Aug 15

Wow what a productive day. Woke up around 7:30 still feeling like crap. Occupy and I got out of camp at 8 and headed towards Glen Cliff NH. Once in Glen cliff a guy at the trail head offered to take me to the post office, which was not far at all but I hopped in the truck and headed into "town" when he dropped me off he handed me a 20$ bill and said good luck.

After realizing the post office was closed till 2pm I walked over to the Hikers Welcome Hostel to mingle with my fellow hikers. I watched a movie and charged my phone until Ms. Janet arrived and took me to resupply for a couple days.

I finally got back on trail at 3pm, once in the woods I changed into my shorty shorts and got my game face on. The Climb was steep and long, very wet and rocky but at the same time beautiful.  I put my head down a pushed up the mountain.  I made it to the 4800+ ft. summit from around 900ft. in 2 hours 15 min. Once I realized I was almost to the top I got really excited to be back in Alpine. 

After a few pictures,  and a change into warmer clothes I moved from the summit to decend 1000ft to the Beaver Creek Shelter where I lay now. The shelter is full of south bounders but they are a decent group so no worries. Tomorrow Ill shoot for Franconia Notch to catch sunshine.

Aug 14

Today was a long day, did 20 miles over 3 different mountains.  Smarts Mountain was the first ascent of the day 2200ft in 5.4 miles. The climb was pretty steep in most sections,  and scattered with slippery rocks. At the summit was a fire Tower, Occupy and I climbed the tower and took pictures.  After a brief snack we decended 2000ft down the other side of the mountain. In the Gap we got water and prepared for the next 1500ft. climb. Once we hit the summit there were amazing views of smarts mountain the fire tower looked so far away yet we had been there just 3 hours earlier.  About 1:30 pm I began feeling nauseous and my stomach was rumbling.  Unfortunately I got diarrhea that just wouldn't quit. It made the last miles of the day basically just miserable but I pushed on. 7:30 we arrived at camp, the wind was picking up and the temperature was dropping,  I set up camp quickly and crawled in to try to sleep.  The night was somewhat miserable too, After climbing in and out of my tent multiple times to usef the bathroom I finally fell asleep.  I'm am currently 8 miles into the day, sitting at the hikers welcome hostel waiting on the post office to open. Hopefully I can get my package and a small resupply Before climbing Mt. Moosilauke at 4000ft climb in 5.3 miles. This will be the biggest climb Yet.

Aug. 12

Sunshine and I made it to New Hampshire this morning,  after a late start. The first three miles were a road walk into Hanover NH. Once in town we went to Ramundos Pizzeria,  where thru hikers get one free slice, and boy was it delicious. A waitress took our picture for the "hiker wall" and we signed the book. Hanover seemed to be a very hiker friendly place, unfortunately we didn't spend long there.

Out of town we made lunch, and pondered the rest of the day. We would shoot for 19 miles even though it was already almost 2pm.  After a long hour of hiking I stopped to wait on Sunshine,  the miles were just dragging by. Snack time was over and we began to hike again, the next 6 miles were steady but gradual up hill with just a few steep sections.  I arrived at the first peak (1000ft. climb) of moose mountain at 5:45, sunshine was about a half hour behind me. (she is getting used to having a heavier pack again) We looked at the map and decided to just go a few more miles once we reached the moose mountain shelter and filled up on water. Turns out the water source is virtually stagnant and just about dried up. Completely out of water, we decided we had no choice but to collect what we could.  Someone had left an empty can nearby to scoop up water, we put a bandanna over the mouth of our bottles to keep the sediment out. 20 minutes later we had four liters of water, now for aqua mira and hoping it kills whatever parasites are living in it. Being that the water collecting process took so long we found a nearby camp and called it a day, almost 14 miles done today hopefully we get more tomorrow.

Aug 13

On the 13th Sunshine and I woke up early, and its a good thing we did. We had just finished packing up when the rain started, It was no drizzle but a downpour.  To accent the rain was a lovely 1200ft decent followed by a delightful 1300ft ascent...just to go down another 1200ft.  After coming down for the second time in 3 hours, we came across a sign for water and free Ice cream .1miles away. The sign its self was awesome,  the sign had written on it the following. ..

My Ice cream brings all the hikers to the yard
My water is better than yours
Damn right my croquet game is better than yours
All this and there is no charge.

Trail Angel Bill

Of course we went! On arrival we recognized occupy's pack on the front porch, then went around back to get out of the terribly cold rain. As we talked, we realized Bill was out of town but a really nice woman named Ashley was watching the place. I immediately changed into dry clothes,  if the rain wasn't done I was. Nothing is more miserable than walking through mountains in the pouring rain when its cold and windy...no thanks. Sunshine was dead set on hiking out, and she did. I hope it wasn't too cold for her atop the 3400ft. Smarts mountain.

During the short  parts of the day that it stopped raining, Occupy and I played Croquet.  I never really realized how much I like croquet,  and apparently Occupy as well. Him and I played off and on till right up to dark. Ashley was working on a wooded chandelier, I like the idea and gave her some advice on which blade to use in her jigsaw, after that she went to work I'm not gonna lie I was quite impressed with her jigsaw skill.

