[at-l] Waterfall, Jojo, Oren, and other hiker sightings/slackpackings on the AT

["Mara Factor" <m_factor@hotmail.com>]

Hi all,

I had a great weekend near Mooselauke and the Kinsmans even though I didn't 
end up hiking...

I was headed for Glencliff with plans to do a short day hike up Mooselauke 
and provide whatever trail magic I could.  I stopped at Cascade Lodge to see 
if anyone needed a ride anywhere and to check out the register.  Waterfall 
had been there two days earlier so I figured she would be coming down into 
Kinsman Notch sometime that morning.

So, I drove up to the notch and just hung out in the parking lot there.  The 
first hiker I sew was Companero, one of the hikers I had met last week on 
Madison.  He had passed Waterfall having lunch the day before and expected 
her to get to the notch soon.  So, he had some soda and munchies, declined a 
Mooselauke slackpack and kept going.  Less than an hour later, Waterfall 
comes out, hiking with Isis and Jackrabbit, two sisters hiking barefoot.  
(OUCH!)

They enthusiastically accepted the slackpack offer, soda, munchies, etc.  We 
hung out for a while while they reorganized and loaded my car with whatever 
they wouldn't need for the day.

Off they went, fairly bounding up Beaver Brook.  At this point, I wasn't 
expecting to see other hikers coming either north or south for a while so I 
made my way to Glencliff.  The Hikers Welcome hostel there was taken over by 
Big John and Packrat just three weeks ago.  They were doing a lot of work 
there and the place is really coming together.

At the hostel, I saw the third thruhiker I had seen last week on Madison.  
When I reported last week, I couldn't remember his name until I met 
Waterfall this morning.  It was Oren, a friend of Solar Bear's.  So we had 
another little reunion and laughed at how we hadn't made that connection the 
week before.  Small world.

I also found out that Jojo Smiley  and friends had been at the Jeffers Brook 
shelter the night before.  I had hiked the 100-mile wilderness with her last 
year and summitted Katahdin, too.  So, instead of hiking, I dropped off the 
packs from my car and drove back around the other side of Mooselauke to 
Kinsman Notch to meet Jojo when she got over the mountain.

There I met Trailmix and Shotgun who had just seen Jojo and knew they were 
staying at Beaver Brook and not coming down 'til the next morning.

Snapshot also came by having stopped at Lost River.  He continued NOBO and I 
gave Shotgun and Trailmix a ride to town.  They got the last two spots at 
the Cascade Lodge.  There was a concert in town that night and the place was 
packed.

We hung out on the porch there, talked with John Connoly, a section hiker, 
apparently mentioned in "A Walk in the Woods".  I went to dinner with 
Shotgun and Trailmix and then headed back to Glencliff.  John Connolly, 
knowing I would be seeing Waterfall, Isis, and Jackrabbit again, gave me 
some chocolate to pass along to them.

I drove back up to Kinsman Notch to leave a note for Jojo telling her to 
WAIT when she got to the trailhead in the morning - in case I didn't beat 
her there.  A couple of section hikers, Gnu and Swan came down while I left 
the note so I drove them to town where they didn't find lodging - not even 
at the campground.  So, knowing that I would be coming back to Woodstock the 
next morning, they came with me to Glencliff just to sleep at the hostel.

Lot's of other hikers at the hostel included Shepherd, Solid, Cool Hand Luke 
(another one of the hikers I had met the week before), and others.  I helped 
tuckerize Waterfall's pack and now have a bunch of her stuff to mail to her 
Mom.

The next morning, I dropped Gnu and Swan in N. Woodstock and then drove 
Shotgun and Trailmix up to Kinsman Notch.  I would slackpack them and pick 
them up later that day in Franconia Notch.

Tennessee was at the trailhead.  He was with Jojo and Colorado and had 
gotten to the trail head first and seen my note to Jojo so was waiting to 
see what the options were.  I had a great reunion with Jojo and then ended 
up slackpacking them over the Kinsmans, too.

I had grand plans of hiking during the day but ended up holding the porch 
down at Cascade Lodge all day with Swan, Gnu, and Poe, another SOBO.

It's amazing to see so many thruhikers now.  Both SOBOs and NOBOs are 
common.

No problems picking up the five hikers I was slackpacking at the end of the 
day.  Had dinner with Jojo, Colorado, and Tennessee, and then got in my car 
for the long, wet, rainy, boring, drive home.  Work today.

Mara
Stitches, GAME99



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