Day 131
I woke up a few times overnight due to the mosquitoes and the hard rain on the tarp top of the second bunk room. I felt that those that stayed there should get a discounted rate of $15, like those tenting. My plan was to get to the Jeffers Brook shelter by 8:00 to meet up with Tandem and who had hiked there in the rain last night.
I had breakfast from my food bag and said goodbye to Hoss, who was leaving to slack pack 26 miles back to here. I also spoke with Mio who was
going to a hospital in Lincoln or Woodstock for his mental confusion condition. I wished him well and told him that we would miss him.
I paid my bill, hiked out of the Hikers Welcome Hostel, and was back on the trail by 7:30. I avoided mowers cutting grass along the road and entered the woods to find the second river I needed to ford so far on the hike. I swapped my boots and socks for Crocs and crossed, which delayed my arrival at the shelter until 8:20.
I sat with Tandem and Jukebox while they drank coffee and chatted about the day’s plans before hiking out. The climb up Mount Moosilauke marked our first day hiking in the White Mountains State Park. Tandem and Jukebox passed me on the way up the 3,800 foot climb.
When I reached the top, I was surprised that the climb hadn’t seemed that hard and was happy to be on top of our first White Mountain.
We hunkered down from the cold wind behind rocks the rocks on the bald and put on our warm jackets or windbreakers. We took pictures of the mountains while waiting for the low clouds to blow by, then headed down the very steep four mile descent of the north side of Mount Moosilauke.
It was very rocky, steep trail that followed a waterfall creek. It took me two hours to descend, but the waterfall was beautiful.
The trail intersected NH 112, where I found Tandem and Jukebox. We started hitching to get into Lincoln, NH, and got a ride with an older guy going back into town for a lemon for his trout and his gin & tonic. We chatted, and he dropped us in the shopping center with Price Chipper, Family Dollar, a USPS, and a Chinese restaurant.
We visited all four, restocking and eating dinner. We left there at 17:00 to hitch back to the trail. Again we got lucky, and a woman named Christine picked us up. We were hiking again by 17:30 with plans to go seven miles to the Eliza Brook shelter, but we made it only halfway. We stealth camped in a site west of the trail that I picked. We will be doing this a lot in the Whites around the AMC managed huts there.
2014 Thru 