Date: 2006-08-12
From: Hanover NH

To: Moose Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: broken clouds

I think our days of 15+ miles are over for a while, possibly for the remainder of the trip. We're still in the foothills of the White Mountains and today's hike up Moose Mountain (a 1200 foot climb to 2222 feet) was just a crumb of a taste of what awaits us in another three to four days.There's an often-quoted line among AT northbounders that goes something like "When you reach NH, you've done about 80% of the miles but only 20% of the work." Frankly, I find that statistic to be a bit of a downer. I'm trying hard to ignore the butterflies in my belly and remain cautiously optimistic. Lugging a backpack over 1700 miles of mountains has had to prepare me a little for what lies ahead, right? I've hiked up. Hiked down. Scrambled on boulders (up, down, and across). Battled rain, intense heat, high winds, gnats, mosquitoes, black flies, mice, and food poisoning. I figure the Whites are just going to throw bigger doses of some combination of these factors at me. The ups and downs will involve 4000-5000 feet of elevation change. My rock hopping across cute mountain streams might become fording waist-high through whitewater rivers. But I also hear that the payoff for this extra exertion is phenomenal in terms of the stunning landscape we'll get to see. I met a hiker back in VA who's doing his second thru-hike this year and he told me "After the Whites, you'll be an athlete." I've never been one of those before. How exciting...and terrifying!I'll get to enjoy one more break before this big physical fitness test. I am walking just 6 or so miles tomorrow into a small town called Lyme (as in the disease). There I'll meet Scott at Dowd's Country Inn B&B - he's driving over in the morning from Rochester from his cousin's wedding (congratulations Max and Jess!). So we'll enjoy the great indoors for one more night and get our food and gear organized before beginning our assault on the Whites. Bama plans to hike on ahead of us without stopping in Lyme, but we'll try to meet up with her again over the next few days.Enjoyed a nice surprise at our shelter tonight. Two thru-hikers, Buford and Fleur de Lys, who decided to leave the trail back in PA are visiting a family cabin nearby and they brought trail magic to our shelter. They buillt a campfire and roasted hot dogs for us and gave us donuts and dried fruit for tomorrow's breakfast. What a treat - thanks guys! I also want to give a shout out to our car angels. Gary and his daughter Brianna stopped in their new LeBaron convertible yesterday to give us a ride to the post office in West Lebanon, and Roy gave us a ride back to downtown Hanover this morning which permitted us a second breakfast at Lou's before getting back on the trail. All of our car angels helped us accomplish a dozen or so chores and errands yesterday - thank you!P.S. To whomever put the bag of organic gummy dolphins in my last UPO mail drop (Kari?), I LOVED them! (They're now ex-gummy dolphins, as I've devoured them all.) They're delicious, easily accessible from my front pouch for munching while hiking, and I just enjoy the foolish sound of the phrase "gummy dolphins." I felt vaguely like Kevin Klein's character in 'A Fish Called Wanda' as I ate them.