The compost heap at the Hikers Welcome is visited by large, fat, skunks who are not really disturbed by people taking their picture. They were cute in s skunky way.
I was woken at five by a really cheap sounding rooster alarm clock. It wasn't in the bunk room but downstairs in the common area. No one got up so I finally went looking for it. It turned out to be an Android tablet someone was charging. I guess they forgot about the alarm.
I was on trail leaving Glencliff by seven thirty, and took a blue blazer road walk to skip walking back down to the trail and crossing the creek. The road was good, I ran into three turkeys who were out for a morning stroll on it, and the trail was okay although a bit rocky when I rejoined it. The elevation rise wasn't bad, just long. I made the south peak summit by nine thirty and the trail turned into practically a sidewalk to the north peak and summit. I reached the summit by ten.
The trail down was a nightmare. Way too steep, crazy rocks and water spray from Beaver Creek Falls. The trail is badly eroded to boot. There were a lot of day hikers climbing it. I met Dane and another hiker slacking it south to Gelcliff hostel, made me wish I had done the same. Still, I made Kinsman Notch by one thirty. I can't believe ice finished 1800 miles of this trail. The shuttle picked me up me at two thirty and I finished resupply by four. And then I got to the hostel and realized I had left my hiking poles as the grocery store. Panic mode! I've carried those poles since Springer!
Twenty Names and Pan did my route with packs and are stealth camped at the Notch. Fox is in town somewhere, Ranger and Cat are at this hostel as is Squirrel. Tomorrow I'll slack pack to Franconia Notch. It will be a long day.
8/30/15 - Slackpacking to Franconia NotchSerena dropped us all off at Kinsman Notch trailhead and off we went. Squirrel, Lone Ranger and Cat are all carrying their full packs. I've got a long sixteen mile day with an added 0.9 side trail to the parking lot at the end.
I got out in front early and stayed there. The climb was very steep and I was glad I'd decided to slack it. At times it was hand over hand. I startled about five grouse, they must have been juveniles as they didn't fly off immediately.
As I was grinding out an uphill stretch, someone called my name. It was Blackout and Dora! They were stealth camped and I had walked right past them without seeing them. So nice to run into them again!
I had lunch at Eliza Brook shelter. It was built in 2010 and is very nice. The whole campsite is next to Eliza Brook, which could be a nice place to sit and bathe.
There were some nasty bogs a bit further on near Harrington Pond. The walkway boards were frequently sunk just below the mud and hard to see. Then the trail started up Kinsman Mountain. It was pretty steep and rocky.
Lonesome Pond hut after Kinsman was a surprise. It's an AMC hut and is very fancy. I'll stay at hits like this later so I stopped in to take a look. After the pond though, the trail gets really eroded again for a long ways, almost to the road. Still, I finished the section by five, only an hour after I wanted. The shuttle driver took me by McDonalds so I could get some supper before going to the hostel.
8/31/15 - Garfield Ridge shelterI got dropped off at the Liberty Springs trailhead parking lot at seven thirty. Unfortunately, the lot is 0.9 miles off the Trail. So I was actually on trail about eight. Almost immediately the trail became boulders and climbed steeply. And it stayed that way pretty much all day, either steep up or steep down. Really isn't a trail at all, just a marked area in the boulder field that people have walked on many times. And despite the forecast for sunshine, as I closed in on the Mt Lincoln summit, the clouds gathered and the wind picked up. By the time I got to the Mt Lafayette summit at noon, visibility was down to yards and the wind was hitting close to 40mph. In a crevice next to the trail, huddled against the wind, was a very miserable looking flying squirrel! I walked a bit further and found my own crevice and had lunch.
The trail so far has been close to non existent, just a boulder field with some minimal indication that people have walked through the area. The climbs are frequently hand over hand and the downs are nearly suicidally steep. It took eight hours to get ten miles. And tomorrow I have a fifteen mile stretch!
The shelter is full and there's folks tenting nearby. Most are weekend campers or college orientation campers. There are NOBOs here besides me, Little Prince and Little Mermaid. Lone Ranger and Cat and Squirrel got in just before dark.
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