Date: 2017-07-09
From: Gorham

To: Galehead Hut
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: scattered clouds

"Welcome to Zealand!" How could I resist that? Ever since I started reading trailjournals more than 10 years ago when I was still living in New Zealand, references in AT accounts to Zealand Falls prompted a vow to visit it one day if I ever did the AT.(Full disclosure: reading triple crowners' journals is what led me to hike the PCT back in 2006 because I concluded that, and I quote, "the AT sounds like it sucks!")Today was the day, once I'd been shuttled from Gorman to Crawford Notch by Bruce, a former thru-hiker from Louisiana who spent the summers in the area driving hikers in return for gas money and tips.After a short climb up from the road, the trail began a long traverse across a plateau near Ethan Pond shelter and then turned into a superhighway by following what was clearly an old timber tote road along the side of the valley.The speed of the trail was counterbalanced by my prediction for talking to everyone I encountered on the trail, which at the turnoff to the pond included Poppa, a 60-year-old hiker we'd first met in Baxter State Park on June 6 and had been leapfrogging ever since.Seeing him was doubly good because I'd heard nothing about Poppa since the start of the Mahoosucs and I was wondering if his hitherto miraculous ability to get through everything the trail could throw at him might have met its natural limit, by using the familiar principles from the parable of the tortoise and the hare. I should have had more faith that age and cunning would beat youth and strength!Zealand Falls Hut was accessible from possibly the easiest route to any of the AMC huts -- a two-mile mostly level hike -- which on this pleasant sunny day meant it was overrun by day trippers.This in turn meant the handful of hut staff -- the usual college-aged kid and a much older guy who seemed to be a volunteer -- didn't have time to do much else than to tend to the visitors' needs.As soon as I pushed on after lunch on the ascent to Mt Zealand, however, the trail was almost exclusively populated by thru-hikers.One of the factors about the Whites had been the high quality trails, especially compared to the sketchy parts of the Mahoosucs. But that generalisation clearly had a limit, and that limit was encountered on the route to Galehead Hut, where the usual mix of mud, rocks and roots held sway.I was slowly making my way down the street ridge to the saddle where the hut was located when a hiker stressed only on his underwear came bounding to the trail towards me.Knots -- named for his dreadlocks, although others said he was calling himself Tangles -- explained he was attempting the unsupported speed record for the AT, which Heather "Anish" Anderson had held since 2015. He was currently two days ahead of schedule, having left Springer Mountain a scarily short 43 days ago. That was nothing compared to his plan to complete the hike to Katahdin in eight days. Eight days!Even more impressive was his friendliness and willingness to chat, despite his 44-mile-per-day schedule. He reminded me of Scott Williamson, the PCT yoyoer who I met in the streets and then again on Cascade locks on his journey back south.I wished him well and completed the hike to Galehead Hut, arriving just before a squall came through with a short but intense phase of fat raindrops.This hut had a particular reputation for not being hiker friendly, but what I found was the exact opposite. Jude and Beast were in situ and had grabbed the two work-for-stay places but the croo were happy to take more. Even when Poppa rolled up around 8pm, he was offered a place in the floor but not asked to do any work since they couldn't guarantee him food. But there was plenty of food to go around and we made sure he didn't go to bed hungry, like a naughty schoolboy.The only other excitement of the evening was a team of hikers who arrived at 9pm, by headlight, having taken far longer than they expected to come over via Franconia Ridge.This is pretty much the exact same route we're doing in reverse tomorrow, but hopefully without similar consequences.Now we're settling down on the floor with our bellies full to bursting. Life is good.AT fact of the day: One of the downsides of sobo hiking is that Franconia Ridge -- the last of the three above-treeline stretches for which good weather is needed -- comes at the very end of this 28-mile section. After predicting mostly good weather, the forecast now is for afternoon thunderstorms tomorrow. But will this force me off the ridge, or will it prove to be yet another false warning about weather in this part of the country?