Date: 2007-09-07
From: Glencliff

To: Kinsman Notch
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: few clouds

September 7, MoosilaukeHappy birthday, Tiffany!Well, the hiking was short today but, man, was it eventful.Fat Chapp drove us to South Woodstock for breakfast at Peg's and then we picked up some lunch at Wayne's. We got on the trail at noon, headed southbound, per Fat Chapp's recommendation. I had to stop after about ten minutes to figure out why my legs were getting dripped on. Turns out my Nalgene cantene (the second one in a few weeks) had sprung a leak. I threw it in a plastic bag and duct taped it and carried on.The climb up Moosilauke was pretty intense. The first two miles were straight up on rocks and wooden stairs nailed into the rocks. There was rebar for gripping and, in one place, a rope to pull yourself up. The whole first part of the climb was along a creek and waterfalls - beautiful! It was definitely a tough climb. In fact, there were signs posted saying not to take the trail if you are not an experienced hiker because it could lead to tragic outcomes. Wow. The three of us decided to stick together for the day for safety reasons so Melk was leading us up the climb.After the first two miles, we were still going up but not quite as steeply. My shins were hurting me quite a bit as they have been for a few days. I'm wondering if I have shin splints.We got to the summit and took a break with Google and Sunshine who we had just run into this morning for the first time since Delaware Water Gap.The summit was pretty neat - it was the first time we've been above treeline on the entire trail. Very neat. I sort of felt like I was walking on the moon or Mars. I was extremely thankful for the fact that I was above treeline and I didn't even have to add a layer. How great is that? It's like a Christmas miracle!So we sat there for a while and then decided to get moving. We headed down the mountain like a big game of Follow the Leader, none of us really paying close attention. Probably about two miles later, we realized there was no way we were on the AT. We hadn't seen any blazes and the trail looked nothing like what Google and Sunshine had relayed. But it was no big deal. We pulled out the maps and determined we were on a trail to a lodge just down the mountain and we figured we could call the hostel and get picked up from there.So we kept hiking. We did decide we should load up on water so we stopped to collect water in a stream along the way. Ronin and Melk both asked to use my SteriPen so I pulled it out and got it ready to go. And then I noticed the UV lamp was full of water. Broken. Another piece of gear bites the dust. I didn't take it very well, what with all of the other gear breakdowns I've been having.So we moved on and made it to the lodge finally. The Dartmouth Outing Club was using the lodge and we couldn't use the phone so our only choice was to hike a mile and a half to the road and hope we could either hitch or get cell service and call the hostel for a ride. We were starting to feel pretty desperate.We made it to the road and started hitching because we had no cell service. People sped up when they saw us, it was not looking good. We only knew one thing for certain and that was that Melk's parents were in North Woodstock. So we started walking in that direction even though it would be nine miles to town. We walked for about twenty minutes with about a dozen cars passing us. Then, finally, there was another car. They passed us an then stopped. It was a guy, his sister, and their cousin and they were headed to a wedding. They had great bluegrass music playing and were very friendly. We were very appreciative of the ride!We made it to town and surprised Melk's parents for dinner at the Woodstock Inn. After that, we headed back to the hostel for the night. It was a long day. None of us could believe we'd taken the wrong trail and the series of events that took place after that. But, we had good weather and that's all that really mattered. What an introduction to the Whites.- Don't recall the sounds.Post Trail Thoughts:It was a good day. I was so thankful to have entered the Whites and risen above treeline without freezing to death. It was actually a pretty comfortable day! I was also extremely thankful that the wonderful brother/sister/cousin team were willing to pick us up. I'm pretty sure we would all have lost our wits if we had to walk the nine miles to town. A really funny day made a little sad by the loss of my dear SteriPen. To this day, I still have a sample of that river in my closet - I really should get that fixed!