The Whites

Annmarie served us another good healthy breakfast and then Peter drove us back to the trail. On the way, we stopped and picked up "Grad School" and then dropped off all of our food at Chet's One Step at a Time Hostel. We did this because we were planning to hike from Kinsman Notch to Franconia Notch and stay at the hostel. Our bags felt super light (around 20 pounds) and after taking a zero we were feeling fairly rested. The climb up Mt Wolf was not bad at all. After lunch we climbed our second 4000 footer, South Kinsman Mountain. On our way to the notch we stopped at Lonesome Lake Hut for some water. One of the caretakers gave us dinner because they only had two guest that night and they had leftovers. She was also bribing us to stay with fireworks, good music, and beer. We had to push on with our food still in Lincoln. By the time we hit the road it was late and on a holiday (4th of July) hitching was going to be nearly imposable so we called a shuttle. Back at the hostel we met many more thur-hikers. It included "Patches", "Backflip", "Mile High", and "High Life" all of which we have hear of through the trail registers.

The events of the next morning were not expected but did not come completely out of the blue. Redwood woke up really not feel all that great. Over the past few days he had been experiencing major shifts in energy, headaches, a fever one night, and several large red rashes on his upper body. He needed to be checked out by a doctor because he was in no condition to go on and climb mountains. After some discussion he went to the doctors while "Grad School" and I (LEGO) would hike on.. After some more days of rest and still not feeling better he made the difficult decision to head home. More then 1800 miles into the trail is a huge accomplishment but for a thur-hiker it is hard to let go of the dream of Katahdin. Luckily the trail will be hear when Redwood is ready and health to finish it.

We left late but decided to do a big day anyway. The climbs in the White Mountains are not to be taken lightly. We climb up to Little Haystack 2200 feet over three miles then followed the ridge above tree line over Lincoln, and Lafayette. Then we dipped back through the trees and climbed steeply up and steeply down Garfield. We stopped at Galehead Hut to cook dinner and then finished with a climb over South Twin Mointain before descending to Zealand Falls Hut. After hitting over five peak higher then 4000 feet and going 19.6 miles my feet and knees called it quits. We rolled in the Zealand late with our head lamps on and slept on the porch.

Then next morning we talked to the caretackers at Zealand Hut and they were cool with letting us sweep the floors to work off our stay. In the Whites usually two thur-hikers can work-for-stay and get dinner and braekfrst leftovers for a short 30 minute job. That day there were six of us. After sweeping the floor we hiked the easy terrain to Crawford Notch and then climbed the steep and endless climb up into the Presidental Range to Misspah Hut. We left the hut around 4pm in hopes to make it to Lake of the Clowds Hut before an evening storm was predicted to come. We made it about one mile (on top of Mt Perice/Clinton) before we could see the ridge trail and the very dark clouds to the east. At this point the wind was gusting around 40-50 mph and we were above tree line and would have stayed above tree line until the next hut. We quickly made a decision that neither of us liked but knew was the smart one and we turned around and head back for Mizpah Hut. After some begging we were allowed to be the forth and fifth hikers to do work for stay. Total milage ended up only being 14.1 miles.

On the 7th I had some choices but Grad School had to make it to Gorham NH by Saturday before noon to pick up a mail drop. So we pushed to Pinkham Notch and did 19.4 miles across the entire Presidential Range. In the morning there were still heavy clouds and wind from last nights storm giving us no views. After a short break at Lake of the Clouds Hut we summited Mt Washington (6288 feet). As we descanted the mountain the clouds started to lift giving us a good views of the second half of the range. This was the most spectacular part of the entire AT. We walk for hours above tree line giving us 360 degree views the whole time. Once again we made a stop at a hut (Madison) and then started the long decent off the range down into the notch. This was one of the most painful descant we have done so far. We ended up stealth camping close to the road.

On the 8th, we wanted to get close to Gorham, NH so we could get in and out of town. As we left the notch, we climbed very steeply up to the Wildcat Mountain. This was more like rock climbing but with a full pack on your back. A few miles later we had another steep down and up to get to Carter Dome. From there the rest of the day was not easy but it was easier in comparison. We went over a few more peck and started the long descent toward town. We made the decision sometime in the afternoon that we would push the 1.8 mile past the last shelter and go in to town and stay in a hostel. The day ended up being 21.5 miles and now I have less then 300 miles to Katahdin.

LEGO