Tue., June 25, 2019. Day 40/96. kinsman Pond Shelter. Trail mileage 1814.1. 44.1369N71.7326W. 4.0 miles. 3 hrs 20 mins. 1.2 mph. 1,254.0 / 938.0 to go.

Short hike today, though a mountain still to be climbed. I climbed Kinsman Mountain today. It was twice the climbing elevation of Wolf Mountain. It wasn’t as hard though. I think that I as because of fewer bogs and fewer bugs. It was technically hard, and had to use natural hand holds to go up and down. I enjoyed it.

I didn’t hike for very long and got to the shelter before it started to rain. This is the third time I have got to shelters before rain started. So much better than hiking in the rain. 

I didn’t hike very far today so that I could meet up with Tyler tomorrow morning at 10 am at Lonesome Lake. I am looking forward to it. I am hoping the weather is good so they do not have to hike in the rain. If it is raining, hopefully, Tyler will not make them hike and we can do it another day. I do not have phone reception, so I don’t have the forecast.

So far, at 5 pm I am the only person here. I believe others will still show up. It is always nice to have fewer rather than many.

I got about 6 days of blogs written and pictures listed. Very productive. I even snuck in a nap. 

The caretaker is Chief-Boy-RDee. Young guy. He was working hard on a cooking area when I got here. They charge $10 to stay here. You get a hikers card, then it is $5 at future shelters. Also at the huts you get a free bowl of soup and bread. Sounds like a good deal.

Shortly after arriving a young man, graduated from high school, with his parents came by. He works at the Lonesome Lake Hut. He cooks. I visited with them for about 20 minutes. He invited me to drop by tomorrow for some free food. He said not to use my card. I thought I got the soup and bread at each hut. Guess I will see.

Pictures:

1. Looking back from South Kinsman Peak. Furthest peak on right is Moosilauke that I hiked two days ago. Closer peak is Wolf Mountain that I hiked yesterday.

2. Panoramic from top of Kinsmans Peak. Note weather is coming. I got to the shelter before it started.

3. Trails, Pond, streams on trail today. Beautiful. I am blessed to be able to be here.

4. Kinsman Pond. Big enough to be a lake to me. Shelter on shoreline.

5. Kinsman Pond Shelter. 

Mon., June 24, 2019. Day 39/95. Eliza Brook Shelter. Trail mileage 1810.1. 44.1009N71.7422W. 7.5 miles. 5 hrs 40 mins. 1.3 mph. 1,250.0 / 942.0 to go.

Today I got to climb to my son’s mountain, Wolf Mountain. His call sign is Wolf.

It was a very tough climb and descent. Much harder than Moosilauke. It isn’t groomed as well. I believe fewer people use the trail. I hope the trails I do with Tyler are better. There were a lot of bogs and the bugs were unbearable. The mountains are less rugged and steep than the Rockies, but they choose to go straight up, and not on the most gradual slope. I think that is the way they were originally done, and no one is going to Improve them.

With that said it was a good day, except for the bugs, for hiking. I enjoyed the weather and mountain.

On top I had cell phone coverage so I sent a text to the family. 

While trying to avoid a bog I hit a tree that I didn’t notice. It had a dead branch that ripped a hole in a side stretch pocket on my back pack. Since I got into the shelter fairly early I was able to sew it. I had just got enough black thread to sew it up and back. It looks good. Hope it does the job for the next week. 

When I got to the shelter I immediately put up my tent, quickly put everything in, jumped in, and zipped it close. Heaven. I was in, and the bugs were out. I was exhausted from the strenuous hike. I took a nap. It was great. The bugs decreased as the sun went behind the hill. I sewed my backpack and had dinner. Another hiker that I knew before leaving the trail stayed at the shelter. Just before Harpers Ferry I had given him some Advil for shin splints that he had. He has figured out that the shoes he had caused the problem. He has different shoes now.

There were about eight at the shelter till a group came in at 10 pm. It was a high school group that was being guide by a service. They had come over Wolf Mountain. I am surprised they didn’t get someone hurt. In the morning they left about 15 minutes before me. Within 200 yards they were stopped on the trail. I guessed one person had a problem so they all stopped. I feel sorry for those good hikers who have to stay together with the slower people. The only leaders I could see were young men, probably college age. I am not sure how much they know about leading a group. They are on a 10 day hike and will cover 80 miles. That is reasonable. A couple girls were carrying climbing ropes. When I said I assumed they were doing some repelling they said they wished, but weren’t. They were for bear bags. I told them to much weight. All of their packs looked way to large for their body size. Most are high school small framed girls. Probably carrying 35% to 40% of their body weight. They were doing 10 miles today, so they will not be at my shelter. If there were here I would probably give some advice to their leaders. Probably the wrong thing to do.

