Miles: 13.0 (plus .9 to road)
The forecast called for heavy rains, but the morning was beautiful, making for high spirits as we walked with Medicine Man and Sunshine from Galehead Hut. It was supposed to be an easy walk to a campsite, but the trail profile was misleading - not for the first time. We started with a long descent, then climbed and rode the Trail roller coaster until the campground, which I thought was only 1.7 miles away. Turns out that I did the math wrong and it was 2.7 miles. Oops.
After a quick break to catch our breaths, we climbed Mt. Garfield. It was a long, steep and steady ascent, wearing us out pretty quickly. On the way up, though, Medicine Man lucked out and found a long-sleeve shirt that fit him on the Trail. It definitely belonged to a dayhiker, because it actually smelled good :) When we arrived at the summit, there were 3 dayhikers standing around. We must have looked pitiful, because one guy helped all of us up the last rock face to the actual summit. Then, as we were sitting there, snacking on some beef jerky that an incredibly nice dude gave us yesterday at the hut, we were offered fresh grapes and kiwi by 2 dayhikers. (Also - I think Medicine Man did some sly yogi-ing when I wasn't looking.)
I've learned there are 2 types of dayhikers / weekenders - those that love thru-hikers and those that don't know the AT exists, much less know that people hike the whole thing. The first group are usually Trail Angels at some point, like the hikers who gave us fresh fruit. The other group doesn't understand why we are working for stay at the huts and how we can smell so badly :)
After chatting with the "Trail Angels" couple, we decided it was time to tackle a few more mountains. So, down we went, then up a hill, down a hill, then up Mt. Lafayette we climbed. We were worn down just before the first peak, so we took a long, mid-afternoon break. Blueberries are just now ripening and above treeline is the best place to spot all the bushes, so we sat there, eating blueberries and resting our feet.
At this point, the clouds and haze rolled in and we couldn't see a thing. We continued on the ridgewalk of Mt. Lafayette, not knowing if there was another peak or not until we started to climb. Even though we missed the beautiful views, it was quite an experience to only be able to see 200 feet in front and around us. After 4 or so peaks, we finally arrived at the actual summit. Because New Hampshire (or the AMC) doesn't label the mountains, we could only tell we were there because of the number of dayhikers sitting around. No Trail Magic there and it was getting late, so we kept truckin' along Franconia Ridge.
We've been told by several NOBO's that the views are outstanding, but we were walking through clouds the entire way. The ridge is fairly narrow, with steep descents off the left and right, making it feel like my own little "Stairway to Heaven."
The plan was to go to Liberty Springs Campsite, fill up on water and then stealth camp somewhere near the road. That way, we could make it to town early in the morning and save a night of money spent on a hotel. We made it to the campsite around 7 and decided to go ahead and eat some dinner. Just as we were eating, the skies opened up on us, getting just about everything wet. Miraculously, it stopped in 5 minutes, just when we got everything packed and covered up.
The campsite caretaker came up, money bag in hand, and talked with us for a bit about other SOBO's. There are a couple of oddballs hiking south this year and the trail gossip line is full of stories about them. After fibbing to her about going into town tonight (covering up the stealth-camping plan), we packed up and were just about to start hiking when it started raining again.
At that point, we looked at each other, decided to night hike and get to town tonight. We were wet, tired and craving a warm shower. The only glitch was that Kevin and I only had 1 headlamp between the 2 of us... mainly because we never planned to go on adventurous night hikes. However, we were with Sunshine and Medicine Man, so we had to do it! (They did a night hike up to Avery Peak in Maine. After that, we kept on teasing them about their night-hiking ventures.)
So, there I was, in the middle of Medicine Man and Kevin, in the dark, without a headlamp, in the rain, going downhill on a slick, rocky path. Sorry, S.K. We didn't take your advice about not doing anything stupid :)
It was VERY slow going, but between Kevin's light behind me and Medicine Man turning around every 20 feet, shining light on the path in front of me, I reached the bottom without falling. Amazing, yes. I'm now knocking on wood.... very loudly.
The Trail crosses a paved bike path, which we took to a visitor's center. According to the Thru-Hiker's Companion, there was a payphone there, so we were praying that it was outside. At this point, it was 10:30 and the center was closed down.
Luck was on our side and Medicine Man spotted the phone. After calling a few hotels, asking about rates, we called the 24-hour shuttle to pick us up. Woo-hoo! If I had the energy and my feet weren't writhing in pain, I would have jumped up and clicked my heels. As it was, I sat on a rock in the rain, smiling.
The shuttle showed up around 11 and we were on our way to civilization. Medicine Man, Sunshine, Kevin and I decided to split a room, so after checking in, we all took long, hot showers and quickly fell asleep.
- Not-so-bright, but lucky Bobo