One word - WOW - to describe the Whites. We are getting views now that we haven't seen since the smokies. And we've had fantastic weather to boot. The climbs are definitely more difficult, but fun - with the right attitude. We've had lots of rock scrambles and slickrock so far... fun getting up and over but sometimes a little scary on the downhills.
We were hooked up with good trail magic from Dan's friends and his girl, Jen. They hiked up Mt. Moosilauke heading north and stayed at a shelter up there; Stephan, Hans, Brittany and I took their car and ran errands, then left the car at Kinsman Notch and slackpacked Moosilauke heading south. We met them at the summit and hung out for awhile. The hike was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a better day. The next day Jen treated us to a BBQ feast in N. Woodstock. Thanks so much to Jen, Todd, and Jay!
We finally began hiking around 2:45, which normally wouldn't be a problem with only 7 miles to hike. The terrain was more difficult than anticipated however, and we hiked for 4.5 hours, arriving to camp in the dark! Sunset occurs around 7pm these days and sunup is around 6:20 or so. We thought we could get ahead of Swedish, Odie, Big Sky Sister, and Atlas, but we didn't make it very far and they arrived moments after we did. It was good to see them again - I enjoy their company. Odie is 18 and recently shaved his head but left the enormous scraggly beard. His appearance now is... um... slightly homicidal-looking. He might have serious troubles hitch-hiking alone.
The views from these mountain peaks are amazing... this morning we climbed Mt. Kinsman and had a perfect view of the hillsides - for about 10 minutes or so. Then a cloud blew over and obscured the landscape and the temperature dropped by 10-15 degrees.
The trail is taking its toll on my knees, especially with all the rockhopping of late. I've been hitting the vitamin I (aka ibuprofen) consistently at lunch and before bedtime; they seem to help. Stephan and Dan have noticed some soreness as well.
Well, I just don't have enough time and space to say everything I'm thinking about... I'll try in emails to come.
Steph
Posted by steph at September 23, 2004 01:10 AM