Now the game begins

June 16, 2014June 16, 2014 / jim fetig / 4 Comments

Hikers Welcome Hostel, Glencliff, NH, AT NOBO mile 1,786.6, Sunday June 15, 2014 — The dull gray morning mist finally dissolved as the sun stripped away the fog by late afternoon.

The joy of this metamorphosis overwhelmed my soul as I stumbled down the lower shoulder of the mountain on my way to the Hikers Welcome hostel.

Dear sun, It’s been awhile. Thought you might have been a goner. Glad you’re still with us.

Still, the clouds swirled to frame spectacular scenery from the summit of Mt. Cube. Otherwise, there’s just dull green.

Tomorrow this hike gets really real, if it can be put that way. Moosilauke is the first territorial defense the White Mountains mount against intruders from the south. Mordor lies somewhere beyond.

The south side of the mountain is unspectacular. The north side is a hand-over-hand rock scramble up a waterfall. Terrible? Nope. We’re gonna slack pack the whole ten miles and 4,800 ft. That means a light load and a whole lot more agility than normal.

We’ll also reverse course hiking from north to south meaning we get to climb the gawd awful rocks rather than descend. Up is always easier and less hazardous, believe me.

Best of all, the weather forecast is severe clear. (Sunny for Nonaviators.)

Hikers Welcome is a pretty basic facility staffed by some very helpful and friendly folks including a young woman trail named Nectar who I met on my third day hiking in Shenandoah Park, and again in the Smokies. She hails from New Mexico, so imagine my surprise finding her here.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventure. Same time. Same station.

Not a stream. This is the trail!

Free Ice cream!

June 15, 2014June 15, 2014 / jim fetig / 1 Comment

Hexacuba Shelter, NH, AT NOBO mile 1,771.8, Saturday June 14, 2014 — Hexa who? what? Simple.

The Hexacuba Shelter is a hexagonal shaped shelter located on Mt. Cube. That’s the story.

This shelter features told to me years ago by Bob Schwarz and Bert Porter told me about hiking in the White Mountains. The place is unique, and it’s special to be here.

The day started with a treat. Bill Ackerly, who lives trailside, has been befriending passing hikers for decades. Like the cookie lady, Bill has an affinity for the dirty, tired itinerants drifting past his door.

The lucky ones are invited to a game of croquet. Warning: Bill is good and has home court advantage.

Tomorrow it’s a short hike to a small hostel. The following day the serious challenges begin starting with 4,802 ft. Mt. Moosilauke. Not a hike. It’s a climb.

The genius trail designers have been helping us practice. The photo is Warren testing the rebar ladder.

Note: I’ve refrained from scatalogical and privy humor so far. The privy at Trapper John left no choice. .

Aquatic Event

June 13, 2014June 15, 2014 / jim fetig / 2 Comments

Trapper John Shelter, NH, AT NOBO mile 1759.7, Friday June 13, 2014 — “Stroke. Stroke. Stroke.” I could hear the coxswain in my head calling the cadence as I slopped my way through the second half of the day.

Larry dropped us off at the trailhead at precisely 8:30 am. and we started our climb out of Hanover. The first half of the day was pleasantly cool and dry. The other half was the opposite.

Just past noon the sky opened up, and as one would expect, the trail became a water course. I landed on my backside four times in the mud. The hiking was head down and pump it out. Stroke. Stroke. Stroke.

One pleasant surprise. The mountain on which this shelter is built is shaped in the trail guide like a witch’s hat. That usually means talus or ugly rock slides. There’s even a warning in the guide suggesting precipitous terrain in the area.

Well Friday the thirteenth must be a lucky day. Not only did the rain stop, the whole mountain was dirt! Whoopee.

For some time, we’ve been walking past the infrastructure used to harvest Maple sap from which syrup is made. Thought you’d like to see what that’s all about.

Trapper John was a real person, a doctor from Maine after whom the character in “MASH” was named. He was a prominent member of the Dartmouth Outing Club. The fireplace in front of the shelter is from a cabin formerly located there.

Up, up and away

June 13, 2014June 13, 2014 / jim fetig / 4 Comments

The Dumont’s, Grantham, NH, Friday June 13, 2014 — It’s Friday the 13th with rain in the forecast all day. A lucky day and time for some hiking.

Our wonderful stay with my cousin Debbi and her husband Larry must end before we eat them out of house and home! They’ve been so gracious it’s hard to leave. Last night we joked of hiking in a circle just so we could return. Thanks guys. You’re the best!

We used our time for R&R, that is resupply and reconnaissance. The resupply part is obvious. Nothing new.

For our reconnaissance mission, I rented a car again from Enterprise. We drove northward to peek at the trail, view the mountains from the opposite end of the telescope (bottom of the hill) and check out a couple of the hostels.

We also arranged to slack the “Wildcats” while we were in Gorham. All of this will become clear as it unfolds over time, so stay tuned.

Penultimate state.

June 9, 2014June 10, 2014 / jim fetig / 2 Comments

High Octane Hiking

June 9, 2014June 9, 2014 / jim fetig / 6 Comments

Winturri Shelter, Vt. AT NOBO mile 1,716.9, Saturday June 7, 2014 — I’ve been eating everything in sight.

Thursday night at Pico Camp, I ate two entrées for dinner plus a couple of chocolate bars. Yesterday, I ate a Reuben sandwich for lunch at noon, a bowl of thick beef stew for late lunch at 1:30 pm. Those two were followed by two more meals, ending with shepherds pie with a pint of Guinness around 7 o’clock.

