Thursday, 8\/13 – Monday, 8\/17<\/p>\n
Thursday, 8\/13
\nAT Miles = 12.9 \/ 1818.6
\nOther Miles = 0.8 \/ 58.9
\nTotal Miles = 13.7 \/ 1877.5<\/p>\n
Friday, 8\/14
\nAT Miles = 11.8 \/ 1830.4
\nOther Miles = 0 \/ 58.9
\nTotal Miles = 11.8 \/ 1889.3<\/p>\n
Saturday, 8\/15
\nAT Miles = 14.0 \/ 1844.4
\nOther Miles = 0 \/ 58.9
\nTotal Miles = 14.0 \/ 1903.3<\/p>\n
Sunday, 8\/16
\nAT Miles = 7.1 \/ 1851.5
\nOther Miles = 0 \/ 58.9
\nTotal Miles = 7.1 \/ 1910.4<\/p>\n
Monday, 8\/17
\nAT Miles = 7.8 \/ 1859.3
\nOther Miles = 0 \/ 58.9
\nTotal Miles = 7.8 \/ 1918.2<\/p>\n
Miles to Katahdin = 319.0<\/p>\n
My apologies to everyone for dropping off the face of the earth. It
\nhas been impossible for me to post to my blog because my phone died
\nwhen it got soaking wet in a thunder and lightning storm last Tuesday
\nwhile I was climbing South Kinsman. That was the last day I blogged
\nabout, using my laptop while staying at the home of my new friends,
\nDave and Pam. Dave picked me up in Franconia Notch and I spent two
\nnights at their home, enjoying their hospitality, doing all of my town
\nchores, drying my boots, and resting up for the next legof my hike.<\/p>\n
Pam dropped me off back at Franconia Notch bright and early on
\nThursday morning, and I climbed up the very steep Liberty Springs
\nTrail until I reached the Franconia Ridge Trail. The forecast promised
\nclearing weather, and the morning was a mixture of cloud and clearing
\nbits which gave me hope for a fair weather day. As I walked along the
\nFranconia and then the Garfield Ridges I passed over a few of the 4000
\nfooters: Little Haystack at 4760′, Mt Lincoln at 5089′, Mt Lafayette
\nat 5249′, and Mt Garfield at 4488′.<\/p>\n
Just past the summit of Mt Garfield I reached the Garfield Ridge
\nCampsite where I stopped to eat lunch. About 10 minutes into my break
\nit started to rain, so I packed up my things, put the rain cover on my
\npack, and started hiking again. From here the trail descended down
\nuntil it looked like it crossed a brook just before it goes over a
\nwaterfall, but looking across the brook I could see no trail. Slowly
\nthe realization dawned that the waterfall actually is the trail! From
\nthe campsite to Galehead Hut is only 2.7 trail miles, and it took me
\nover 2 1\/2 hours to walk it. Mostly, that’s because you can’t actually
\nwalk the trail. You climb the trail. You clamber down wet rocks and
\nboulders, holding onto small trees, cracks in the rock, and whatever
\nelse you can find. After I got down the waterfall the trail turned up
\nagain as it climbed to Galehead Hut. The rain was coming down harder
\nand harder, and the trail up to the hut was running a small white
\nwater stream. The water was ankle deep and certainly didn’t improve
\ntraction on the rocks. I arrived at Galehead Hut about 4:30 and was
\ngrudgingly granted work-for-stay by the unfriendly croo* there.<\/p>\n
The next day the weather was much better, and after a very meager
\nbreakfast — 5 pancakes and a bowl of cold leftover oatmeal, split
\nbetween three hungry thru-hikers — I set off for Ethan Pond Campsite.
\nA bit after noon I reached Zealand Falls Hut and spent a couple of
\nhours sitting on the porch eating lunch and relaxing while my boots
\ndried out a little bit in the sun. About 2:00 I left the Hut and hiked
\nthe remarkably flat and smooth 5 miles to Ethan Pond. What a joy it
\nwas to be able to stride along at full speed! I had a relaxing evening
\nat Ethan Pond chatting with a group from Harvard Medical School that
\nwas out for three days. I also did my laundry and took a sponge bath,
\nwhich I hadn’t been able to do at the hut.<\/p>\n
From Ethan Pond, on Saturday, I made the 3 mile descent into Crawford
\nNotch, crossed the Saco River, and made the ridiculously steep ascent
\nto the Webster Cliffs. Whew! It was tough, slow going to Mizpah Spring
\nHut, where I took a 30 minute break for lunch. Then I pushed on up to
\nLakes of the Clouds Hut, which sits just below the summit of Mt
\nWashington. I got work-for-stay again at the hut, and they sure did
\nmake us work for the privilege of sleeping in the dining room and
\neating left-overs. I swept floors, cleared and washed tables, set
\ntables, cleared and washed them again, swept and scrubbed more floors,
\nand folded 300 blankets in the morning. In return for this we got a
\npretty good dinner, eating leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, green
\nbeans, and three bean salad. The breakfast was quite meager, though.
