Date: 2012-07-28
From: Stealth Camp

To: Zealand Falls Hut
Miles today: 9.3

I had a great camp spot last night with a good hanging distance and open sky above my hammock. This made for some excellent star gazing as the wind rocked me. I¢m sorry, do all my descriptions make the trail sound too wonderful? Well that¢s cause it is. But it is also hard work. So while I lay there enjoying the beauty of what I was doing, I also rubbed down my swollen aching feet, the hunks of flesh taking most of the physical burden of this trip. They are pretty much in a constant state of throb. But so are all the other thru hiker¢s feet. You rub them and you accept the pain. Because again it¢s worth it. And tonight was a god night¢s sleep. Peaceful and with no rain to keep me lounging around once the sun started to lighten the sky. An early wake up put me on the trail by 7:15 am which is early, very early for me. But I had a lot of miles to cover and was very far behind. I needed to be at Zealand Falls hut by early afternoon to meet up with my friend. And these are not easy miles, no no the whites certainly redefine my standards of climbing evaluation. They are grand, and beautiful and big, very very big with steep slopes that just seem to climb forever. It looked like rain was going to be in the immediate future and as I climbed up the ridgeline that connects Franconia ridge to another whites ridgeline I was not able to glance back and take in yesterday¢s accomplishments because they were deep in darkening cloud cover. Still fresh from all that was wonderful yesterday though, I was buoyant, downright springing my way up hills. Also speaking of springs, I found a bunny! He hopped right out in front of me, took a hew bounces down the trail, turned and posed for his photo-shoot then retreated back to the underbrush. It¢s always good when nature cooperates the way I want it to. I got lucky and the rain held off for most all my hiking today. The whites have great diversity of terrain and it is fun to see the way the AT zig zags it¢s way between ridgelines trying to make linear path featuring the highlights while borrowing from all the other trail systems. By the way there are few to no white blazes in the whites and most of the signs do not mention the AT at all unless a previous through hiker went at them with a sharpie. Many a thru hiker has hiked endless hours down the wrong path because of this and it results in much general grumblings.More hills and hiking with new rock formations and views of the next valley to be crossed. I have to say that while the weather means I am not getting the views others had, there is something very ethereal and calming about the way the clouds move through the mountains and creep into valleys. Today I made good time despite my ankles and knees being pretty well trashed. More and more I¢m having to slide on my but going downhill as it is simply too painful to make the step down and I no longer trust my joints to hold me and not buckle in pain. Well one bound across a creek and I get a surprise of some familiar looking figure I couldn¢t quite place. Skunkape! All shaved and trimmed down though. Weird, very weird. Without their mammoth grizzly beards all the guys out here are starting to look very thin. Rejoicing in meeting again we caught up briefly. But I had to get to the hut just below where I was greeted enthusiastically by my friend bev. Who totally could not recognize me by the way. It took until the awkwardness of a skinny stranger smiling ear to ear making a beeline for you before it sunk in. ah ha! Joy! This was such a good meeting and I so loved getting to hang out with her as it had been almost a year since we last spoke in person. Unfortunately there were health concerns with the pooch accompanying them on the trip (best wishes!) so we only briefly were able to meet and there was no hiking. All the while that looming storm had moved in and it was down pouring, the spray soaking everyone on the hut¢s porch steps. Thank you Bev for making the trip and for the goodies you brought. Fresh food is so so appreciated. With the monsoon happening outside skunkape and I begged for work for stay although it was still early in the day. Thank you hut keepers for having pity on us and for feeding us so well later that night. This is my first night in a hut and it is certainly a different experience. It took me a lot of time to adjust to the noise level and all the people. And it¢s always a little weird to try to not be in the way but also engaging with the paying guests. There were five of us here tonight and we certainly enjoyed each other¢s company. Just to give you a hint of how far gone we are on normal social acceptability, I think we spent a good half hour talking about the major source of entertainment out here which is trying to go to the bathroom, getting caught going to the bathroom, and general stories of worse case scenarios. We all have fun stories and the grins were wide and the laughter genuine. Good I love this group. BTW on the AT you will always always need to pee in the most inconvenient spot without cover. It will always be an emergency. And despite the fact that you have literally not seen any evidence of human life for five hours until right at the moment you drop your pants and everyone and their mother comes through. Sigh. Late night with the guests of the hut staying up late but as I listened to the ceaseless rain outside doing its best to drown the world, I was very happy to be indoors and know that I would not be wet in the morning.