The breakfast I scarfed down this morning would have embarrassed Paul Bunyan. We’re talking high calorie, high octane hiker fuel here.

I’m burning calories at a huge rate. The constant ups and downs just add to the demand. Without high calorie intake, I’d be out of gas in no time.

I’m attaching photos of various feed bags I’ve observed lately.

Yesterday we ate lunch at the Yellow Deli. This place is like a movie set for the early 1970s. The throw-back decor fit the psychedelic decade like a tight penny. It reminded me of a place in Aspen my wife and I used to frequent in that same decade. The affiliated hostel is noted for its fundamentalist Christian proselytizing.

Today’s hike diverted to the east from the Long Trail at Maine Junction. We could sense the drop in attention to the trail immediately. We plan to be out of Vermont early Monday morning.

Pointless Ups and Downs

June 9, 2014June 9, 2014 / jim fetig / 5 Comments

Happy Hill Shelter, Vt., AT NOBO mile 1,737.3, Sunday June 8, 2014 — The sky is blue. The leaves are brown. The trail goes up. The trail goes down.

I recited this little ditty all winter. It’s still true except that the leaves are now green. Today was a pleasant hike that was all about PUDs – pointless ups and downs.

Trail conditions were the only other remarkable note. The mud in this section has dried up for all intents and purposes. Only residual blood sucking insects remain. They were relentless today, but oceans of DEET kept them at bay.

The uncut weeds are a problem. A study last year proved that the vector for deer ticks, the carriers of Lyme Disease, is trailside vegetation against which hikers brush. They also help spread invasive species in the same motion.

It’s a jungle out there and all if us are concerned that we won’t find all the deer ticks that find us. I just wish the trail overseers would be more diligent about keeping the weeds and other vegetation cut back.

Four miles to Starbucks in the morning. Indeed! I can use the caffeine.

Last night my blog was so boring that I fell asleep while typing.

True story. If it’s reputation holds true, I think NH hiking will eliminate the boredom.

You can hear the whistle blow!

June 5, 2014 / jim fetig / 5 Comments

Pico Camp, Vt. AT NOBO mile 1693.2, Thursday June 5, 2014 — Under 500 miles left to go! You can almost hear the whistle.

As the trail gods would have it, no sooner did I pass the 500 mile sign – not even 20 steps – than the Kingston Trio began singing “500 Miles” in yet another episode of iPod serendipity! It’s hard to believe, but the iPod seems totally in synch with the hike.

As I’ve noted several times previously. This is no time to become over confident. The most challenging states are yet to come. Plenty of thru hikers have bitten the dust in New Hampshire and Maine just a few miles short of their goals.

Today’s hike featured the Hurricane Irene bypass, except we missed it. (Yah, I know. Pretty dumb on our parts, but they didn’t remove the old blazes and we missed the first one for the new route.)

That led to two Colorado style stream crossings because the bridges were washed out. This is good practice for Maine where there are no bridges. Warren, aka Swayed, made a video of me inching along a tree trunk which I’ll try to post when I have WIFI tomorrow.

Tonight we’re on the old AT before it was rerouted for highway safety. It leads directly to the Inn at Long Trail where we’re headed in the morning.

Our digs remind me of a trapper’s line shack from yesteryear from which we have a beautiful view of the Killington ski area.

A Tale of Two Hikes

June 5, 2014June 5, 2014 / jim fetig / 1 Comment

Clarendon Shelter, Vt. AT NOBO mile 1680.6, June 4, 2014 — It was the best of hikes and the worst of hikes albeit in reverse order.

After last night’s thunderstorm deluge the hiking was no surprise this morning. I’ve always complained that the trail in Vermont was more like hiking in a dry river bed. Well, today they turned into real rivers. The torrents raging down the trail could have been on a movie set.

Oh yah, we also found Vermud too. The viscous goo was ubiquitous, black, juicy and about as sucky as it could be. Stick in a trekking pole and you’d just as likely lose the rubber tip in the ooze as any thing else.

That was all this morning. Our fortunes reversed when we crossed Vt. 140 at mile 1,673.3.

The trail conditions shifted radically on the climb out. It appeared that far less rain had fallen on that side of the mountain. The trail was mostly dry and the going quick. What a flip! We were able to double our pace.

That was the best of hikes. It was like a new day. The humidity and temperature even dropped to more comfortable levels.

Tomorrow we scale 3,920 ft. Killington Peak. If the ski patrol warming hut on the summit is open, we’ll sleep there. Otherwise there’s a shelter not much further down the back slope.

Schuss

June 4, 2014June 4, 2014 / jim fetig / 1 Comment

Green Mountain House Hostel, Tuesday June 3, 2014 — This morning Jeff drove us to AT NOBO mile 1,664.6 for a southbound walk back to town of around 18 miles. That’s where we’ll start northbound tomorrow.

In the big picture we’ll be in Hanover, NH in about six days with one town stop in Killington’s Inn at the Long Trail in between. The rain today made a lot of new mud, so our progress might be slowed to a degree yet to be determined.

Today’s highlight was the Bromley Peak ski area with its spaceship chairlift. Otherwise it was a pretty mundane hike.

Sweat rolled off our brows as the humidity soared and rain threatened. The temp broke 80 F for the first time this year. Fortunately we beat the rain to the hostel by about ten minutes.

When today’s slack pack was in the books, I buzzed Price Chopper for additional supplies of grape and lemonade drink mix. Staying hydrated in hot weather under conditions of prolonged maximal exertion is always problematic. Flavoring the water helps make it more drinkable.

Definitely looking forward to tomorrow.