Date: 2014-09-08
From: NH 112, Kinsman Notch

To: Franconia Notch
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Another interesting day. We all ate breakfast together at another motel in N. Lincoln. It seems like we always get a late start when we stay in town; we never get on the trail before 9:30 am. But I must admit--we do like the breakfasts! We have been watching the weather and checking our maps. Today and tomorrow the weather is supposed to be good. We would like to summit Mt. Washington on a good weather day; would like to be able to see the views instead of being socked in. Having a vehicle/Linda to drive us will greatly help us.This day, Linda drives us to the trail head and we are off! Some little ups and downs to start the day. We caught up with Yogi, Scout, and Lemmy at the Eliza Brook Shelter. There is a nice stream running by the shelter. It was still early in the afternoon. We took time out to eat some trail mix and granola bars. Also--a privy break. We told Yogi & company that we were going to Franconia Notch; they expressed some surprise and told us good luck. Later, we found out why they were wishing us good luck! The Kinsman peaks are real boogers. By the time we got to North Kinsman, it was 5:00 pm. We had anticipated getting to Franconia Notch by 7:00 pm, but realized at this point we were going to be late. Daniel called Linda to let her know that it would be at least 8:00 pm for our pick-up. Wishful thinking on our part.A friend of Daniel's from New Hampshire--Corey Canfield, whom he had met on-line--was supposed to drive up to N. Lincoln to meet Daniel and to have dinner with us. He was to arrive at about 6:30 pm at our motel (which he did and met Linda and waited with her).By the time we made it down to Lonesome Lake Hut, the sun was below the horizon and the folks in the hut had the lights on. We still had three miles to go. We were not going to make the 8:00 pm deadline. Unlike good Boy Scouts....none of us had brought our headlamps. It was dark, and it was difficult to see the white blazes marking the AT. Simple pulled out his cell phone and turned on its flashlight. Whitehouse Brook was a little challenging. I pulled out my cell phone and Daniel figured out how to turn on its flashlight. We made it into, down, and across the brook. About 20 yards further down the trail, Simple's battery expired and his light went out. We crossed I-93 and kept trying to find the rendezvous point. We continued on the trail; the trail followed a paved footpath for awhile and then started back uphill. After a group consultation and review of the map, we decided to backtrack and follow the paved path. We took a right and stumbled to the road where Linda was parked. Like I always say, even a blind hog will find an acorn now and then.Corey was there with Linda; he had his vehicle and Linda had the rental. They already had ordered and picked up five pizzas for us. It was a crazy first meeting between Daniel and Corey. It turned out that a local deputy sheriff had stopped and talked with Linda and Corey, and had left his phone number to call if we did not show up soon. Said they would go looking for us. Remember..this was the day after the trail death, and folks were still full of concern.It was now about 10:30 pm, and we headed back to our motel. Corey is a contract software programmer for I.B.M. He stayed and visited with us until it was close to midnight. He had to leave and we needed to get some rest. All of us talked like we had known each other for years. Corey was a very pleasant surprise, especially for Linda. She really appreciated that he stayed with her until we got down.Shower rotation: Dan, Moto, Simple, then Casper. Off to sleep!