August 25th. Crazy Day

Headed out on a sunny morning hiking by Mt Washington. Took pictures on the cog rail. Stayed above tree line in awe of Gods creation all around us. The expanse of sky and mountains can be overwhelming at times. We talked about how different it feels for us now being a part of this for so long. A sense of calm and freedom. We are feeling a high.

We cross paths with "Prancer" and John, then we take a break with Steve and Bill. Steve sends us off with a prayer. Someday Steve will thru hike this trail. Soon we see Ric Cutis, Brian, Jacquelynne, and Leigha (sorry about name spellings). Here come Jim and son, Keith. Dave and son, Andrew. They all seem to be enjoying this landscape as well other than a few bumps and bruises. Seeing our peeps from home was uplifting!!!!

Mt Madison...rock scrambles. We have a 14 mile day planned. We see heavy clouds moving in and thunder in the distance. Rock scrambles can be fun but after six or seven hours, you begin to feel the fatigue in your feet and ankles. We make it down to smoother ground and I take one of my crazy spills. A complete somersault before I am done. When I get up, I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Now the miles are taking forever. I am moving more slowly it's hard on Mark when I fall, I can tell he feels helpless. My left hand is swollen at the knuckle of my middle finger so I can't use the sticks. My right thigh is bruised along with my left shoulder. When we finally made it to a parking area, there was a red truck leaving and we asked for a ride to town. I will see how I feel in the morning and we will make our next move. If only I could fall gracefully!!

Pics for 24th

Cindy and Emma were a great help at the Lake of the Clouds Hut

Aug 23. AMC

There is a reason it is not recommended that you sleep above tree line. The structure, we called it our bunker, that we slept in was the foundation from an old fire tower. It became very windy and cold. If we were not in our tent, I am sure it would have blown away. The sound of the flapping, the metal poles on the concrete, and learning how flexible our tent is made for little sleep. There is a reason that the trees cannot survive up there. Knowing all this, I would have done it again for the amazing evening we had on Mt Garfield.

This morning there was a nice sunrise but we were busy trying to pack up quickly to get out of the wind. The moment we stepped into the tree line, it was warm and comfortable. We climbed steeply down to Liberty Camp.

They have shelters, campsites and huts in this area. The camps have caretakers, privys, and tent platforms. They charge 8.00 per night. We prefer to stealth camp but they do look nice. The huts are like lodges with bunk houses in them. They charge 80-100 per person and are usually full from reservations. They serve breakfast and dinner for the guests. They sell soup and leftovers to the thru hikers if you arrive at the right time, they offer work for stay and you get to eat your fill with the leftovers and get a space on a bench or somewhere for the night. We aren't too excited about work for stay because you often have to stay till after breakfast when we like to begin early. However, we are going to try to stay in Lake of the Clouds tomorrow because there is quite a few miles above tree line with no place to camp. They will only take four hikers.

Today was filled with open views, steep inclines and declines. We ended at the road and hitched a ride from a family from Montreal to the AMC ( (Appalachian Mountain Club) where we knew a group from our church would be staying. Had an all you can eat dinner with them and decided to stay in the bunk house. Long, tiring day knowing tomorrow will be some of our longest climbs yet.

August 24 Lake of the Clouds

This morning we started with a wonderful breakfast. Our trail angle, Dave, gave us a ride to the trailhead where we began our incline up to Mount Jackson. We met Stephen who shared he was taking care o a bucket list hike he had been wanting to do for years in this section of the AT.

Three miles in, Webster Cliffs. Breathtaking view with some camping available in a pine forest. A place we want to come back to someday. We always think of how we want to bring our family back to a place like this.

We met Jeff and Lynda from Ottawa Canada on the summit of Mt Jackson. We took a break and chatted as if we had already been friends. They shared grapes, dark chocolate almonds, an apple and some good peanut butter m & m's. It's hard to turn down offers for food that you don't have to carry. We shared stories and just had a wonderful time with them.

Passes another hut that had soup and chocolate cake scrapings where we ran into Yukon, Boomer, Squatch, hobo, and George. We were all heading to lake of the Clouds hit. I knew we would have a good time but was unsure if they would allow us all to stay. Mark and I headed out because we knew it would take us much longer than these guys to get there.

It was a long 5 miles. My legs were just burning from all the up we had done all day. We were above treeline most the way so I had this amazing feeling of being on top of the world seeing for miles in every direction.

We were the last ones to the hit but they would make room for all of us. I have been to the hits as a guest. This was different. There were 8 of us and we walked to the peaceful lake and laughed and watched the clouds in amazement. We had to stay out o the way until after dinner when they called us into the kitchen where we stood around eating all the leftovers. They have to carry all garbage out so they were cheering us on to finish everything. We do pretty good then we did odd jobs around the hut. At 10 pm they have lights out. The guests head to their bunks and the riff raff (that's us) bring our packs in and set ourselves up on the dining room floor for sleep.

All night I dreamt that I was a homeless person looking for a place to sleep. At least when I awoke I could remind myself I am not really homeless. We had to scoot quickly this morning so the guests could have breakfast.

We will see the CCC hikers from home today on the ridge. They are hiking south from the last hut.

Another incredible day. The weather has been perfect. We are thankful for all Gods blessings!!!!!!

August 21 Franconia Ridge

Up, up, up....up, up, up.......Mt Lafayette up, up, up Lincoln up, up, above treeline. .ahhhhhh .............down.....up, up, up Mt Garfield, 360 degree view, camp here, sunset, stars. Magical!!!!

No words can describe this day.