Date: 2018-07-28
From: I-93 Lincoln

To: Garfield Ridge shelter
Miles today: 10.5

I woke up a little later than I thought and did my morning yoga to help with my back before rolling out of bed. I took a quick shower and dressed my clean clothes that were laundered by the motel owner last night. I texted River and changed the time for our ride to 6:30 and then had some quinoa and pesto for breakfast. It's a high calorie high fat meal without being too filling and I needed it for the climb in front of me. Mike dropped us off very close to where we got off trail yesterday and we were on our way. About a tenth of a mile in River realized she was missing her knee brace and turned around to go find where she dropped it. I'm going to rename her "loses things" because she's always losing or misplacing something and other hikers behind us who know her often pick them up and return them to her when they see her. The climb was almost 5 miles and sections were very steep. We stopped at Liberty Spring campsite for a snack and rest about half way up. River made reservations for us at highland center for Monday night and then we were back at the climb. Just before the summit of Little Haystack I came upon a granite ledge that I didn't feel I could climb up on with my pack on because of my back pain. I took it off and shoved it up on the ledge in front of me. As I did so another female hiker headed sobo appeared. I grabbed a tree for assistance with the climb and began. Half way up my foot slipped and I spun around with my back to the ledge looking absolutely ridiculous I'm sure. I dropped back down to the ground and let go of the tree. The other hiker moved my pack away from the edge and on the second try I was successful. Once I was up she sat and slid down and bounced on down the trail out of sight. There was no better way. I stood there looking at the view before me and it just filled me with so much wonder and amazement. What beautiful mountains and valleys. Absolutely gorgeous! I continued on to the summit of Lincoln, Lafayette and Garfield enjoying the views all around me on this Franconia Ridge. There were many hikers here today, mostly day hikers. River caught up to me and we took a break on Lafayette. After our break we descended until we climbed Garfield. I was ready to be done for the day when we came to the Garfield Ridge shelter. We checked in with the caretaker James and set up in the shelter. Pancake, who we'd met at Hikers Welcome Hostel was there. She'd injured her tailbone falling on the descent from Lafayette during the thunderstorm yesterday and was trying to decide if she should get off trail or take another zero and hope it felt better. Her hiking partner Swimmer left the trail because his wife's father passed away. I believe she called her son to make arrangements to be picked up. I felt badly, I could tell she'd been crying. Krista, Ryan and Iggy are here too! This site is very busy and the caretaker was super nice. I got my thru hiker pass which gets me a discount at other sites and free goodies at the huts. I cooked and socialized a bit under the tarped cooking area nearby and then crawled under my quilt after brushing and stowing my bear bag in the box. Great shelter here. I'm hoping my back pain eases and I can sleep better