Date: 2003-09-06
From: Firewarden's Cabin

To: Glencliff, NH
Miles today: 20.0

Woke up pretty early and found bodies lying every which way in the cabin, most of which were members of the Dartmouth orientation group.Amazingly, they also woke up pretty early and packed up their stuff. That gave me plenty of room to organize and get packed myself.I was the first one of our group to hit the trail and my initial thought was to go for 20 miles and make it all the way into Glencliff. The other hikers were planning on going 13 miles to the next shelter but I was still frustrated over the short mileage I had done yesterday.I knew I could always bail at the 13 mile point BUT I had extra incentive to get into Glencliff today. A friend from Atlanta named Josh McCabe lived in the area and had offered to come and "rescue" me if I got to Glencliff on Saturday. Since I was planning on taking a "zero" anway that meant I could relax and enjoy the comforts of his place rather than hanging out at the hostel.So, off I went. I started at a pretty high elevation and the mountain was covered in a cold fog. As I started to descend the fog began to clear and I could see more of the trail ahead. I looked up and to my surprise there was a big cow moose standing crosswise on the trial. When that moose heard my hiking sticks click on a rock though you would have thought an earthquake had hit. Apparently those moosies don't like to be surprised. All I saw for the next few second was moose legs in mid air and mud flying everywhere. The whole episode was over in a matter of seconds but I could still hear a lot of tree crashing going on out in the woods. Unlike a deer that leaps over and dodges things as it runs, a moose just decides which direction it wants to go and then knocks everything down in its path.With that excitement behind me I continued on. the trail was covered in mud but I seemed to make much better progress than yesterday. I reached the summit of cub mountain around noon and decided to have lunch. It was a gorgeous day and the views were spectacular.After lunch I continued to make good time and found myself at the next shelter (12 mile point) around 3PM. I checked the elevation profile for the remaining 8 miles into Glencliff and I decided to go for it. Part of me just wanted to see if these old legs could still do a 20 miler. The rest of me was thinking that if I knock it out today I can take a true "zero" day tomorrow and just relax before hitting the Whites.There were lots of little ups and downs and plenty of rocks, roots, and mud but I broke out onto NH 25 in Glencliff around 6:30. That meant I covered 8 miles in a little over 3 hours -- NOT BAD for an old fart.I walked a half mile to the hostel and found a note indicating that my friend Josh had already stopped in to see if I had arrived. I gave him a call and he agreed to come get me at 10 PM when he got off work. So, I hung out with the other hikers until he got there. Once Josh arrived we were loaded and off to his place in a matter of minutes. We sat up and shot the shit for a while but I was pretty exhausted and decided it was time for a shower and a good night's sleep. Tomorrow I'll do laundry, buy food, and just relax. Life is good!!Living the Dream . . .