The Saga Continues

So now that I'm back and off my soapbox...

We left Zealand Falls bright and early, intending to do quite an ambitious day reaching the hut at the base of big ol' Mt. Washington - the second highest peak on the AT and famed for it's year-round terrible weather. About a mile into our blue-blaze (what did you expect?) the sky took a turn for the worse and opened up with thunder and lightning and fury. We sat it out under cover of tarp for as long as possible, but couldn't wait forever, so we slogged on down the unexpectedly difficult trail to Crawford Notch, where we stumbled dripping into the AMC Highland Center gift shop. Now supposedly there's a hostel at this place, but us hikers are po', so we figured why pay to sleep when there's a place for free? Previously, my very good friend and former thru-hiker, Becka Lee Rankin, had given us a hook-up with a hiker friend of hers who happens to work at the AMC center in Pinkham Notch, which was on the other side of Mt. Washington and one very long hitch away. Miraculously, at almost the same moment we made the executive yellow-blaze decision, out of nowhere popped a guy I'll call "Dave," a friend of a friend of Voodoo's, who he had met once before, not on the trail, but at Bonnaroo. With a little cajoling he agreed to drive us around those silly mountains to Pinkham Notch, and just like that we were there. Turns out Becka's friend wasn't. And wouldn't be for several days. We just missed her (thanks a bunch anyway, Tracey!). So we had no other choice but to hitch it on up to Gorham a few days earlier than planned. Once in town, we checked into a nice shoddy hostel/motel, got cleaned up, and headed straight to fast food. We actually ran into quite a few hikers about town, including some of the old G'burg gang - Spidey, NoAmp, Cookie Monster, and Thinker! Hadn't seen most of them in quite a long time. It's nice to know that some people from way down south are making it.

The next day's weather was set to clear up, and for once the forecast was right. We set ourselves up for another hostel night and commenced to hitch back down to Pinkham to tackle the beast that is Mt. Washington. Instead of the AT, we hopped on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail, which has actually been the site of many of Washington's recorded deaths. Needless to say, it's a fairly tough four miles up the side of a mountain. But incredibly beautiful. It took us about three hours to drag ourselves up there, clouds racing by all the time. Turn around one moment and see the whole mountainous horizon before you, and the next it's lost in a sea of white. At the summit, we were greeted not only by icicles and blasting winds, but also by lots and lots and lots of tourists, since the top 'o' the mount is the site of a weather station, museum, gift shop, snack bar, post office, another gift shop, and something called the "Tip Top House," which we never explored because it was closed. Oh, and let's not forget the road AND the train that travel up there, too. Let's just say Mt. Washington is a definitely a significant peak on the trail, and by far the craziest. We got up, took all our photos, got back down, and pigged out on Chinese food back in Gorham.

On Day 3 in town, we eagerly headed to the post office (for the third time in three days) to check for the many packages we were expecting - a resupply from my parents, an mp3 player from Shawn's friend, and an oh so precious two-person tent (from another hiker friend), which would lighten my pack and simplify shelter situations, since Shawn only has a tarp. I got my huge box of food, but the others were nowhere to be found. Actually, the mp3 player showed up later after we discovered it was misplaced at the post office, but alas, still no tent. The rest of the day was spent organizing and roaming and annoying librarians (another story for another time) until finally we made it back on to an actual trail that actually led back into the mountains. It wasn't the AT, of course, but at least it was free.

And the tales after that, my very patient friends, shall have to come in an amazing third installment. Continue to wait with bated breath!