(start 7:50. finish 5:20. @ lost pond shelter. 14.8 miles. Tent)
Watched hang over last night. 'we dont remember anything from last night, remember?'
The present is called the present because it's a gift. Unwrap that b•tch and start enjoying it.
Decent day of hiking. I got dropped off at the trailhead with Beth and good foot by Jeff (owner of hostel) at 7:50. Hiked up to the summit of mt Bromley 3 miles, 1400 feet up before 9. Then it started pouring and lightning. So lucky for me and Beth that mt Bromley (a ski resort) keeps a little building open for hikers, so chilled in there. Good foot was a little slower and got soaked. That always sucks. We spent a whole day dry and clean at the hostel, did laundry, took a shower, fresh and clean, and poor dude gets soaked within the first 2 hours back on the trail. I waited about 40 minutes and the rain stopped so I was relatively dry. The mud on the AT up here is crazy so my feet are wet and dirty again, already. But everything else is dry so no complaints from me. I'm really tempted to come home. I could be having great times with family, watching the tour de France, riding my bike; but I can do all those things all the other months so I'm pretty sure I'm gonna stick this out.
It was cool for me today because where I started hiking was where I attempted a winter hike two Christmases ago, attempted being the key word. So almost two years ago, I left a day or two after Xmas (keeping christ out of that materialistic holiday that he probably wouldn't approve of) to hike, snow shoe for a few days. So I made the drive up in decent time. I think it took me like 5-6 hours to get to Manchester Center. However once I got there, I drove all over trying to find the trailhead. It probably took about an hour of driving around the town to find it. And the only problem was that I read the map wrong. So anyway, it was starting to get dark. I parked my car, got my gear together, put my snow shoes on and started hiking. The plan was to sleep at Bromley shelter which is exactly 2 miles from the parking lot and it's about 700 feet uphill, not too bad. I wound up having to hike in the dark which wasn't too bad either. So i finally get to the shelter with a little feeling of accomplishment and a little nervousness about my first serious winter trip. I set my stuff up and realize that i forgot my sleeping bag in my car. Doh! So 2 miles down 700 feet and then back 2 miles up 700 feet.
Now its really night time. I hiked with my head lamp. And on the way back up I noticed that the stream was freezing. I dont know what the temperature was that night unfortunately but it has to be pretty cold for moving water to freeze.
So I'm finally in my sleeping bag and for some reason i decide to read a book- The Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner by Dean Karnazes. It was awesome. I couldn't stop reading. The next thing I knew it was 3 AM.
I didn't wake up until noon. I knew I was in a little bit of trouble. I contemplated staying in that shelter and just starting the next day. The plan was to hike 8.2 miles to the next shelter. I thought it was possibly doable and I was hella-fired up from the book that i just went for it. Ernt. Bad decision. 8.2 miles in the summer would take less than 4 hours. But I now know snow shoeing is much, much slower.
I was moving super slow and it was difficult to find the trail sometimes. it was getting dark and I was nowhere close to the shelter. It was freezing cold. It was starting to snow heavily. It was so cold that after a few hours of hiking, the water in my water bottle was frozen solid from being on the outside of my pack. I had to hike with the bottle under my down jacket to thaw it out.
So I was very nervous and beaten mentally. I was about to set my tent up in the midst of the snow storm when I heard snow mobiles. Ahhh yes. I went a little farther and there was a woods road. I waited by it. They stopped for me and asked me what the hell I was doing out there and then gave me a ride back to my car. So my first winter attempt, I lasted about 24 hours. I'm not proud but it's pretty funny.
7/4
(start 9:30. finish 6:40. at Minerva Hinchey shelter. 14.9 miles)
I'm feeling weak. The miles are hard to do. My feet hurt. I'm missing the 4th of July BBQ.
In the moment of weakness play rocky songs... In the burning heart. In the warrior's code theres no surrender. Your body cries stop. Your spirit screams never!!
Tonight at the shelter there was a wilderness camp of 8 girls and 2 counsellors. They were so cute. All full of energy and curiosity. They asked tons of questions. Song lots of songs. Cooked up s'mores. Cool group.
Today i came across an older dude that looked real familiar and as he kept talking (which he did a lot of) I realized I met him two years ago while hiking on the AT in NY. I remembered him because he was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and he always had cool stories. Cool dude.
I also got to canoe a little bit at Little Rock pond. I canoed across the pond and chilled and ate lunch on this huge rock formation overlooking the pristine mountain pond.
7/5
(start 9:15 finish 7:15 @ cooper lodge shelter. 15.2 miles )
This morning I had an alarm clock of 8 squirrely little girls playing- "Oh Big booty. big booty big booty big booty. Big booty number 1. Number 1 number 3..." these girls were great. So full of life and high spirits. They have been out for days grinding out the miles and they were still squirrely.
Sometimes while walking through the woods I hear these very weird noises. And at those times I can't help but to be very thankful that I don't have to be worried about being hunted by veloca raptors. You know?!?! They're guile little buggers. They hunt in threes. The first one gets your attention to distract you while the other two work on flanking you. It would definitely make hiking much more stressful. Thanks Ice Age.
Had a great breakfast at whistle stop- The Works- 2 eggs, home fries, toast, French toast, a pancake, 2 sausages. Mmmmm
My feet have been dry all day. Out of 20 days this might be the 2nd or 3rd time that has happened. It feels nice. I was actually contemplating buying new, waterproof boots. Not any more. I will continue to cheap it out.
This shelter is .2 miles below the summit of Mt Killington. I dropped my pack and walked the blue blaze trail up to the peak and it was amazing. It's probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen (the only two things that rival it are the views I had in Colorado on Mt. Elbert and the views from Old Rag in Shenandoah). The sun was on the horizon so the sky was a mix of blue and red. The sky was clear, so I could see forever. The mountains very plentiful and big. It was awesome. I should have ate dinner up there.
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