| 7/4/99 | It's the 4th of July and I plan to celebrate it by crossing the Maine-New Hampshire state line. I crossed some brutal terrain to do it. It was rugged vertical ascents and decents. But at 11:00 EST Wild Child, Kermit and I had a state line party. 5 northbounders ended up joining us. We sat there for a good half hour talking the trail. The rest of the day was hot. At 2:30 I pulled in to a lean-to to get out of the sun and rest before I did another 5 miles. With 9 miles out of the way I was feeling a bit discouraged. It took me a good part of the day to go the nine miles. I was hot, sore and tired. The lean-to faced a spectacular view of the mountains and was close to a pond to bathe in. It was a great 2 hour break. At 4:30 I moved out to do the last 5 miles to the campsite. Fortunately it was an easy 5. I was still tired and beat by the time I got close to the campsite and saw a small blueberry patch growing right next to the trail. I sat down in the middle of the trail, using my pack as a backrest and popped blueberries into my mouth while I watched the fading sun. When I was rejuvenated, I went on to the campsite. Magnet was already there and the others straggled in over a short period of time. What a way to spend the 4th! A way to celebrate our independence and freedom to disagree. |
| 7/5/99 | It rained with fierce lightning early this morning. About 4:30. It got some of my stuff damp or wet. With my final push of 5 miles yesterday it put me 7 miles from town, and FOOD! I literally finished my last remnants of food, 3 granola bars, during that 7 mile stretch. I was a man with a mission and fortunately the trail was smooth. I made it to the road by 11:00 and into The Barn, a hostel, by 11:30. With a quick shower and the others showing up, we made our way to the only buffet in town- chinese. We were greeted at the door by the owner and he sat a full pitcher of water on our table. He made sure the buffet was full and we did our best to empty it. So now here I sit enjoying the rest of the day. The Barn is really a glorified 2 story garage. The beds are in the loft and they have a small kitchen and living room downstairs. The atmosphere is lazy and friendly. Hikers tend to get stuck here for a couple of days. I will probably be one. It is supposed to be real hot tomorrow and I haven't slept in a bed since Monson and hadn't had a full day off yet. Tomorrow will probably be that day. Hey Rich, the atmosphere here is like a drop-zone after a good day jumping on a Saturday. Everyone in good spirits and in no hurry to go anywhere. |
| 7/6/99 | I took a Zero-Day. Which means I took a day off. It is my first honest to goodness day off. I have had some light days, 3 miles or so, but never a complete day off. I spent it in the town of Gorham, NH at a hostel called the Barn. It was extremely crowded with hikers and the evening turned into a party scene. The town also had free live music in their park, which a couple of us attended. It was a great restful care-free day. |
| 7/7/99 | I started into the White Mountains today. I was dropped off at the trail head with Crazy Dave around 10:00am. You might recognize Crazy Dave from some earlier entries. He is usually a fast pace hiker and he had pulled ahead of me by a number of days. Well his pace caught up with him and he needed to take a number of days off in Gorham. We covered about 11 miles today and wanted to cover a little more, but we were forewarned that where we had planned to stop to camp was now a protected area. Evidently a lot of other hikers had the same thing in mind. This part of the trail is maintained by the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club). Hikers affectionately call them the Appalachian Money Club, because this is the only stretch of the trail where all the shelters and camp sites cost money to stay. They even have huts spaced out along the trail. The huts are take offs of the European mountain huts. They feed you dinner and breakfast as well as a shelter. It costs $50 though. If you're lucky you can do a work-for-stay, you do a couple of hours of work and you get to stay for free. The only true free way is "stealth camping". This is when you camp 200 feet off the trail and below the tree line so no one can see you. That's what Crazy Dave and I have done for tonight. We are camped just north of South Carter Mountain. |
| 7/8/99 | Crazy Dave and I went 15 miles today. The Wild Cats were very steep to descend. There were a couple of times I went skidding down the sheer granite faces on my butt. That wasn't by choice either. We passed the Pinkham Notch visitor center. Paul from the Barn dropped off a package for me at the visitor center. This way I didn't have to carry all the extra weight across the 22 miles to the visitor center. The visitor center was like a ski resort. It had a snack shop and gift shop, people walking around with high dollar fashion outdoor wear. We moved on to Osgood campsite. I met Oz and Crocket there. The Osgood campsite is one of the last free designated camp sites. It rained on and off all day. The evening looks good though. |
