Speck In The Woods

Madison Springs Hut

Day 27, July 26, 7.8 miles

What an experience!!! WFS was, let’s say, a little fun, and a little degrading, but quite an experience. We had to sit at a side table in the dining room and watch the guests eat. Then the crew ate. Then we were invited into the kitchen to eat leftovers. After we ate, we had to scrub the stove burners and then wash dishes. There are 52 quests and 6 crew Read More

Day 26, July 25, 5.7 miles

Oh, what a nice night. We stayed at the Yellow Deli hostel in Lancaster. It’s under construction, but they have a temporary set-up that’s very nice. The girls bunk room had only me and Little Engine staying. I think the guys had 6. Our room was so nice and quiet.

The people who run the hostel are very nice and accommodating.

This morning, the hostel provided cereal, scrambled eggs, toast and goat cheese for breakfast. It was delicious. After breakfast we got our shuttle back to the top of Mt. Washington. The weather is much better today. Almost no wind, still in the clouds, but no rain. Read More

Day 25, July 24, 5 miles

We had a bit of a dilemma today. It rained all night and everything we have is wet. Today we were planning to hike over Mt. Washington, which has the worst weather in America, and it is calling for rain and afternoon thunderstorms thru Monday. The only road anywhere around is at the top of Mt. Washington. There is a cog rail down from there and a shuttle van. They’re both very pricey. We decided, though, that we can’t sit in wet tents for 3 days, so we all agreed to head out early and summit Washington in the clouds and if it gets bad, we’ll take the cog or shuttle down and return when the weather clears. That’s what we did. We headed out, all wet and cold. It started raining again within 10 minutes of being on the trail. We had about 3-1/2 miles to get to the AMC run hut that had no availabilities or any work for stays. The dungeon was even full. They did, however, sell us some leftover bacon, potato soup for breakfast and it was so warm and delicious. We still couldn’t get warm though so we had to keep moving. We had 1.4 miles to go to summit. The weather was horrific. The temps were in the 30’s and the winds literally blew me down. They were blowing around 50 mph with gusts of 75 mph. The rain turned to sleet and pelted us all in the left side of the face. Thank goodness we were all peppy enough today to climb quickly. There were zero views. You would never know there were other mountains around. We were socked in. We literally walked right up to the summit without even being able to see the buildings until we were right in front of them. We all quickly agreed to shuttle down for the night to the Yellow Deli Hostel in Lancaster and watch the weather and then shuttle back up to hike down the northern side of Washington. So–here I am in Lancaster waiting to check the morning weather on Washington and then decide our next move. I’ve always thought Mt. Washington would be one of the hardest climbs, but I was wrong. It was a pretty easy ascent (comparatively speaking), even with the crazy weather.

Day 24, July 23, 9.6 miles

My, oh my. A totally sleepless night in a shelter full of snorers and wind suckers. I think I need to learn to set up my tent in the rain. I even had earplugs and that didn’t work. I’m going to ask God when I get to heaven what the purpose of all that noise is. Is it a punishment for the people around snorers? It surely doesn’t seem to bother the snorers, for goodness sake, they don’t even hear each other snoring, so it doesn’t seem to be a punishment for them. So why does God allow anybody to snore?? I know they can’t help it, but it’s the one thing that’s going to push me over the edge. It’s not the tiredness of climbing and walking and starving and being wet and dirty and smelly and hairy–NO—ITS THE BLOOMING SNORING that’s gonna drive me mad!!
Ok, enough. No more snore talk. I’m going to get over it—hopefully.

Exhausted, but thrilled with today. It was full of rock scrambles and true hand and foot climbing. I had to put my poles away so I could Read More

Day 23, July 22, 13.6 miles

We were up and out of the shelter by 7 am. Today was to climb South Twin Mountain and then take Zeacliff Ridge to Ethan Pond Shelter. Doesn’t sound like much, but it is definitely true that your miles are considerably shorter in NH and Maine. The 2-2 1/2 mph pace comes to a screeching halt in the Whites. We are doing 1-1/2 mph here. It’s REAL mountain climbing. I love it, but it’s hard. I’m so glad I’ve teamed up with Poego and Still Thinking because the trail isn’t very well marked and there are some pretty scary sections. Today we started with one such section. I guess because of the rain yesterday, the trail leaving Garfield was the steepest I’ve seen yet and it was literally a waterfall straight over a cliff. As a group, we typically hike separately. I’m strongest in the morning, so I Read More

Day 22, July 21, 10 miles

Oh my goodness what a day. It was hard to leave the hostel this morning, especially knowing Olfrie was going to weigh so much. We got a shuttle back to the trail at 8:30, which is a late start. We knew we only had 10 miles, but can you believe it, it was a 10 hour day. We headed straight up Liberty Mountain. Three miles of boulder steps. It was hard with a heavy pack. After we got to the top, we took Franconia Trail and climbed to the top of Little Read More

Day 21, July 20, 16.6 miles

Whew, what a day. The trail today threw everything the AT has to offer at us. I hiked today with Still Thinking and Poego, the 2 NOBO’s that were at the hostel. We got our shuttle to the trail at 7:00 am. The shuttle dropped us at the Liberty Springs Trail which was 0.8 miles from where we started, so we had Read More

The Notch Hostel

Day 20, July 19, 0 miles

I can’t say enough good things about this hostel. The young owners, Serena and Justin, are wonderful hosts. They just opened July 15 and were full this weekend. The weekenders are gone, but there are still about 10 people here. I will be staying another night due to a hail and torrential rainstorm in the mountains. I and the other 2 NOBO’s that were going to hike together today all decided it wasn’t the day to be above tree line. Tomorrow is suppose to be nice–Thank Goodness. I am going stir crazy. The bad thing is that it’s just rain here, but the storm is up on the mountain, so it feels like I should be able to hike.  Oh well. EVERYONE has told me over and over, “When you get to the Whites, if it calls for bad weather, don’t go.” So, since no one else is hiking out, I decided to stay. I’ve walked the 1-1/2 miles to town to stroll in the rain and have lunch and the 1-1/2 miles back. Now, I think I’ll take a nap.

Day 17, July 18, 0 miles

Wow. Today was pretty hard. You’d think I’d welcome a day with no hiking, but I was very antsy to get on with it. I felt really good yesterday and was ready to tackle the rest of the Whites, but a storm came in and put a halt to the hiking for today. I did enjoy getting to catch up with a few people, and I do admit that if I had to zero, I was in the right place to do it. This new hostel is fabulous. I have a bunk in a room with 5 bunks. There are about 30 people here. Many French Canadians are here to enjoy Echo Lake, several SOBO hikers, and a few Read More

Day 18, July 17, 9.3 miles

My absolute favorite day so far. This is what I’ve hiked 1800 miles for. The Whites are beautiful (or I guess I should say The White Mountain that I’ve seen). Mt. Moosilauke was quite a climb and quite a decent, but man was it worth it. There were spectacular views and beautiful cascades that flowed alongside the trail for the last 1-1/2 miles. Wow!!!!! Wish you all could be here. Pictures are great, but they just can’t do this scenery justice.

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