[at-l] NH hike trip report - 08/09 to 08/17

[DTimm65344 at aol.com (DTimm65344@xxxxxxx)]

Trip report ? August 9 to August 17

Drove to upstate New York (Finger Lakes) to meet the family for our annual ?get the cousins together? trip on Saturday 08/09.  We went to Fort Stanwix that Sunday and stayed on Seneca Lake north of Watkins Glen Monday night ? kayaking on the lake with my daughter was great.  Then we drove to Twin Mountain for the hiking portion of the trip Tuesday the 12th.

08/13 ? Zealand Trail to AT and out to Crawford Notch

When we hit the AT just north of the falls and hut, met two Nobos (one from Smyrna, GA and one from Manchester, Eng) coming from the hut.  We explained the GPS gear to them and chatted a bit.  Lots of day hikers out that day.  The walk was great.  There is a beautiful ledge walk in the section across a rock slide area (there is a technical geology term for such an area that escapes me at the moment).  We lunched at Ethan Pond (which is a lovely site) and chatted with a couple of section hikers and the caretaker.  At the Notch, Del Doc?s wife was chatting with a Nobo ?Big E? who she had shuttled down from the train station.  He hung around to meet Del Doc, having heard about the mapping and being interested in the gear.  Nice guy ? fellow Buckeye from the Cleveland area.

08/14/- Mt Washington summit to Mt Washington Auto Road

Quite possibly the most bizarre hiking day of my life.

We hit the summit at 8 a.m. and we did when we did the southern Presidentials.  Fog as before but this time a new twist.  The wind gusts that morning were 67 mph when we hiked out with sustained winds of 50 mph.  The max gusts for the day were 77 mph so we didn?t get the worst, but we got close.  The clouds broke only briefly until we got to Monticello Lawn on Jefferson then blew out and the views opened up.  Great views of the Gulf from there to Madison.  The Madison Springs Hut crew trotted by as we passed Jefferson headed over to Lake of the Clouds for lunch ? strangest bird in that bunch was the guy with no shirt on (it was about 45 degrees at the time) ? figure he?s from Minnesota or other points north where the jackets come out when the temperature hits single digits.  We lunched at Madison Springs Hut where Del Doc suggested we inquire about staying over for the night.  Hiking in that kind of wind takes a lot out of you.  In hind sight, I should not have talked him out of it but since we were equipped to day hike and had no way to let our significant others know about the change in plans, we pushed on.

Osgood trail down off the ridge is a long brutal downhill and we were moving slow through there.  As we passed the Osgood tent site, passed a section hiker with only the Presidentials to go to finish the AT (he needed to get to Crawford Notch to finish).  We congratulated him and pushed on.  We made it across to the Auto road (the original target was Pinkham Notch) at 8:30 just as it started to get dark.  We phoned the girls and told them to meet us at the bottom of the road instead as we figured a road walk by headlamp is preferable to a woods hike by headlamp.  About halfway down the two mile walk, a Mt Washington coach coming down the hill  picked us up and took us to the bottom (the driver had taken his brother and girlfriend up top to watch the sunset).  Long day.

08/15 ? Pinkham Notch to Mt Washington Auto Road

The previous day having caused Del Doc?s legs to cramp up, we decided to just finish the two miles missed the previous day and then rest.

On the way to Pinkham Notch, we saw cars pulled to the side of the road just north of the Mt Washington road.  A sure sign of wildlife.  Figuring it was a moose we almost didn?t stop.  Glad we did.  It was a black bear eating blueberries about 20 feet off the road.  And unlike my Gentian Pond moose pictures, these ones should actually work as there was plenty of light.

Hiked out of Pinkham at 11 a.m. after a discussion with the AMC folks about GPS mapping techniques.  Made the auto road about 12:30.  Del Doc headed back to the motel to work on data and rest and my wife, daughter and I headed to Clark?s trading post in Lincoln to see the bear show.  Afterwards, we drove down to Manchester so I could pick up a rental car for the following week (the girls were heading home Sunday).