| 7/9/99 | Today I finished an important stretch of trail. I finished a good part of the Northern Presidentials. I climbed up Madison and the wind gusts easily reached 30 mph. The 4 of us, Crazy Dave, Oz, Crocket and I, stepped into the Madison Hut. The huts have an all you can eat box. This one had gorp bars. It was a great source of sugar energy. We moved on to Mt Washington. Mt Washington gets 1 clear day out of every 4. The Lord blessed me with a perfect day to summit. As I approached the summit the clouds lifted. I was on top with a fantastic view. It was unbelievable. After a late lunch break I moved the 1.4 miles to the Lake of the Clouds Hut. It is a crowded place, but I have been fortunate enough to get a work for stay. Which means I get a bunk and food in exchange for some work. It was an absolute fantastic day. It was only a 10 mile day, but a lot of ridge running. I took so many pictures, even though I know they won't even come close to showing its true beauty. |
| 7/10/99 | For dinner in the hut last night we had chili. We also had some trail magic. Since the Lake of the Clouds hut is so close to the summit, some weekenders rode the cog rail system up the mountain and hiked the 1.4 miles down to the hut with cases of beer. They couldn't drink it all. They gave it to the staff. The staff and the thru-hikers had a variety of beer for diner. Then we sat around after dinner drinking and swapping jokes. It was a good time. In the morning the thru-hikers helped clean-up and we were on our way. The wind gusts of 40-50 mph tossed us around. The clouds went whipping by. It was completely different from yesterday. It was ok though since I got the views yesterday, I didn't feel so bad today about seeing the cloud banks. Crocket, Oz and I only went 5 miles to the next hut, Mizpah Spring Hut. We broke for lunch and the dry warm atmosphere was getting to me. I pulled out my maps and contemplated the next 9 miles that I had planed for the day. It is only 60 miles to Glencliff, which is where I told people to send packages. I could easily make it in 6 days. Averaging 10 miles a day. I have the food, I have the time, screw it I am stopping for the day. Nap Time! Oz and I asked about the work for stay and got hooked up for the night. Crocket wanted to cover more ground and pushed on. I know I only covered 5 miles today, but stopping early felt good. If a thru-hiker stays in huts for most the Whites and even covers short distances to do it he is known as a "Hut Slut". It's not a negative term, just derogatory. To help solidify my decision to cut my day short it's raining off and on, and the wind is still blowing. I'll push on tomorrow. Tonight it's a warm bed and a hot meal for another work for stay. |
| 7/11/99 | Today I left the Northern Presidential Mountain range. The difficulty is in the weather, not the terrain. The range did spoil me though. Fantastic mountain views almost everyday. I only went 10 miles today. I am setting myself up distance and schedule wise. I don't want to have to hit a couple of major climbs in one day. I have been on the trail now for 31 days with 1 day off. I am averaging 11.2 miles a day. Not too bad considering I wanted to average 12 miles a day. I am also finishing up some of the most difficult part of the trail. Maine being the most (done) and New Hampshire being the 2nd (almost done). Everyone that I have talked to said that I will be able to cruise after New Hampshire. Then the trail gets difficult again in Tennessee, but not as difficult as Maine. This will be important if I want to make it home for Thanksgiving. I will need to shave 3 weeks off my schedule. If I average 12 miles a day I will finish December 11th. The northbounders that I have talked to have said that was possible to do if I wanted to do high mileage days after New Hampshire. |
| 7/12/99 | The 5 miles in-between Ethan Pond Campsite and Zealand Falls hut was easy walking. I was surprised that I was able to keep a 2.5 mph pace. I put a dollar in for their AYCE baked goods box. I pulled out 2 of their largest pieces of carrot cake. The cake tasted great. It was so rich though that I didn't go back for more. I still had a long way to go and didn't want to make myself sick. I climbed Mt Guyot and South Twin Mtn. I came down to Galehead hut. I had heard from a northbounder that the staff there wasn't too friendly. Besides I was hoping to push on to the next campsite. I did take a look in their baked goods box. They only had pancakes from that mornings breakfast. I filled up with water and moved on the 2.5 miles to Garfield Campsite. The map showed it as being relatively flat. Well, it's not. It went up and down about 100 to 200 feet the entire way with a 500 foot climb at the end. I made to the site and dropped my pack into the large shelter. I made my way to the caretaker's tent and asked about a work for stay. Bruce, the caretaker, had me doing an hour of work brush cutting. I fixed dinner and stayed up talking to a local, Steve Sauyer. Not bad for a 14.5 mile day. Total trail miles 362.4 |
