Date: 2015-08-11
From: Galehead Hut 1829.1 miles

To: NH 302 Crawford Notch 1843.8 miles
Miles today: 16.0

Tuesday August 11th PLEASE SEE A REVISION TO THE AUG. 10TH ENTRY The Iceman woke up, in the Galehead Hut, at 6:30 to a staff member playing revelry on a trumpet and a few minutes latter another staff member knocked on the doors and shouted "Time for breakfast". Breakfast was served from 7 - 7:30 and was quite good according to the Iceman; he had oatmeal which he never eats at home. The morning entertainment was a play, performed by another staff member, and it ended by showing how to fold the blankets on the bunks for future hikers. It seems that EVERYONE has summer stock these days. After breakfast the weather report was given and it wasn't good. The report said heavy winds,(40 - 50mph) on top, all day followed by heavy rain in the afternoon. They were right on with the winds; but the rain started 1/2 hour after they began to hike and continued all day. The trail began with a very steep and rocky 1,500 foot climb up to South Twin Mt. where at the top was an exposed rock outcropping. While hiking this part of the trail the Iceman got blown off the boulder he was on and while trying to break his fall he cut his hand jammed his thumb and now the thumb nail is coming off. Better late than never, he decided to put on his gloves and found out that he had taken two right hand gloves. As you can imagine, if you've ever tried to get a right hand glove on your left hand, it wasn't easy. Boy, how he struggled!   He continued hiking 4 more hours and then decided to stop at the next hut, Zealand, to change into the dry clothes that he carries in his backpack. The next 4 hours of hiking and weather were not much better and when he got to Zealand he was soaked to the skin. He took off the rain cover that was over his backpack to find out that water had been collecting in the bottom of the cover and at the bottom of his backpack is where he keeps his dry clothes. Well, you can imagine how he felt when he pulled them out and found out they were wet. Not as wet as the ones he had on but Wet! He put them on over his already soaked clothes to get a little warmer, got some soup, left Zealand and continued on in the rain. At 5:30 he finally made it to NH302 with 3D who had been hiking with the Iceman all day. The Sherpa was with her daughter and grandsons in the morning and after breakfast she moved her things to another room in The Lodge which is on the Mt. Washington Hotel property.   It was raining and there wasn't much for the boys to do so they decided to head home. The Sherpa spent the day monitoring the Delorme map and at 12:52 it showed the Iceman stopping at the Zealand Hut. This was not part of the plan for the day so the Sherpa was very concerned. Why did they stop? Was there a problem? No contact could be made by phone or email or any other way she knew of. The logical reason was that the weather made it impossible for the Iceman and 3D to continue. At 4:30 the Sherpa decided to leave the lodge and go to the Hotel for dinner believing that the Iceman and 3D had stopped for the night and would be coming down from the mountain the next day, therefore no need to pick them up on the NH302. It was a 2 minute drive and when she got to the hotel she went to see the concierge who she had been talking to for the last 2 days, and told him about the Iceman and how worried she was. The concierge told her to call the AMC where they might be able to contact Zealand, which she did but they didn't answer the call as they were now closed. Looking at the Delorme map again there was no sign that the Iceman had moved from the hut so the Sherpa, at 5:30 lowered the volume on her phone and sat down to dinner. At just about the time she had finished her meal, 6:30, over to the table came the hostess and said there was a phone call from her daughter. She looked at her phone and saw that her daughter and the Iceman had been trying to call her. Now the Iceman was at the Hotel, having hitched a ride, and was about to take the car and go back to NH302 to get 3D. What a mess! The Sherpa paid the bill, ran from the dining room and down to the entrance where the car was and saw the Iceman standing there then jumped into the car and drove 5 miles to get 3D who was soaked and waiting at the trailhead. Those GPS gadgets don't always work and it seems in this case the Explorer couldn't be counted on. Everyone showered and with dry clothes on went to the hotel for a very good meal and very good service. This is another place that the Iceman and the Sherpa will definitely visit again and the next time it will be more relaxing. The Mount Washington Hotel and Resort is absolutely lovely and there's so much to do that one can spend easily a week there and not get bored.