Gorham, NH

Hello again from New Hampshire. Things have been going considerably better since I last updated. The weather broke, and we had sun every day but one through the White Mountains, which is good because we were above treeline for a few days and bad weather is REALLY bad up there. The one bad day was a great example of that; it was the day we traversed Franconia Ridge. After taking a zero-day in the woods the day before (I was puking my brains out, drank some bad water I think), we woke to rain. Well, by the time we made the climb up to the ridge, we were in the clouds and 60 mile per hour winds. You could see NOTHING and could hardly stand up to some of the gusts, it was very disappointing for me, since I'd been anticipating this ridge (said to be one of the most beautiful views on the AT) since I began hiking. I had the mountain in my sights for 4 days, and when I finally got to it all there was to see was fog. This has happened too many times on this hike, and it put me in a very sour mood.

But fortunately the weather the rest of the week was great, sunny, clear, and calm. Mount Washington was having the best weather of the year the day we climbed it, so we heard from some folks in the observatory club. The summit disgusted me, though. What was once a holy mountain to the Native Americans is now a parking lot/train station, with gift shop, museum, and deli/lunchroom, and a zoo of tourists. I knew it would be like that, but the reality is worse than the idea. I just wasn't prepared for it, I guess, and couldn't wait to hike off and back into the silence of the mountains again. I wasn't the only one; about an hour later, while KBomb and I were taking a break somewhere along the rest of the Presidential Ridge, he said "listen" and it took me a minute to realize that for the first time in a long time, there was no sound. No distant highway, no airplanes, no wind, not even any flies. It was just us and the naked rock around us, an utter stillness all the more stark and certain for having so recently been on the most touristy mountain I hope I'll ever encounter.

So, yes, I'm enjoying myself and this adventure far more. The work-for-stays at the AMC huts were nice too. The deal is this: a night's stay costs $89, but the AMC lets thru-hikers do odd jobs for our stay, given the lack of options available to us. One night we worked some compost for an hour, another time we swept up and folded some blankets. In return, we get to sleep in the dining room, and eat dinner and breakfast, in huge quantities of whatever is leftover from the guests. Not a bad deal. On the other hand, a few times we didn't want to work, and just stealth-camped. The day hiking over Washington was one of them; we got to Madison Springs Hut too tired to want to bother with work, so we went up on the ridge (above treeline) and slept in the most beautiful place I'd ever been in my life. The weather was perfect for a great sunset, excellent star-viewing, and a nice sunrise. It's the kind of camping I'd always dreamed about; and KBomb keeps telling me it's like that times ten in Colorado, so now I'm dead set to head west after I finish the AT; maybe I'll even do some sections of the PCT. I don't think I'll thru-hike it, or any other +1000 mi trail again, though. Too much need to push, you pass by too many things because of deadlines and such, which is not what hiking should be about.

So it turned out that Whites were not as impossible as I had been fearing. If there's one thing I've learned, it's not to believe the hype. You can always do the climbs, just as long as you keep putting one foot in front of the other, even if it is ridiculously steep. The mountains do have an end to them, there is a summit somewhere, you don't have to climb forever. It's like I said before, you can't worry about what's coming, just about where you are: there, it isn't a 3500 foot ascent, it's just another step, and that is always doable.

Still, those climbs did take a toll. We're all pretty damn tired, and are taking today as a zero here in Gorham. Heading down the 8 miles into town the other day, my legs were so wobbly and weak I didn't know that I'd make it in; I kept falling and slipping on the wet rocks, and just generally felt like shit. We were going to keep going today, but we all realized that this terrain is so rugged, and will continue to be so for some time, that we should rest up, refuel and regroup before moving on. We'll be in Maine in 2 days, and though the Whites are officially behind us, the trail will not get much easier for probably 100 or more miles.

On the plus-side, being out of the AMC areas, we'll save money: no more paying $8 for the lean-to shelters/campsites we've been staying at for free all along, no more opportunties at huts to buy food. Now it is only the trees, lakes, and mountains of Maine that await us, and I couldn't be happier.