registerthere and this fish is named Smeagol Otis, and he is a blue beta and is the 5thmember of the Dartmouth Outdoor Clubs trail crew. He lives @ the shelter onweekends and relies on hikers (and probably the caretaker there) to feed himand love him. I was the first person to sign Smeagol's register! I'm honoredtoo. I fed him some pellets, noted that in his book, and told him bye. Howhilarious is that!!!!I sat there for a few minutes and enjoyed a great view of the Franconian Ridge,where I'd be the next few days. Just beautiful...I headed on and was about 2 miles from the Moosilauke summit. The trees wereshowing signs of trauma and were getting shorter and smaller in diameter. Iused to think a treeline existed because of elevation (as in not enoughoxygen), but soon realized that in the Whites, that wasn't the reason, becauseif O2 was a problem, I'd also need an oxygen tank. It's because the weatherand climate are so violent with winds and temps that stunt the growth. Thetops of many trees were snapped off and laying all over the forest floor like agraveyard of sorts.I also hit mud that THANKFULLY I tested before stepping in...my hiking pole wentover 1/2 way down!!! It was like quicksand people.Finally, the trees were as tall as me (5 ft 5.5 inches) and then boom...zerotrees and a view to die for. So amazing how abruptly it changes. You couldsee the rocky (small rocks) path carved into the mountain, leading all the wayto the summit and now cairns showed the way. At the summit (4802 ft), thereare rock walls built up about 5 feet in a few places, where in horrible wind,you can sit down and take some shelter, but there's not roof or anything.There used to be a lodge up here years ago, and I think these rocks are leftover from that, but you can't tell there was ever a structure here. There weretons of day hikers too.I saw Lizard, Mountain Sailor, and Iowa Bobe, so I joined them for lunch. Sopicture this, the sky is perfectly blue and clear, the sun is warm and there'sa slight cooling breeze that feels great and the view...my my gosh...I couldsee I bet 100's of miles. I could see Mt. Washington in the distance, andlayers and layers of mountains, valleys, and lakes. I've nt had a view likethis ever. It was AAAA-mazing.Lizard and I took pics by the summit sign and everyone but me started hikingdown. It was about 12:30 p.m. when I got there and I couldn't pull myselfaway. I had to force myself to leave and it was almost 2:45 when I did. I wasable to have a good chat with Karen too, and that was needed. Unparalleledbeauty folks.I like being above treeline,and being able to see the trail ahead for miles. Iheaded down and it was a ridge for about 1 miles and you hike in betwen veryshort (but taller than me) midget pine "bushes". I met 2 women, Catherine, whois visiting her sister from MI and works at U of M where I did, and her sister,Bara from NH and her dog Pierre.The 4 miles descent was quite nice hiking. Pretty gradual, not too bad on theknees, nice trail. Seriously, hiking Moosilauke from north to south is THE wayto do it folks. Totally enjoyable. I also have to give this my vote as the #1BEST day hike of the AT (so far anyway). I'd go back again tomorrow and do itall over again.On the way down, I saw a girl taking samples of water from a stream. Her namewas Rebecca and she's an undergrad on internship from Cornwell. She's testingfor nitrate levels in all of the streams on the south side of Moosilauke, whichis an indicator of acid rain. Cool stuff.You finally reach a meadow and then a road. It's only .7 of a mile to Jeffer'sBrook, which was the deepest ford yet...up to my knees. I was back to NH 25 by4:30 and while walking back to the hostel, a guy on a big Yamaha motorcycledrives up and asks me where a campground is. I didnt' know but told him I washeaded to the hostel, and they'd know...I pointed the way. So he turns hiscruiser bike around and drives off...now a Harley rider would have told me tohop on and given me a ride! LOLI got to the hostel and called V8. She goes, "What would you like to drink?"She showed up witn a gatorade..how sweet huh? She took Strip to Chet's house,and picked up a sobo in town and took him back to Chet's house, who is a manwho puts up hikers in Lincoln/North Woodstock.We got to the Autumn Breeze where I finally met Auntie Mame! These 2 arealready spoiling me. Knowing I'd been staying in hostels or people's housessince MA, they got me my own room and wouldn't let me pay them back.I took a shower and we all walked down to a restaurant for dinner. I pigged outon fajitas and a caprese salad. So let me tell ya..it was like I'd known thesewomen forever. THEY ARE FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!!!!! We had a great time at dinnerand discussed our hiking plans.We're going to go sobo from Franconian Notch back to Kinsman Notch in 2 days,then ending up back here at the Autumn Breeze Sunday night and zeroing Monday(I LIKE how these ladies hike!). They've got 2 cars, so this is all mucheasier logistically.I'm so excited about hiking with them and now I only have to carry what I needfor 1 nite...lighter pack. I've still got a bit of a sore throate, so I needget some zzz's. Wow, what I dreaded, what I most fearful of is turning out tobe the most amazing and exciting part of this trail. More tomorrow....~Certain