| 7/13/99 | I slept in later than I expected. I didn't get off until 8:15. The day was a good one. It was cool with high cirrus clouds to give protection from the sun, but not covering the mountain tops. I climbed Mt Garfield and had a fantastic 360 degree view. I could even see the top of Mt Washington. The hikers summiting today will be blessed with awesome views. I then crossed Francona Ridge, which comprised of Mt Lafayette, Mt Lincoln and Little Haystack Mtn. It is proclaimed as the best views on the trail. It did have some phenomenal views, but those making the claim must not have summited Mt Washington on a good day or even Spec Mtn in Maine for that matter. I am getting spoiled with all these mountain top views. They will be ending shortly. I did 13.2 miles to Lonesome Lake Hut. The southern most hut and the last one. I am doing a work for stay. It will get me out later tomorrow, but I might be taking a light day tomorrow. It will probably be a 6 mile day or a 15 mile day. The terrain is supposed to be pretty rough. I'll just wait and see. I have been hiking by myself for the last few days. Oz came down with a cold and took a day off and Crocket moved on to another site past Oz and I a couple of days ago. Today I caught up with Crocket doing a work for stay too. I haven't seen anyone else yet from the big gang of people that went into Gorham, which is good, it was getting a bit crowded. Crazy Dave looks to be a day ahead. I will probably catch him in a town. Total Trail Miles 375.6 |
| 7/14/99 | Crocket and I left the last AMC hut and moved on to FREE lean-tos again. We crossed North and South Kinsman Mtns and stopped at the first lean-to, Eliza Brook Lean-to. It made for a short day, but there won't be any good water sources to camp at until the next shelter, which is another 9 miles. The 9 miles isn't what intimidated us to stop early. It was the terrain. It is extremely rough and rocky. It just makes it extremely slow going and we didn't roll into Eliza until 1:30. We would have probably hit Beaver Brook Lean-to after dark. I am in no hurry. So we stopped early to enjoy the brook and have a fire. I haven't swam or had a fire since Maine and I am almost out of New Hampshire. We had lunch and talked about home and our past lives "in the real world". Two section northbounders rolled in, Double-Nickel and Flying Wing-Nut. They are two retired gentleman out to complete the trail. It will be a good evening. 5.9 miles today, Total Trail Miles 381.5 |
| 7/15/99 | Last night it turned out we had a full house. Slim pulled in at dusk and 2 more section hikers came in along with another northbounder. We had 8 people there. Crocket and I left about 6:45am. We did a great day of hiking. Covered 15.9 miles and the "last real mountain" for NH. We had heard all these horror stories from the northbounders about it. They haven't seen anything yet. They will know more about pain when they get to Maine. The real sad part is now our mountain views will be few and far between. Crocket and I will hit Glencliff's post office tomorrow. We are hoping to pop in and out of town and do about 8 miles tomorrow. It should be an easy day. The temperatures are heating up. They are supposed to get hotter. Fortunately the nights are still pretty cool. Total Trail Miles 397.4 |
| 7/16/99 | Crocket and I did the short 1.1 miles from the lean-to to the road leading to Glencliff. We walked the .5 miles to the post office and I picked up my letter from my parents. Crocket picked up his resupply boxes. It took him about 2 hours to go through his boxes and to pack them up. I used all of that time to upload and download email. I tried to respond to everyone who sent me a message. If I missed someone I apologize. It wasn't intentional. I had a couple emails bounce back to me. They said they couldn't be delivered. We then hit the hostel that was in town. They sold some hiking food and you guessed it, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. I picked up a pint of Health Bar Crunch and enjoyed all 1,250 calories. We made our way out of town about 11:00. It was a hot day, in the 90's according to the weather forecast. There is a heat wave hitting the entire region. We only went 2 miles to a pond when we decided to take another break. We went swimming and snacked while we waited for the heat of the day to pass. We finally left about 2:00 and moved across nice dirt trails to the Atwell Hilton, 6 miles away. We reached it just before 5:00. It's a house that the forest service owns, but is condemned. A very famous trail angel, Dizzy B., comes and provides beer and cokes to the hikers that are camped there every night. She has been doing it since '95 when her cousin hiked the trail and she never stopped. She also puts out jugs of water at the trail head, which is great because this part of the trail is pretty dry. According to the northbounders, pretty dry all the way to Hanover. Dizzy B. didn't disappoint me last night. She showed up with her cooler and with a couple of jars of dilly beans and pickled fiddleheads. We scarfed them down without a problem. Slim had caught back up to us and 4x4, another southbounder, stayed the night too. We had 2 northbounders come in for a total of 6 thru-hikers. It was a good evening. I am only planning on 12 miles tomorrow, which should take 6 hours. There is another lake close by. So I am planning a late start and then an early swim. I should roll into Smart's Mtn before dark. It will be another hot one that's for sure. |
| 7/17/99 | After spending a good evening at the Atwell Hilton and Dizzy B.'s trail magic we all got off to a late start, even those that wanted to get up early. Slim, Crocket and I slept in, had a long breakfast, and then took our time to walk the 2 miles to 25A. We went the .2 miles down the road to a great beach. It was Saturday and the locals were out in force. We had some other trail magic there. A couple of section hikers were getting resupplied and had too much food, so they gave it to us. We ate well there on the beach and some other locals gave us some soft drinks. We finally left about 2:00 and the heat was still bad. We only covered 6 more miles. A total of 8 for the day. We stopped short from our planned 12 mile day when some Northbounders told us that there wasn't any water where we wanted to camp. So we cut our day short and stopped by water. It cooled off in the evening and we had a good evening. Total Trail Miles 414.6 |
