Date: 2015-07-13
From: North Woodstock NH 112 

To: Franconia Notch
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: broken clouds

Ultimate and Eleven are a very cool mother and son hiking team. We said goodbye and hitched a ride back to the trailhead from a nice local couple Dennis and Karen. Freebird, King Coleman and Red Titan were cooking breakfast in the parking lot. We said hello and started back on the trail. I could feel the weight of a very full pack with my first step up on the trail as we had a nice 800 ft climb the first half mile. Good Morning quads! After the first 0.2 miles, we passed the 1800 mile mark! So it was a slow pace. Cliffhanger caught up to us as he had stopped to eat something at the trail head. We then caught up to Robert and Forest caught up to us. We found out another hiker we knew got Lyme disease! Andreas, Robert and I stopped for a break on a big rock after about 4 miles. We were averaging about 1.5 miles per hour excluding breaks vs our previous slow pace of 2 mph which included breaks! Hello White Mountains! We moved on and stopped again at Eliza Brooks Shelter for a quick peek and break. We then had a 2.5 mile climb up Kinsman Mountain. The first mile ran along the Brook which was beautiful and clear. I wanted to stop to soak my feet but didn't want to stop mid climb plus we planned to swim at Lonesome Lake. So I kept climbing. The rock climb was challenging and straight up with many false summits. You would get to the top of a rock climb, enjoy a few steps of trail, turn the bend and climb again. It was fun! We passed several south bounders. It's strange to think they are still in the first 380 miles of their hike and that's all I have left! We finally made it to a small rock pile but it wasn't the top. We got there and found GQ, Walking Man and a day hiker there. GQ was lounging on a rock chair someone had built. After he got up, I sat in it and enjoyed some Biscoff Cookie Butter my friends Karen & Jason sent me. I failed to mention Lucky Laura picked up a care package from the Welcome Hiker Hostel in Glencliff and left it with my pack at the campsite the night before. We had planned to hike together when they visited NJ on July 4th but I was two states further away than we originally estimated. So they sent me some treats instead. The cookie butter is an awesome indulgence! Walking Man said his wife would love it. Thanks guys! We then hiked the 0.9 miles to the North Kinsman Mountain and admired the view. It was late and had taken us a lot longer to cover today's miles. We had a steep descent which was even slower than the climb in parts. You could see where the rough winter storms had felled many trees and debris. We tried to stay on the trail even on slick rocks to avoid hurting any of the forest but it was very tricky. It took over an hour and a half to descend 2.4 miles to Lonesome Lake Hut. We passed 4 day hikers. We stopped to look at the hut which was even nicer than I expected. The day hikers arrived and we chatted. We ran into Cliffhanger who was doing work for stay. GQ and Walking Man were also doing it though we didn't see them. The lake was beautiful and it would have been nice to swim but we had 3 miles to go and it was 6:15. We were originally planning to camp just passed Franconia Notch but then decided earlier to stay in town so Andreas could slack pack 7 miles and then take a 4 mile side trail back to town. He is returning to Germany for 4 weeks to spend vacation time with his daughter and will then return mid August to finish the trail. Today was tougher and took longer than expected to hike due to the terrain. I felt tired so when Andreas proposed taking a zero, I didn't resist the idea like I might have done normally. I didn't want an early rushed morning so I agreed to at least Nero and see what the weather forecast looked like since rain had been forecasted. We reached I-93 and surprisingly got a hitch easier than I would have thought on an interstate. Erica picked us up on her way back from day hiking the Carters. She dropped us off in Lincoln at what turned out to be a condo rental but they gave us a hotel recommendation next door. In the parking lot, Teradactyl and Nannette offered to take us to Chet's, a local trail magic angel who lets hikers stay for free. We had heard of him from GQ who got his name from Southbounders. We also knew many hikers already there but didn't want to tent in town. So they agreed our best bet was the Kancamangus Lodge where we were headed. Teradactyl is planning to thru hike in 2016. They gave us a recommendation to eat. It was nice to not have to worry about getting out early in the morning.