Date: 2011-07-31
From: Smarts Mountain Fire Tower

To: Jeffers Brook Shelter
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: clear sky

(In which I wake up in a fire tower, which is a pretty good way to start a day)I stay up until midnight watching the stars and taking pictures, and I am glad that there is nobody else trying to sleep in the tower for me to disturb. By midnight it has gotten a little chilly in the tower, and when I get in my sleeping bag I think that I probably should have worn my rain jacket instead of using it as a pillow, but I am too lazy to get out of my sleeping bag to fetch my socks as a replacement pillow. I'm warm enough though, and the slight rocking of the tower is actually quite pleasant, like falling asleep on a train.I sit up a couple of times just before sunrise, but having stayed up the night before I am too tired to want to watch it and go back to sleep instead. The next time I wake the sun is shining in my face, astonishingly bright without any trees or tent to block it, and though it is only 8am the sun makes it feels like noon. All of the section hikers who slept in the cabin are gone by the time I come down from the tower, and from the log I gather that no northbounders arrived while I was in the tower. It's been almost a day since I've seen another northbounder, and I wonder when the ones behind me will catch up.The morning involves hiking down Smarts Mountain and then up and over Mt. Cube. Though not particularly large, the heat and relatively steep terrain mean that I take it slow, and by the time I reach the second shelter 12 miles in, it is almost 5pm. I had planned on hiking at least 20 miles to the Hikers Welcome hostel so that I could meet up with Pony Tail Dave, a friend of my sister who hiked the trail last year and offered to put me up tomorrow night.Purple and Carnivore, two southbounders at the shelter, tell me that the terrain to the hostel is nice and gentle, so I cue up some techno music and start chomping miles. I check my pace after the first podcast ends, and when I see that I've been averaging more than 3 mph the question shifts from whether I'll make it to whether I should hike past it or not. I normally enjoy hostels for the social aspects, but since I'll be arriving relatively late, I'll spend most of my time eating and writing, and it's actually more convenient to stay up writing alone in a tent than it is at a hostel. And since I am planning to be picked up tomorrow, the thought of a shower or laundry isn't as appealing as it usually is. So I decide not to stay at the hostel, but when I maintain my techno pace to the road, I decide that I have enough extra time to road walk the 0.3 to the hostel, buy some soda and then hike back and out to the next shelter.When I walk into the hostel I find that I am just in time to finish celebrating someone's birthday, and am told to grab some food before they start cleaning up. I realize how hungry I am, not having stopped for a snack in the last 8 miles, and wolf down four pieces of angel food cake with whipped topping in seconds flat. Next on the agenda is drink, and I buy three sodas, one to chug immediately and two more for the trail. I say hi to Longtime and Click!, who have just slackpacked south and are actually a day ahead of me, and am then sucked into the net when I see that there is wireless.Before I know it it is 8pm, and I wonder what percentage of people who plan to leave this late actually do. But I stick to the plan and head back to the trail, feeling somewhat bad for not having patronized the hostel beyond my soda purchases. I make it to the shelter just before I need to turn on my headlamp, and arriving after most people have retired to their tents or hammocks reminds me of the fast days, and I remember how much socialization opportunity is lost when you arrive so late.Tomorrow I tackle Mt. Moosilauke, with its 4000 foot elevation gain, and then head to Pony Tail Dave's house and prepare to enter the Whites.