Pictures:

1. View from top of Wolf Mountain. Most of top was covered by trees. I believe that is Kinsman Mountain that I will climb tomorrow.

2. Bog. Yes that is the trail I am suppose to hike on/in.😖

3. Trail and streams. Beautiful.

4. Backpack sewing job.

5. Tent pad. Sat just above Eliza Brook. 

6. Eliza Brook.

Sun., June 23, 2019. Day 38/94. NH Route 25A. Trail mileage 1793.1. Hikers Welcome Hostel. 43.9865N71.8962W. 9.4 miles. 6 hrs 20 mins. 1.5 mph. 1,242.5 / 949.5 to go.

I climbed 3,964 ft and descended 3,118 ft. A 757 ft/mi grade.

I have to start this entry by saying how frustrating it is to use the iPad and the Google Blogger web page. I wasted over 1 hour trying to make a post. I have several posts that I have written that need posting. If you are reading this I got it figured out. Sorry to post so many at one time. I was going to get caught up at the hostel where I had WiFi, but struggled.

Okay, to today’s posting. Today very well could have been my best day on the entire AT. I slack packed Moosilauke Mountain. 

This is the first mountain in the White Mountain Range. The range is 101 miles long. It is where Mount Washington is. I will be hiking with Tyler in this range. This mountain is the closest to the mountains we hike in the west. In the west we hike to some significant point. Today I hiked to the peak of a high mountain. It is lush forest. There are a lot of rocks. One big difference is in the west to climb a high mountain they use switch backs. For some reason in the east they do not. You go straight up the ridge. Much harder and dangerous.

I hiked 9 1/2 miles in about 6 hours. Being the weekend and perfect clear skies with a cool temperature there were a lot of people. Also a lot of dogs. I visited with a lot of people, petted all of the dogs, and told them about our Trinity and back packing. I would have loved to have Trinity with me. She would have loved it. I should mention the way I came up she could not have made it, but the way down she could have made it up and down.

The pictures really tell the store. For the first section we were right next to a waterfall. Steep and beautiful. On top great views. Very windy on top. I had plenty of energy at the end of the hike since I slack packed.

Again, probably my best day on the AT.

On the way back to hostel on the road I saw Pat and Megan again. They are going to do Mountain Moosilauke tomorrow. I might see them again down the trail.

Pictures:

1. Pictures of my hiking Moosilauke Mountain. 

2. My slack pack that I borrowed from the hostel. Very small and light - the shark. Perfect.

Sat., June 22, 2019. Day 37/93. NH Route 25. Trail mileage 1793.1. Hikers Welcome Hostel.43.9865N71.8962W. 9.7 miles. 5 hrs 35 mins. 1.7 mph. 1,233.1 / 958.9 to go.

Much better day than yesterday, thank goodness. I got a good night sleep and woke ready to move forward. I was anxious to get to the hostel and civilization. 

As I started to clean up I found these little slugs on my tent and drop cloth. Fortunately, they didn’t get into the tent. They were very sticky and left a yellow slime when you flicked them off. When I got to the shelter I found two of them that had traveled with me on my ground cover. So, my great camping spot wasn’t quite perfect.

The day’s weather was much better. The streams in the trail were gone, but the bogs weren’t. So, my boots stayed wet.

I arrived early after noon and was able to shower and go into town for resupplies and food. I got a burrito which was yummy. I also bought my favorite Ding-Dongs which I shared. It was a good evening. Tomorrow after I hike Moosillauke Mountain I will do wash.

This is the kind of day that makes a difference in my AT miles. I get some miles in, get to a shelter, do what is needed, and hike the next day. All hikers talk about the number of zeros, meaning zero mile days, and near zero, very few miles. We try to avoid them like a sickness. It isn’t that you hike slow, it is if you stop, whether on the trail, or if you take zero, or near zero days.

It is a great hostel. They have 30 beds, most bunks. Not many people there now. Only 5 one night and 8 the next. I am ahead of the bubble. They also have people tent. They have had over 50 there. That would be tight with only one toilet, one shower, and one set of washing/drying machine. The toilet, washer, and shower are outside. See picture. I need to have my grand children stay here to see what roughing it is. But, it is wonderful after camping for several days. I had the entire upstairs of the bunk house to myself on the first day, and only one person the next. I spread out.

