Date: 2008-06-29
From: Ore Hill Shelter

To: Beaver Brook Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The beginning of the fun! As I scheduled the hikes and distances during the planning of the trip I tried to get in a few days of easy to acclimate the legs a little, thus no long and hard days, either one or the other. Since I¢d done no more than 12 miles on any one day, usually accompanied by a shorter second this was what I saw as a problem for me¢¦long AND hard!So, an early out was planned but didn¢t turn out that way. I somehow brain-farted and forgot how I got in, thinking it was near the water hole I was using but what was actually An upper trail. Don¢t ask how¢¦after a few days of boring flat hiking I lulled myself into a stupor. So, an hour and a half of wandering down a few trails I finally see my own boot prints and realize where I came from. So off I went, first stop, a pimple called Mt. Mist. It was here I ran into a thru-hiker named ¢Glider¢. I can see why, the guy flies! As I¢m taking the below pic, he talked me into goofing it up a bit for the camera so I took out the hillbilly rain hat and did it up. Impressive eh¢¦Mr. Goofball on Mt MistSo a descent to Rt 25 but before the ascent I take the first of many trailside baths. This one was a down to the boxers dip into Jeffers Brook which runs parallel to Rt 25. Nice part about this one was that it was one of the few undisturbed dips. Where people come from in the middle of nowhere I¢ll never figure out, but of all the dips I took, this was the one I figured I¢d see 200 people. Here, none!So, post bath and feeling good I¢m off to the Jeffers Brook Shelter. I think is one of the best on the trail, especially as it¢s a ¢DOC¢ shelter, or Dartmouth Outing Club, the caretaker of 70 miles of the AT in Vermont and New Hampshire. Their shelters are not in the National forest thus not bound by a lot of extra regulations. The bad part is that they are generally dirtier, less kept, and always have an overflowing fire pit full of crap. But Jeffers, wide open, gorgeous old growth stands of lodge pole pines, clean, and sunny. My buddy for the day; Glider is there having lunch and I join him. We chat about the packs, trail, and I get a lot of cool ideas on everything. As with 99.9% of the thru-hikers he is a wealth of information and loves to share his findings to the neophytes like myself. He is heading to Beaver Brook on top of Mt. Moosalauke for the night. Since it¢s still eight miles of unending ups with 5 hours of daylight I¢m thinking calling Jeffers home for the night but decide to move on. I have a schedule to keep after all, plus I¢ve been looking for a little night hiking and this seemed the best time. Off we went. Jeffers Brook ShelterSo, at the base of the Moose, four miles and 4200 vertical ups from the summit Glider sits. Since I know I need every ray of sunshine to make it to the top I continue on. What I didn¢t know was Glider was testing himself by letting me go 30 minutes before he started. Needless to say, 500 vertical ups from the summit he blows by me like I¢m standing still. Actually I was, I needed a break after one of the harder parts of the climb to push my innards back down my throat. He tells me he¢s going up and over to the shelter in town. He¢ll leave me a love note in the shelter log with the time he got there. I¢m looking forward to more abuse. It was there!¢Poof, you bad, bad dog, you need to get rid of them bags of Cheezy-Puffs from your kitchen my brother. I waited 30 more minutes to see if you were up for the decent to the shelter. Gotta go, happy trails my man!¢Well, the 30 minutes were due to my usual stop at the summit for a Hershey bar and pics. He was in my sight most of the trip to the top until the final bump on the hump when I knew I was shelter bound well before dark. So, after the requisite pics from the summit it¢s off to the shelter. Oofah¢¦got there just in time. The American Family Robinson had most of the tent sites taken leaving a few spots in the shelter open. I shove my crap there and see one of the ¢family¢ playing a cookie pan banjo. Shit, I should have followed Glider to the hostel. Too late!Actually a good night as they were very nice people out for a few days before the two kids left for college. The night was great, I didn¢t hear any snoring meaning I was the only one. Sucks to be them¢¦.I slept great!