About 10 we went to bed, once again turning down a spot on the floor inside. The screened in porch made a fine place to sleep.

Aug 10&11

Yesterday was great, Sunshine and I slept in till 10:30. We watched movies on and off all day, Talladega Nights one of my favorites that sunshine had never seen was on along with Ferris Buelers day off.
Jeff got home around 6:30 and we headed to the party. There was a ton of farm fresh foods just like I had hoped for, we were like wild animals eating ribs like it was our job, along with Corn on the cob, huge juicy pork chops, potato with carrots and onions, salad, homemade baked beans and pie. We mingled with the strangers at the party and tried to act somewhat normal.

This morning Sunshine made us a breakfast of Eggs, left over pork chops and corn...Delicious.  We got a late start today due to the fact we were up pretty late for hikers. Jeff dropped us off back at the trail, we saw our friend Occupy there, with out his German shepherd Helga. Helga had hurt her foot a few days earlier and had to get off trail. Occupy told us his crazy story from the night before. Apparently he was half asleep when he heard walking around him as he was cowboy camped on the ground, reaching up to pet Helga he remembered she was gone, he opened his eyes and saw a huge black bear just feet from him, he jumped up and began yelling at the bear who disapeared into the night. What a crazy night that must have been. After walking for just a few miles we decided to take a nap, just not enough sleep last night. Sunshine and I woke up about two hours later, snacked and started hiking again. We did 8 miles, it was less than we wanted but enough.  Tomorrow we will go into New Hampshire and shoot for a big day. This will give me a chance to see how good this hear new knee brace will work. Thank you Nanna and Papa Friend I greatly appreciate it and my knee does to, its just what I needed.

Aug. 4

Slept great last night with the warmth from the wood burning stove. We kept the fire going all night then made coffee on to the stove to save fuel. Sunshine was low on food because we can't carry enough food anymore.  Hiker hunger is getting out of control I  believe we should be taking in about 8000 calories a day. We hitched into Manchester center and ran into toast and rusty at a bagel shop. Sunshine ans I charged phones, got some food and loitered around like hikers do. Hours later we got bk to the trail head, we had bought two beers so we sat down to drink them. Once settled in the rain started coming down, sunshine put her tarp up so we would stay dry. A south bounder and his dog came down the trail, it was cold and hailing at this point so we invited him under the tarp. He was a cool dude from vermont and his friend was slack packing him. He hooked us up with some awesome trail magic. The day was cut short due to the cold ass rain so we just climbed up bromley and watched the sun set.

Aug 6-9

We have slowed down dramatically,  not for any serious reasons, but to give enough time for my winter gear to get to the post office. The last couple days have been very relaxing, with great weather in the day and a bit chilly at night. Our mileage averaged about 8 mpd (miles per day) (did I just make that up?) Vermont trail just keeps getting better, I love the views.  At some of the Vistas we have been able to see ski slopes covering the mountain sides for miles. Yesterday Aug 8 we climbed mount Killington, it was a 2000ft climb with the summit being at about 4000ft making it the second highest peak in VT. Towards the top of Killington the clouds encased the mountain, the air was very moist which made stopping rather cold. We stopped at the Cooper lodge shelter near the summit, and ate the last bit of food we had. Also at the summit was a south bounder from Chattanooga,  his trail name eludes me, we talked a bit made a few southern jokes and moved on.

Once in town, a friendly day hiker and his dog stopped to talk to me. He asked me the normal questions and I gave him the normal answers, but just before he walked away he handed me 7$ and told me to go in the Irish pub and have a beer on him, obeying his wish, that's exactly what I did. Finishing my beer I paid the unfriendly bar tender and left, outside and across the street I spotted Ms. Janet's van. Perfect timing, sunshine and I needed a ride to the post office and the outfitter. Ms. Janet is a trail Angel who dedicates most her time to just helping hikers. She is great.

Sunshine and I picked up our packages and hung out at the outfitters with toast and rusty, while charging phones and sorting gear. Although my winter gear had not yet arrived it was ok. Sunshine had arranged for us to be picked up today (friday) to stay at a friend of hers house.
The four of us went back to the trail to find a camp just outside of town. After walking about .5 miles we spotted at little spot on a pine covered hill which we decided would do. Sunshine, rusty, toast and I all squeezed our tents/hammocks into the tiny clearing and sat back to relax and have intensely serious conversation about cartoons and going back to society.

During the night the rain came down hard, and had no intention on stopping.  For sunshine and I it was no big deal, we would be getting off trail in the morning,  but for our comrades it was a wet morning.  We said bye to rusty and toast and headed back to the outfitter. The rain continued most of the day at a steady down pour. My winter gear arrived about 1pm then sunshine and I walked in the rain to the post office to send our summer gear home. 6pm. Jeff arrived to pick us up, oh what a wonderful day. Jeff offered us the pull out couch inside but we politely declined to sleep outside,  we really are going crazy. Tomorrow we will go to a party with food, tons of it I hope, stay the night again then head north, towards New Hampshire the 13th state and home of the White Mountains.