Date: 2003-08-03
From: Kinsman Notch Road

To: US3 Franconia Notch
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: overcast clouds

A DAY THAT WE'LL LOOK BACK ON AND GET A LAUGHThis morning was beautiful. The sun was shining, birds chirping, everything dried up. Started hiking over a perfect trail - no roots, rocks, ups, or downs. My feet were all healed up, and I felt the best I've ever felt. Fields of wildflowers and tons of trail magic of fruit, chocolate milk, and more. Then, all of a sudden, lights are shining in my face and I realize that my perfect day is nothing more than a dream. The lights were from 2 guys from the forest service. Apparently, we camped too close to the trail. They came by at 10:00. They left and came back at 11:00 p.m. - saying they weren't going to ticket us but decided that under the circumstances they'd let us go.Well, we woke up and the day was ugly. We waited until 9:00 to leave and go 1/2 a mile to the visitors center. We decided to push today to make it into North Woodstock. Diesel went ahead to get us a room, and the rest of us took off. We had Mt. Wolf and Kinsman - over 16 milesl. Got going around 10:30. Climbs all day, along with many fake summits. The trail was like the Shenandoahs. We didn't want an instant replay of that section.Cire became a true thru-hiker today. There was an M & M lying on the trail, and he picked it up and ate it. Mt. Wolf lasted forever. Up and down constantly. The sign entering the woods today said the shelter was only 6.2 miles away. Then, we came to another sign that we thought was the shelter, but it said we'd done 7 miles and had 1 more mile left. What I'm saying is that the signs are wrong. On top of that, the AT isn't marked well. Instead of AT north or south, they only have names of trails, something I don't really understand. We made it to the Eliza Brook shelter by 3:00. I was so hungry. We left there at 4:00 to conquer Kinsman. It was hard. It was basically climbing on all fours up rocks. A huge rock scramble. I busted my butt trying to get up there as fast as I could. Several concerns going through my mind. First, we were supposed to have thunderstorms, and, second, I was trying to gain speed so we could finish before nightfall. We were in a huge cloud. As we climbed higher and higher up the mountain, we got frustrated because of the foggy view. If you'd like to see the view we saw, get a big bowl of dishwater that's dirty, and that's basically our view. Once we'd climb up a good section, I'd look up - straight up, saying to myself, you've gotta be kidding - we have to climb that. To make things worse, the rocks were wet and slippery.We did make it to the top. It was windy, misty, and thankfully not storming and cold. Thinking, wow, this would be quite a heck of a view but - can't do anything about it. We passed over South Kinsman Peak, as well as North Kinsman Peak - hoping that we'd be able to go a little faster down but oh were we wrong. It was steep and slippery. I threw my poles down and sat on my feet - sliding down the rocks. Hard to enjoy this because you had to be so cautious of every step. It was getting darker and darker. The trail was disastrous, wood boards that were at times rotten and needed replacing, overgrown brush, muddy water that would come up to your shins. Whites not looking good right now. We made it to the hut in the knick of time. A downpour hit right as we got there. Another plus we had was we got here just in time for the leftovers. It cost $1.00 for all you could eat - stuffed shells and calzones. The hut looked nice but was very crowded. We hit the Whites during their peak season of not only north and southbounders but tourists. About 3 people told us of a trail - the Lonesome Lake Trail - that was only 1.5 miles to the road instead of 3 miles. We thought there might be a road down, but there wasn't. How do they get food up here? A helicopter drops it off at the beginning of the season. Hikers' costs to stay at huts are $68. Crazy!! So, we took up the idea of cutting the mileage in half, thinking that they'd made a trail easy for all these people to hike up and stay. There were nice boards that lined the trail. No rocks, no walking through streams. The problem was that the trail circled the lake and ended up back at the hut. We were not happy about that. By now, it was dark and we had 3 miles of a 1,000 ft drop down in front of us. Got out our headlamps. My lamp was dim so I decided to put new batteries in it to help out in seeing the rocks. You could definitely tell we were back on the AT. We were walking down a stream. Then, we had a rushing river to cross. Well, Cire went first and halfway fell in. About the same time, it started thundering and lightning, and the bottom fell out.Could this day get any worse? We made it across and then just tried joking about it, thanking the AMC for making trails crappy and so hard they're almost impassable. By this time I'd already almost lost it several times. I was exhausted, drenched, beat. We made it to US3 close to 10:00 p.m. Who in their right mind would pick us up this late and the way we looked? We had 6 miles to get to North Woodstock. So we started walking. One car passed us. Walked over a mile. Whole time praying that God would send us an angel. We made it to this motel that had just closed. It just so happened that the worker lived outside of North Woodstock and he gave us a ride. Thank you, God! Thank you! He brought us to the Woodley Inn - a very nice place. Diesel got a great room for a good price. Showered up and passed out - all of us. We got here at 11:00.This day taught me a lot. First off, I was with the greatest people. The mountains got the best out of me mentally and physcially. Don't underestimate the Whites. They are really really hard! Still frustrated with the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club). They charge fees for campsites, lots of money for huts, and fine you if you camp too close to the trail. Set up regulations that make it just about impossible to camp anywhere.Now, lying here in a comfortable bed, looking back on the day. Pains shooting through my feet and so tired I don't fell like moving. Before I came on this hike, I never thought I'd hitchhike, especially at 10:30 p.m. and in the pouring rain. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for doing this, but it sure makes for some great memories, adventures, and laughs.