The caretakers were great. Buffalo and Mummum. They supplied a fitted sheet and pillow case. You used your sleeping bag for cover. Luck me, mine opens like a blanket. Towel and temp clothes were provided while you did your laundry. On the trail you have no extra clothes, including underwear. When it is time to wash you need to wash it all. See picture for temp clothing.

I wish I did a better job remembering all of the trail names and the people’s stories. It is very enjoyable to go to the store with them, sit around the table as you eat, and just visit before bed.

Pictures    

1. Outside shower, washer and dryer, sink for washing dishes, hands, and clean up, and toilet.

2. Temp clothes while I do laundry. I thought the Grandpa shirt fit me. Yes, it was to small. 

3. Me in mirror at clean up sink.

Fri., June 21, 2019. Day 36/92. NH Route 25A. Trail mileage 1783.4. 43.9009N71.9842W. 16.9 miles. 11 hrs 00 mins. 1.5 mph. 1,223.4 / 968.6 to go.

I want to get closer to the hostel than my plan had so I would have more time for laundry, blog, and other projects when I got there. I got within 10 miles, but it was a brutal day. 11 hours. I climbed two high mountains. Smart mountain and Cube Mountain. I climbed a total of 4,565 feet. I descended down 5,112. That is the most I have done in one day. Probably the most I will ever do. Smart Mountain also had some steep, rocky, and slipper sections. I climbed it first.

To start the day off it rained for the first 3 or 4 hours. Within the first hour my boots and feet were soaking wet. They stayed wet for a couple days. Also, more than half the trail was either a stream, or a bog. It is very tough to walk around the bog. Sorry I didn’t take a picture. I have one in a later day. I only hiked today. As soon as the rain stopped the mosquitoes were out again. My arms are covered with bites. Fortunately, the “After Bite” is helping.

While trying to avoid one of the bogs I slipped and went in. My knee went and sunk down 1 to 1and 1/2 foot deep.  My head hit a log, but my full brim rain hat took the blow so know injury. Very lucky. Mud all over my right side.

Later I tripped on a branch in the middle of the trail and scrapped my left knee. Very shallow scrape. Picture looks worse than it is.

I camped, set up my tent next to NH Route 25A. The rain had stopped earlier and the area was only damp. I felt good about it. I put up my tent, then quickly threw everything in, jumped in, and zipped the cover closed to keep out the mosquitoes. Heaven. As I took off my wet clothes, yes they were all wet from the rain, sitting on the floor of my tent was a slug! I first thought it was a leach, but the picture shows it isn’t black. It was about 1/4 “ long. I killed it. I wondered when I picked it up as it appeared to be inside my underwear. YUCK! Then I found another one. Oh well what are you going to do. 

I dried off. Put on some dry and clean clothes. My long johns, pajamas. Drank some water and ate a little. No cooking. Then off to bed. I was very tired. My plan was to wake when I was rested and hike when I was ready. Read tomorrow to continue my story about slugs.

I felt like today I earned my stripes for hiking on the AT. Fortunately, in two days I will have probably my best day on the trail.

Pictures: Didn’t take any pictures while hiking. Focused on getting the miles done as quickly as possible.

1. Slug 🐌 on tent floor.

2. Left knee. Okay, feel sorry for me. No pain except when I kneel on it. So, I avoid kneeling on it.

Thur., June 20, 2019. Day 35/91. Trapper John Shelter, NH. Trail mileage 1766.5. 43.7829N72.1118W. 5.7 miles. 3 hrs 05 mins. 1.8 mph. 1,206.5 / 985.5 to go. 1,212.2 / 979.8.

It was forecasted for showers this morning and thunderstorms starting about noon. It was only 25% for this morning. I wanted to get to this shelter before it started to rain. I made it. I got up at 5:30 and was on the trail at 6:30. I made pretty good time considering I had a tough climb. I got to the shelter 10 minutes before 10 am. It lightly rained at 10:20 and got steady at 10:40. 

Mosquitos are bad. I didn’t put on any deet as I thought it would still be effective from yesterday. WRONG. I suffered through because I didn’t want to stop. I put some on when I got to the shelter. Though there are a lot of mosquitoes they aren’t bothering me now.

