[at-l] short report, Rattle River shelter, NH

[gaudet@attbi.com (Arthur Gaudet)]

I had a spur of the moment AT trip on Sunday, staying over at the 
Rattle River Shelter, outside of Gorham, NH. It's 1.7 miles from RT 2 
so many hikers pass it by. The northbounders are anxious to get to 
Gorham, the southbounders are doing more miles than 1.7 if they 
stayed in Gorham.

My first time with a backpack since last Fall told me the extra 
weight has gotta go. But the scenery distracted me as I headed up in 
a breezy rain on Sunday afternoon. Temps were in the 40's. The 
mountain tops all around were obscured by foul weather. Had to be 
snowing up on the tops...

The nearness of the Rattle River makes this a pleasant walk. At this 
time of year the secondary streams are flowing, the woods are full of 
moisture. The greeness of new buds is faintly coloring the deciduous 
trees. On the way found a few patches of painted trillium in bloom. 
The big show was at the shelter though - literally hundreds of purple 
trillium all in bloom! A great display, a surprise for me. It 
reminded me of the great displays down south of White trillium, esp. 
near Fontana.

The rain never really quit, and it got colder but not below freezing. 
I read quite a bit of "Then the Hail Came" getting to the section 
where Exile reaches Gorham and then heads up Hays Mountain towards 
Maine. All in all a nice reminder of the trail at a pleasant 
location. The mice weren't too bad either! --RockDAncer