Date: 2009-08-28
From: Eliza Brook Shelter, NH

To: Franconia Notch/Lincoln, NH
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: overcast clouds

We now understand why a thru-hiker's mileage is cut in half while hiking through the Whites.What a day! Bark and I slept in this morning, until 7:00am, and figured we better get moving just to warm up. Temps dropped into the low 40's last night which actually was perfect sleeping bag weather. By the time we got moving on the trail it was almost 8:30am...we seem to be moving much slower in the mornings these days. We knew we had an immediate uphill to the South peak of Kinsman Mountain this morning and it proved to be a challenge! Straight up the sheer rock faces we went and around the massive boulders. It was a LONG uphill. Only about 1800' total, but it took longer than any 2000' climb thus far. Both Bark and I were glad to see the top and even more excited for the incredible views. The Whites have more than lived up to their reputation. After we hit the South Peak it was over to the North Peak for our second climb- much easier than the first. By that time we were both pretty hungry for lunch and found a great overlook (view of Franconia Ridge) to sit and rest. There were a lot of day hikers out today enjoying the beautiful weather. Two hikers, Colleen and Rick were also out on the overlook while we ate lunch. They had some good questions for us about the A.T. and what brought it all about. They were very kind and offered us a ride into Lincoln, unfortunately we were headed in different directions on the trail. After lunch we were kind of expecting a pretty smooth downhill hike- boy were we wrong. Basically what we had climbed up- the granite rock slabs, boulders and steep drops- that's what we had to come down too. We took our time and were as careful as possible, but still tried to make good time. We made it down to the Kinsman Pond campsite where we stopped to talk with the caretaker, an '08 thru-hiker named Bo. Finally at the bottom of the mountain, or at least close, Bark and I emerged from the woods and caught a glimpse of the Lonesome Lake Hut (AMC). It is a beautiful cabin/lodge and it overlooks an incredible view of Lonesome Lake and Franconia Ridge towering above it. We stopped inside to see what it was like and check the weather forecast for the next couple of days. As nice as it was inside the hut, we still had another 2.9 miles before making it to the road crossing into Lincoln and it was almost 3 o'clock. We headed out with a little extra pep in our step in hopes of making good timing down to the road. The rest of the descent was not bad at all and we made it to the road around 4:30pm. We came out on I-93 and right in front of us we saw the huge climb up to Franconia Ridge...wow! I have never seen anything like the Whites before. Well, as usual we thumbed it and before long, Earl, a friendly local pulled over and picked us up. He offered us a ride to Chet's hostel in Lincoln and we could not refuse. By that time we had been hearing from a lot of folks that the weather would be taking a turn for the worse tomorrow (Saturday) and no good for hiking. Our original plan was to resupply and get right back to the trail, but the threat of Hurricane Danny started to weigh in on that decision. We made it to Chet's pretty quickly and soon were setting up our things and getting the run down on the town from Chet himself. He has quite a story to tell. Chet was a part of a explosion while using a Coleman camp stove several years back. He was in a coma for 8 and a half months and is now, for the majority of the time, mobile only by a wheelchair. He was told he would never walk again by doctors, but just a few days ago he called his physical therapist to let him know he had taken 14 steps without the use of his canes or other assistance. Incredible story! He loves thru hikers and has opened his home to them, for the past 15 years. After getting the lo-down Bark and I headed to town to take care of some errands before the weather turned. Chet informed us that the storm moving in is actually 3 different systems converging over this area- we will definitely not be hiking tomorrow. Anyway, on the way to town we stopped to ask a man in his front yard directions to the library. It turns out, this man and his wife are former thru hikers too. The thing that lured us in though was the great little camper he had in their garage. They had a custom built, lightweight aluminum trailer/camper just big enough to wrap tightly around a queen sized mattress. It had a little door and the back end opened up to, a shelf, lights and an exhaust fan- basically a super tent on wheels- light enough to be pulled by their Subaru. We ended up hanging out for about 30 minutes just talking and swapping trail stories. He walked us over to the library and we thanked him and his wife for their very friendly hospitality. Finally back on track we made it to the library and grabbed some dinner before making it back to the hostel. By the time we got back we saw team Stick Cakes, Hatchet, Holdout and a few other hikers we had never met before. Looks like it will be a full house tomorrow- nobody plans on leaving with bad weather in store. It will be a great time to get to know a few more hikers.