08/16 ? planned ? Gale River Trail to the AT, over South Twin Mountain to the Zealand Trail and out

Started hiking about 6 a.m. and about a mile in Del Doc?s legs started cramping up despite the day of rest and we bailed out of that hike.  Not wishing to take another zero day, I had them help me spot my car at Pickham Notch and  run me back to nineteen mile brook trail.  When Del Doc mapped the section before I ran gear in and out on that trail to Carter Notch hut, so I still lacked the Wildcats and Carter Dome sections.  I hiked up nineteen mile to the AT and up and over the Wildcats down into Pinkham Notch.  I hiked out at 7:35 and made the approximate 4, relatively easy miles to the AT by 9:15.  Everyone had told me the hike up Wildcat A was brutal to the point that it didn?t seem as bad as I had convinced myself it was going to be.  I like it when things work out that way. <g>

Passed a couple of day hikers coming down A as I was headed up and we chatted a bit about the mapping project.  I passed the guys from Manchester, Eng, Smyrna, Ga and ?Big E? on top of Wildcat A.  Nice thing about switching directions is you keep running into friends.  Up top were also several grade school young people bagging 4,000s (Wildcat counts as several and they were making the run).  By the end of the day they were up to 37 out of 48.  Pretty good. 

Got my first news of ?Liteshoe??s status when I reached the gondola.  Passed a Nobo named ?2 by 4? who had just been joined by a  friend who thruhiked last year and knows Jan.  I think her trail name was ?Berries.?  She said Jan was getting back on at Crawford after staying with Suz, as Art?s post confirmed when I read it.  Looks like I won?t see her this trip ? maybe up in ME.

There was a birthday party up on top of Wildcat for an 80 year old gentleman.  Maybe 40 folks, tables, chairs (they brought everything up in the cars).  I walked over and wished him a happy birthday and headed on as the clouds had decided to move in after clear skies thus far that day.  A hundred yards on a brief shower started and I toyed with the idea of riding the gondola down and finshing another day.  Would have been a wise move in hind sight but the rain was a quick sprinkle so I headed on to Wildcat E.

For those who have hiked it, the climb down (and I presume up for the Nobos) on Wildcat E is, to put it mildly, insane.  Someone needs to tell the AMC that a section of their trail is missing.  It is a series of cliff climbs with nowhere to step and no means to stop if you choose to slide down on your backside connected by bus size boulders with no means of stepping up or down.

Passed Nobos ?Harmony?, ?Space Monkey?, Medicine Man?, ?Spider Man?, and ?Trail Frog? headed up the mountain.  All were in good spirits.  The trail name ?Space Monkey? sounded really familiar to me, but I don?t recall from where.

I was crawling down one of the exposed shelves about two thirds of the way down when an ugly black cloud rolled in from Mt Washington.  The skies opened up and the thunder and lightning came.  There is nothing quite so scary as being in a place with no cover and having no means to get to cover when lightning is around.  A lightning flash about 30 feet to my left side caused me to let go and slide on my stomach to the next batch of cover below.  Fortunately nothing got damaged but I figured damage could be repaired if it occurred and if I stayed there I was likely to get fried.

Storm did not last terribly long but it did soak everything by the time I got the rain gear out.  It also soaked the rocks nicely which added to the thrills on this non-trail section.  So the going was slow and soggy to the bottom.  Passed Nobos ?Boat? and an Englishman named Neil (no trail name yet so he?s unlikely to acquire one at this point) near the bottom.

Hiked into Pinkham at 3:35.

08/17 ? planned - Gale River Trail to the AT, over South Twin Mountain to the Zealand Trail and out - again

We started the same hike we had planned the day before and made it nearly to the AT (about 4 miles in) when Del Doc?s legs started cramping up again even though he was using salt on the hike in.  We decided at that point that his legs were experiencing a larger problem which he needs to work on so we hiked out and I headed home.  Arrived home at about 10 p.m. last night.

We will replan the hiking sections and then head back up at a later date when he has sorted out the legs.  All things considered, including the scary stuff) a good five days of hiking.  And I finally saw a bear!

Black&blue