Of course I am completely wet from sweating. I took of my shirt to air it out. It will not dry because of the humidity. That sucks. With sitting it is feeling chilly. That is good. I put on my coat.

The next morning the shirt hadn’t dried one bit. I will wash and dry it at the hostel I am headed to.

Pat and Megan got to the shelter. After about one hour in which I was napping they decided they wanted to hike further, to the next shelter. They started and the rain and thunder started. I felt sorry for them. I caught up to them the next day. They didn’t make it to the shelter. They ended up tying their hammocks in some trees just off the trail. By the way it was still raining the next morning.

Pictures:

1. Interesting yellow moss. Not the normal green.

2. Fire place left from an old Dartmouth Outing Club cabin. No other signs of it. Must have been there 100 years or more ago. By the way there is a ski resort just over the ridge. Another hiker took a wrong trail and found it.

3. Trapper John Shelter.

Wed., June 19, 2019. Day 34/90. Moose Mountain Shelter, NH. Trail mileage 1760.8. 43.7271N72.1491W. 11.0 miles. 11 hrs 55 mins. 1.9 mph. 1,206.5 / 985.5 to go.

NOTE:  Trail mileage is the official trail mileage from the starting point of the AT in Georgia.

It is good to be back on the trail. I have a hard time believing I feel so good. I took it easy, and still had a good speed if just under 2 mph. That included 3 times taking the wrong trail and had to hike back. I started in Hanover, NH. It is thick forests and beautiful. The trails are good with few rocks, mostly dirt covered by leaves. There are some small boggy, wet areas.

My feet feel better than any other day of hiking in 2019. No boot concerns. Both knees are normal. My left shoulder is mostly pain free. Only a little pain when I put on my pack. A lot less than when helping packing for moving, or painting. 😁.

I feel that I am being blessed with a couple wonderful weeks before I give up hiking. 

The only down side is that the mosquitos and flying bugs are out.  I am prepared though, any way I thought I was. I had my daughter-in-law get me two bottles of the natural oil mosquito repellent. That is better for you physical than deet. I was ready. I put it on heavy before I left the hotel room. I smelled sickly sweet. I smelled like I put on to much men’s cologne. I didn’t care as long as the mosquitoes stayed off of me. I was afraid I was in trouble when a mosquito landed on my arm within a couple minutes of leaving the hotel room. Once I was in the woods it was terrible. It was like me being a popsicle and the mosquitos being kids on a hot summer day. After 2 1/2 hours I stopped, got out the deet, and sprayed myself down. That solved the problem. I didn’t notice any more mosquitos,  thank goodness. It was as bad as Bear Tooth Wilderness area. Only Nathan and Sharlyn  will understand that last sentence.😏. I even started wondering if Sharlyn was paying me back for what I did to them on our hike in the Bear Tooth Wilderness. I still feel bad about that. Ask them about it. They will have you either crying, or laughing.

I am at the shelter early, 12:30 pm so I have a lot of time to do my blog. I sat on the bench and typed away. Not much of a view as it was blocked by trees.

A girl and man stopped to have lunch. She was Cheer Leader. She was in shelter 501 the last night I was on the AT in May. It made me realize that I would be here if I hadn’t gone home. I needed to go home to support my family. I also wouldn’t have had a doctor tell me I couldn’t finish the AT because I needed my shoulder operated on sooner, than later. The next couple of days I met a couple other people that were at the 501 shelter. 

A young couple came and stayed at the shelter. They hung hammocks in the tent area. I saw them a couple times over the next couple of days. She has hiked the entire trail. She did it in 2016. Who knows I could have seen her. Her name is Megan. His name is Pat. They met on the trail in 2016. He didn’t do much of it at that time. They are taking a month to hike the White Mountains. She said it was her favorite so that is why she wanted to do them again. Unfortunately, they are not married. I told them they should get married and have children. They just said it is a future possibility. She said they are probably going to get a cat. I told them that didn’t count.

See the picture.

Pictures:

1. AT survey marker. Start of my hike.

2. Dang, mosquito on leg, proof the natural oil didn’t work.🙁.

3. Moose Mountain. First mountain to cross. Many more, higher, and more challenging to come. 

4. My new hiking shirt. I look pretty fresh, don’t I?

5. Moose Mountain Shelter.

6. Wild flowers. Tough to beat their beauty.

7. Privy at shelter. A hiker passing through said it was the worse on the AT that he had seen. Note no walls and no seat, just a hole in a piece of plywood. It was better than going in the woods.

8. Pat and Megan.