Date: 2007-08-02
From: Zealand Falls Hut

To: Nauman Tentsite
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: scattered clouds

The croo turned the lights off at about 9:30 last night and I put my sleeping bag and pad on the dining room floor. Within a few minutes there were buzzing insects around my head. I pulled out my bug screen headnet and put it on. I could still here the bugs. I tried covering up with my sleeping bag, but it was too hot. I didn't think I would ever get to sleep. Eventually I did fall asleep and the temperature dropped causing the bugs to go away.I woke up at 5:30 as the cook started preparing breakfast. I got up about 15 minutes later and packed up my gear. Gut left around 6:00. He had cleaned the stove last night. Walking Cowboy stayed for breakfast even though he had washed dishes the night before as his work. I had the morning detail to sweep the bunk rooms and fold the blankets after the guests cleared out. The guests had breakfast at about 6:30. Then we got the left overs a little before 8:00. I had scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and bread. The bread was really good. It is baked there and had apricots and nuts in it. I started my chores at about 8:45. The sweeping part went pretty quickly, then I started folding the blankets. There are 40 bunks at this hut with three wool blankets for each bunk. It takes a while to fold 120 blankets. I had to climb the ladders to get to some of the bunks. It was 10:00 by time I finished and could start hiking. Not good considering I wanted to hike 14 miles today.The sky was clear and sunny today it seemed warmer today, although it was probably just because I was a couple thousand feet lower in elevation. The morning trail was fairly flat. I managed to cover 7.7 miles to Crawford Notch by 2:00 even after stopping for lunch.There is a little road walk as you approach and cross hwy US302 at Crawford Notch. You can see Mt Webster directly in front of you. It is the start of the Presidential range in the White Mountains. It was a little intimidating to see this steep mountain at the end of the road and knowing you have to climb 2,000 feet in the next 1.9 miles. I stopped at the road and pulled out my books to see what options I had to stay around there for the night. After about 10 minutes I decided to head up the hill. I caught up to Walking Cowboy at Webster Cliffs. It took two hours to cover those 2 miles. I stopped for about a 30 minute break. It was a steep climb up to there and I was soaking wet from sweating. I took my shirt and bandana off and wrung them out and laid them on the rocks to dry. Then I found a flat spot in the shade to lay down. We headed on towards Mizpah Hut. The section from Crawford Notch to Mizpah was difficult. I was using my hands and feet to climb a lot of the steep rocky areas. I would not like to go through this area in the rain.It was a little after 7:00 when I reached the hut. I paid $8 for a campsite tonight. I need to eat some of the food in my pack and want to get an early start tomorrow. Gut and Walking Cowboy are doing work for stay again tonight. I am sharing a tent platform with Spartan tonight. Tomorrow I am heading up and over Mt Washington at 6,288 feet. I want to get an early start because there is a forecast for scattered afternoon thunderstorms and hiking the top of Mt Washington is not a good place to be in a thunderstorm.