Daniel's journal Aug 31-Sept 3

Monday, August 31
	No getting up early this morning!  Especially after the late night.  We
just took it easy.
	It was about 1:00 by the time we got to Glencliff.  The post office was
closed for lunch until 2:00 p.m.  Across the street from the P.O. was a
dumpy looking place with a sign in the front yard, "Hikers welcome."  I
walked up to the door and knocked.  No one was at home.  There was a note
by the door telling us that we were welcome to come in.  We moved in and
found our boxes stacked in a corner.  Excellent!  (We thought we would be
at Glencliff on Sunday so we had called ahead and asked the P.O. to give
our boxes to the lady across the street.)  We got our food bags ready for
the next seven days.  We also did our laundry.  By the time we were ready
to hike on, it was too late to climb over Mt. Moosilauke.  We stopped at
the shelter at the foot of the mountain.
	I made a fire, and then we went looking for a swimming hole.  We found
one; but Mt. Roamer was the only one brave enough to go in.  The water was
so cold!
	No one else showed up at the shelter so it was only Mt. Roamer, Yoyo, and
myself.  I slept out under the stars.  It was a beautiful night for
sleeping out!

Tuesday, September 1
	Wow!  Jeffer's Brook is so cold!  Decided a dip was in order to wake me up
for my big climb up Moosilauke.  When I got out of the water I was one
giant goose bump. The sun was just peeping through the trees.  I looked at
my watch and it was 7:55 a.m.  As I was drying my feet I could see my
breath in the morning air.  Although my swim was not long, it was fun. 
There was a six-foot rockslide into a pool five feet deep.  Yoyo decided
that he had to try it too.  He slid down the slide into the water and came
up yelling.  He got out as fast as he could.  He told us that his first
thought was to get out of the water fast.  It was so cold!  Mt. Roamer said
the swim last evening was good enough for her.
The climb up Moosilauke was great.  It took 2½ hours to climb the four
miles to the top.  The clouds were rolling across the top so there was no
view.  We took pictures by the summit sign.  4,802 ft.
	It was great to be above tree line for the first time in my life!  It was
just like being in a big rocky pasture.  We took shelter behind some rocks
and ate our first lunch.  Yoyo and Mt. Roamer got out their gloves and
hats.  I traded my sweat soaked shirt for dry fleece and my raincoat.  The
wind and fog made it quite chilly.
	We stopped at Beaver Brook shelter to get some water.  The view from there
was terrific.  It was lower in elevation then the summit so it wasn't in
the clouds.
	We descended to Kinsman notch next to Beaver Brook.  A knee wrenching
experience, but the views and the brook make it worth it.
Now I'm waiting down here by the road until Mt. Roamer and Yoyo catch up.
	The fall tinge is definitely in the air. A few trees are starting to turn
red.  We should see some great colors in a few weeks.
	I have a throbbing head cold today.  Hope it's better tomorrow.  It must
have caught me when I hiked through the rainstorm.
	Mt. Roamer and Yoyo caught up, and we headed for Mt. Wolf.  On the way, we
past Oxymoron and Off on a Tangent Man who were headed south to Georgia. 
Both had their dogs along and the one dog was the biggest I've seen on the
trail.  I think it was a Great Dane mix of some kind.  It was huge.
A little farther on we met Evergreen!  It was so good to see her again. 
The last time we had seen her was in the Greyson Highlands in VA.  We had
caught up to her because she had taken some time off.  She hiked with us to
Wolf Peak.  There we stopped to follow a Blue Blaze out to a view.  The
elevation was only 3500 ft, but the view was terrific.  We could see the
Presidentials.  What awesome mountains!  It was already 7:00 p.m. so we
decided to camp at the view.  We made supper and watched as the stars came
out.  It was nice.  I slept out under the stars.

Wednesday, September 2
	This morning we got up in time to watch the sun rise.  It was a beautiful
morning!  A little chilly, but that could be expected.
	W stopped at Eliza Brook Shelter for some water and a rest break.  There
were about twenty people there.  Wow.  We were glad we had stayed on Wolf
Peak.  The shelter would have been crowded!  There were two groups of
college students there.  That is why there were so many people.  They were
friendly to thru hikers and gave us an apple and an orange and some peda
bread.  We were really grateful for that.  One group hiked south and the
other group headed north.  I overheard one say,  "Shouldn't we be going? 
We have a hard days hike ahead of us!"  I asked them how far they were
going.  They told me they were going four miles to the next campsite.  I
laughed inside.  We had already hiked three miles from Wolf Peak.  Although
I understood why they were only going four miles.  They were out for only a
week and today they were planning to go over Mt. Kinsman.
Finally all the people cleared out.  We hung out for awhile longer and
chowed down on our snack food.  Once we started hiking again, it did not
take long to catch up with the college group.  They all stood to the side
and left us past.  The trail up Kinsman was rugged.  There were no stone
steps.  Just rocks.  You had to climb.  When we got to the top, the wind
was blowing and it was foggy!!  Visibility was about fifty yards.  Oh well.
 Maybe next time.  We put on our fleece and ate some more snack food.
	While we were sitting there, Goob came past.  He showed us a newspaper
clipping from the Boston Herald.  It was a story about the AT and had
pictures of our friends.  It quoted Goob three times.  He was so pleased
about that.  It even mentioned my name.  Wow.
	We were about ready to leave when a fellow came charging out of the
bushes.  "Oh," he said, "'I thought you were the group of students from
Brown College.  We want to ambush them.  Could we practice on you?"
	"Sure," we told him.  He went bounding back into the bushes and ten more
students came charging up, waving sticks and imaginary guns.  We had a real
battle.  3 against 10.  After they took us hostage, they gave us some fruit
and some more peda bread.  Wow.  Not bad.  Then they moved their operation
a little farther south on the trail.  I guess there were two groups of ten
from Brown College.  They both did the same section of the AT, except one
went north and the others went south.  The two groups met on top of Kinsman
Mt.  We did not hang around to see the outcome, but it sure looked like
they were having a lot of fun.
	We stopped for a rest at Lonesome Lake Hut.  Mt. Roamer thought about
staying, but I had decided to hitch into North Woodstock.  I hiked on,
while Mt. Roamer decided what she wanted to do.  It began to rain and I got
soaked.  I made it to the visitor's center on RT. 3 by  6 p.m.  One of the
workers was going home, so he gave me a ride to the Cascade Bed and
Breakfast.  A south bounder, Road Hazard, showed up at the visitor's center
the same time I did.  He also caught a ride with me and stayed at the
Cascade Lodge.
	I had just finished taking a shower when Mt. Roamer and Yoyo walked in. 
Guess when it started to rain they decided a hot shower and a warm bed
would be nice.
	We all went to the Chaleta Restaurant.  I had heard you could get a fresh
lobster for $8.95.  The others looked at the menu and decided the food was
too expensive, so they walked across the street to a cheaper restaurant. 
There they met Truly Blessed and Salt.  They were so surprised because we
thought they were a day ahead.  Anyway, I got my lobster and devoured it. 
It was delicious.

Thursday, September 3
	This morning we all walked down to Peg's Restaurant for breakfast.  After
breakfast, Mt. Roamer and Yoyo went to find Moose, Salt, and Truly.  They
were planning to call a shuttle to get back to the trail.
	I still had to pack my things, write in my journal, stop at the P.O., make
a phone call, and pick up some supplies.  I sat down with Road Hazard and
he showed me all the good spots to camp in the whites.
	The sky cleared up this morning and the sun is shining again.  Hopefully
I'll get a good view from the top today!




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