Date: 2015-07-17
From: Garfield Ridfe Shelter 

To: Ethan Pond Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: light rain

Unfortunately rose in the darkness of the early morning to go the the bathroom. It was very cold and I would have to manage getting off of the tent platform and making my way over boulders without waking up my fellow campers. This I accomplished successfully and received a pleasant surprise. The night was clear with low humidity. The trees had been removed to accommodate the tent platforms. There was an unobstructed view of the sky. The star field above shown brightly. There was an abundance of stars that I rarely see. What a treat this was to experience. Surrounded by the White Mountains looking up at the stars was a humbling experience and one I'm grateful to have had. Up before the sunrise I was able to experience the dawn from the comfort of my warm sleeping bag. My tent door faced east as the sun's orange glow illuminated the horizon. A great way to bring in the new day. Our platform was surrounded by people who came in during the evening. We sat quietly outside our tents enjoying coffee and the clear morning. As we prepared to leave we had the opportunity to meet other hikers starting their day. We had a magnificent day for hiking sunny and cool. Our big ascent for the day was South Twin Mountain a ~ 900 ft climb to 4900 ft. The trail was steep and challenging. I must pay attention to where I put my feet, poles and hands. For me it's "active" hiking. It requires my concentration not to slip or fall.   As I ascend I watch the trees. As they grow shorter I know that I am nearing the summit as I approach tree line. My effort increases as I get closer. The trail while strenuous and demanding was also beautiful. Sunlight filtered through the shorter trees giving a serene texture to the forest. It felt special to be there. At the summit there are 360 degree views. You can see a range mountains several layers deep moving out to the horizon. They are spectacular on a clear day such as this. We stopped at Galehead Hut just as the "croo"was finishing breakfast. I was pleased to see Ox who spent the night there. Obsolete and I had a second breakfast of pancakes. In return we washed dishes and folded bedding. More than a fair trade for us. We left refreshed and energized. We stopped to look at a view and somehow got turned around. We knew a long downhill was coming up but we were going uphill. We ran into Hey Jude and commented that he was going the wrong way. In fact it was us going in the right direction. I went through denial and then acceptance that I was going SoBo rather than NoBo. This is the 28 time in 18 weeks that I've taken a wrong turn. Hey Jude got us back on the right path. We continued with a long descent. We met many day hikers along the way. One Larissa was with a large group of woman. We had a nice chat with them. They were interested in our NoBo Thru Hike as they have not seen many of us yet. We received a rare compliment from Larissa. She said, "You smell remarkably good." This gave us all a good laugh. We stopped by Zealand Hut. There Tid Bit a Croo member was cooking and offered us some burnt cookies that he would not be able to sell. We ate them with enthusiasm. They would fuel us for the remainder of our hike today. Thank you Tid Bit. The trail turned uncharacteristically flat. We have not had trail like this in NH. It ran along a former railroad bed. We were able to up our pace and make up time. We arrived in camp just after 4pm. After setting up camp we planned our next resupply. Bad weather is forecasted which may delay us getting into town. We must cross Mt. Washington first. Heavy weather would keep us off of the mountain. Our food supply would be gone. Just then Four Trees a section hiker walked by. He was finishing his section and offered us some of his remaining food. Just enough to get us through. Thank you Four Trees!The evidence ending ended with dinner around a common kitchen site. Good conversation with fellow hikers ended our evening.