| 7/18/99 | After having such a problem with heat yesterday Crocket and I got up early and left to summit Smart's mtn at 7:00. We covered the 4 miles to the summit in record time, about 3 mph pace. Which isn't right. They must have the mileage off. We went up the fire tower on top, but the humidity was so bad we didn't get any real view. We just saw a white haze that reminded me of smog by the way it hung in the valleys. We covered 10.2 miles to Trapper John's Lean-to by 12:15. We then sat out the heat of the day and had lunch and a siesta. We left to finish the 6.3 miles to Moose Mtn. Lean-to. The 2nd part of the day was still hot and a small thunder cell drizzled a little rain on one slope, which increased it's humidity level. We rolled into the lean-to soaked with sweat and exhausted from the draining heat. The weather reports keep calling for a cold front to roll through tonight and cool things off. We all wait in anxious anticipation. Slim is going to wait for a package in Hanover and he was going to take it easy hiking there, but he ended up rolling into the shelter a couple of hours behind us. He is talking about going into town and just waiting there. Today we did 16.5 miles, Total Trail Miles 431.1 |
| 7/19/99 | With a 7:30 start and flat terrain, I averaged 3 mph on the first 6 miles. It got a little hilly for the last 4 miles and my pace slowed to 2 - 2.5 mph. Crocket and I strolled into town and the sky started to grey. We hit the Ben & Jerry's ice creamery and ordered the famous white-blaze. It was a chocolate coffee flavored shake with whipped cream and sprinkles on top. It was good, but not worth it's price. I would have rather bought a pint of ice-cream. We then hit the post office. My package hadn't arrived yet and Crocket's was there waiting for him. His previous mail drop provided him with so much food that he split it up and forwarded it down the trail. We then made our way to the Panarky fraternity house. There are 3 designated fraternities that provide free shelter for thru-hikers. The Panarky had a sign out front saying they weren't taking any more thru-hikers for the day. Crocket and I didn't want to stay at the Tabard. It is known for its party atmosphere. We then made our way to the 3rd designated fraternity, but stopped a house too soon. We stopped at Phi Tau's house. We got to the door and it had now started to rain. I rang the door bell and a girl answered with a surprised look. I asked if they take thru-hikers. She said she didn't know and to hold on. I immediately knew we had stopped at the wrong house. She came back and said yes. With that, Crocket and I stepped inside this large comfortable house. They allowed us to take showers and do laundry. We got talking to one of the fraternity guys about Crocket's boots. The seams were pulling apart and they were starting to rub his feet. Crocket called the manufacturer and they were going to replace the boots for free, he just had to get to an outfitter. So, this guy drives us to a large outfitter in a nearby town but they didn't have any boots by the manufacturer. We came back and hung out and rested. Tomorrow we will go to Dartmouth's Outdoor Co-op. We lucked out with going to the wrong fraternity house. What a great place to stay. |
| 7/20/99 | We stopped off at the grocery store for breakfast. We picked up donuts,bananas and a quart of milk. That was just my breakfast. On the way back to the house I stopped at the post office and my package was there. My mother had sent some other goodies in with my walkman that I requested. We then ate our breakfast at the park out front of Dartmouth. It was a beautiful day. The front had pushed through and cooled things off and got rid of the humidity for awhile. We then made our way to the Co-op. They didn't have the boots either. They called the manufacturer and they were going to send them overnight. I went ahead and stayed in town and took a zero-day. Hanover is a good town to take a day off in and the Phi Tau's have been so hospitable that a day off wouldn't be bad. I tried a couple of times to get in touch with a family friend but we kept missing each other. |
| 7/21/99 | Crocket and I made our way to the grocery store again for breakfast. This time we didn't eat so much. We ate in front of the Co-op waiting for it to open and waiting for the UPS truck. We were finishing up breakfast when the truck rolled past and made his stops. We then went in to find out that the boot weren't on this truck and that they actually might be in tomorrow. With that, Crocket and I sighed a disheartening sigh and left. I told Crocket that I could take a day off but going into 2 days wasn't good with so many miles ahead and a deadline of Thanksgiving. He understood and told me he would try to catch up once his boots were in. I left town a little after 11:00. It's a road walk out of town. I crossed over into Vermont and kept cruising. The terrain is rolling hills and packed dirt trails. Quite pleasant to travel on. I made it 14.6 miles to the 2nd shelter and met an older southbounder by the name of Log-Jumpper and a northbounder. It felt good to be back in the woods. Total trail miles 456.5 |