We hiked possibly the best section of the AT over the last two days. Franconia ridge, Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Lafayette, and Mt. Garfield. It was fairly easy to get up to the ridge as far as 4000 ft climbs go. Along the ridge we had fog clouds quickly rolling in and out with temperatures in the 50’s and the occasional wind gust to 30 mph. We all put on jackets and slowly walked forward taking dozens of pictures. Being a nice day there was quite a crowd along the ridge.
The remainder of the day was extremely difficult terrain. This difficulty would continue into the next mornings hike and drop our speed to just over 1 mph. I hurried ahead and got to Galehead Hut at 3:59. At 4, the earliest allowed, I went in to ask for work-for-stay and got it. This meant I got to do dishes for free food and staying in the hut; what people pay over 100$ to do. DB, Pilgrim, and Slim arrived just after 6 and paid for there stay. They we’re exhausted after the long 12 hours of hiking.
Today we were again hiking slow untill suddenly there was a flat 5 miles which we knocked in about 2 hours. We made it to Crawford Notch about 4 and met my brother with his car. Tomorrow will be Mikes last day helping us out and so we’ll have to consider other options. We all went to dinner and had a good meal although poor service. After laundry and food resupply we’re ready to go for tomorrow; he big climb up 6,200 ft Mt. Washington. Climbs don’t other me much anymore due to all the conditioning. Plus I’m taking 5-hour energy before a big climb. I seem then to zone out for a while and emerge on the summit. Warp speed.
I keep singing wizard of oz tunes as I hike. Basically I’m quite jovial with everything going on and have many ha-ha-has, ho-ho-hos, and a couple of tra-la-las.
-BANZAI!!!
