Day 130, miles today - 7.9, total - 1,840.5

July 26, 2013

Zealand Falls Hut to Crawford Notch.

I got up this morning at 6:00. I got my gear together to make way for the guests to eat breakfast. A little before 7:00 the staff asked that I put the silverware out for the 30+ guests. We had to wait until 8:00 to eat, after the guests had all finished. There were pancakes, oats and sausage left for us.

We were on trail at 8:30. It was clear and a little warmer this morning. The forecast calls for clouds and rain today.

We started out hiking with Chapin, he's a thru-hiker from Massachusetts. Originally from Guatemala. He's a very likable guy. He did work-for-stay at the hut too. I first met him two days ago. He hiked with us for a couple miles.

We had a few nice views to start the morning. After a couple hours it started to sprinkle. The clouds soon filled the sky.

 

We had planned to go over Mt. Jackson, Mt. Eisenhower and Mt. Monroe. There were to be great views from the summit of each them. Because of the weather, we decided to cut the day short. Tomorrow it is supposed to be sunny, and we felt it was worth waiting for. We decided to get off trail at the Crawford Notch road crossing, and hitch hike to the Appalachian Mountain Club visitors center 3.5 miles off trail. It took us about fifteen minutes to get a ride.

B-Rocket's mother was planning to visit this weekend. She knows someone that has a cabin close to the trail that we can spend the night at. She's going to pick us up this evening here at the AMC visitors center. We'll spend the night at the cabin, and Jamey will drop us off at the trailhead in the morning. Tomorrow evening she will pick us up at the top of Mt. Washington, and take us back to the cabin.

While we were waiting for Jamey, a guy asked B-Rocket and I to join them for dinner. He was with a group of 10-12 people that we had seen at the Galehead Hut. They had stayed at four huts, hiking between them. Some of their group didn't come to dinner, so they had extra slots. B-Rocket and I ate with them and talked about our thru-hike. It's amazing how many nice people we have met on this journey.

Jamey picked us up at 8:00 pm. We drove to the cabin on a lake. It's very cool. Jamey had bought all kinds of food for us. I took a shower and I get to sleep on a mattress tonight.