\nAll we got was a few pancakes and some farina.<\/p>\n
On Sunday I had a short day planned as a bit of a reward. I left Lakes
\nof the Clouds Hut and made the short climb to the summit of Mt
\nWashington. I spent a couple of hours hanging around here and eating
\nin the visitor center, then I left for the 6 mile hike to Madison
\nSpring Hut. The hike was remarkably difficult, andd I was more tired
\nthan I expected when I arrived. I asked if they had any bunks left as
\nI was intending to pay for a bunk and thus get a full dinner and a
\nfull breakfast, and not have to wait until all the paying guests had
\neaten and then eat left overs, but they were full and the best I could
\ndo was to get work-for-stay again.<\/p>\n
I had a big day planned for Monday; the 8 miles down to Pinkham Notch,
\nthen the 6 miles up and over the four peaks of Wildcat Mountain and
\nfinally to Carter Notch Hut. Alas, it was not to be. The trail down to
\nPinkham Notch was steep and rocky, and my knees rebelled from the
\npounding they had been taking through the Whites. It took me 5 1\/2
\nhours to hobble down into Pinkham Notch, and it was clear I would be
\ngoing no further for a while. I called Jodi and asked her to drive up
\nto Pinkham Notch and pick me up. We got home last night and I have
\nspent today sleeping late, eating, napping, eating some more, and
\nnapping even more.<\/p>\n
All in all I was remarkably lucky with the weather through the White
\nMountains. Over the weekend, while I was above tree line and climbed
\nthe summit of Washington and on over the peaks and down into Pinkham
\nNotch, the weather was better than anyone has a right to expect up
\nthere. For something like 270 days a year the summit of Washington is
\nfogged in, but when I was there it was sunny and warm and calm. I am
\nsure there are people that climb the mountain year after year and
\nnever have such good weather. Yet, I resented every moment of my
\nhiking in the Whites. To me it is all just a huge obstacle between
\nwhere I am and where I want to be, which is at the end of this hike.
\nBurnout and fatigue, I guess. And there is plenty of tough going ahead
\nof me. Sigh.<\/p>\n
No, I am not giving up. I have 319 miles to go, and I intend to finish
\nthem all. But I am home for a few days, and rethinking my strategy. I
\nam trying to figure a way to slack-pack as much of the rest of the
\ntrail as possible. I am worn down physically, and I don’t see myself
\nhauling my full backpack for another 4 weeks through this very tough
\nterrain. I am not sure exactly when I will be back out on the trail,
\nbut it won’t be long; a few days at the most.<\/p>\n
Oh, while I was staying at Dave and Pam’s house I did get photos * Croo – the traditional spelling for the crew that works at any of Thursday, 8\/13 – Monday, 8\/17 Thursday, 8\/13 AT Miles = 12.9 \/ 1818.6 Other Miles = 0.8 \/ 58.9 Total Miles = 13.7 \/ 1877.5 Friday, 8\/14 AT Miles = 11.8 \/ 1830.4 Other Miles = 0 \/ 58.9 Total Miles = 11.8 \/ 1889.3 Saturday, 8\/15 AT Miles = 14.0 \/ 1844.4 Other Miles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-at_thru_hike"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/allenf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/allenf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/allenf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/allenf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/allenf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/allenf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":643,"href":"http:\/\/allenf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions\/643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/allenf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/allenf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/allenf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nuploaded for the section between Hanover and Franconia Notch. They can
\nbe found here: http:\/\/picasaweb.google.com\/affreeman1959\/ATHanoverNHToFranconiaNotchNH#<\/a><\/p>\n
\nthe AMC huts in the White Mountains.
\n—
\n~~~~~
\nAllen F. Freeman
\nallen@allenf.com<\/a>
\nwww.allenf.com<\/a>
\nallenf.blogspot.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"