This is another long post. It seems like it has been forever since we have found internet access. The sad thing is the library here charges, and they only allow us on for 30 minute intervals. We will see how far I get with the blog before I get cut off. So we are in Gorham, NH right now. We just finished the Whites/Presidential Range. We have 297.9 miles left, and only 16 miles in Maine. We are getting so close, but it still feels like a lot of walking ahead of us. We have run across a lot of issues lately that has made it slow going. I got sick again right before the Whites. Not sure what was up, but I lost my appetite and had diarrhea for 3 days. Now I am starting to get a cold. Also T-Mobile cut our cell phone service because they said we were roaming too much, so we do not have cell phones anymore. We were hoping to get a new cell phone provider, but services are very limited in these small towns.
Mountain Meadows Lodge where we took 3 days off for me to rest up from the lyme disease.
While we were resting up a lot of new people caught up to us. We thought this was Nick's friend Aaron when we first saw him. Nick couldn't believe we ran into Aaron at a random shelter in Vermont.
Tapping the trees for maple in Vermont.
We made it to New Hampshire. Our 13th state.
The famous Ivy League School-Dartmouth. The trail goes right through Hanover and the Dartmouth campus. We felt smart/rich for the 10 minutes we were here.
Nanna Winnie-another trail angel. She picked us up in front of CVS, took us home, gave us a shower, cooked us food, and washed our clothes. She had been dreaming of helping some hikers out for a long time, and we were her first ones. She was so tickled, and we were soooo thankful.
Nick has a twin? This is Rojo...he was headed southbound. His friends could not get over how much he looked like Nick.
We took a day off at the Hikers Welcome hostel for me to get over my diarrhea, and we were lucky enough to see some old hiker friends we had not seen in a long time. We have been hiking with these guys off and on since the beginning.
Our first mountain in the Whites. This is the highest we have been since Virginia.
Us on top of Mt. Moosilauke. The owner of the hostel we stayed at in Lincoln said they camped at the base of Moosilauke one time and it was -84 degrees. That's NEGATIVE 84 degrees.
Going down Moosilauke was interesting. Very steep!!!
It was so steep because it followed this brook that had carved the steep trail down the mountain.
The view from Kinsman. This was one of the hardest mountains we have climbed. Very steep and rocky. I was grouchy because I was still sick at the time and very weak from not eating.
Us taking in the view from Kinsman.
We are in the Whites baby!!! Our first day on the ridge in the Presidential range. This was the worst weather we encountered the whole time, which we feel very very lucky. We have heard many stories of hikers with frozen rain jackets from hiking on the ridge. This was Mt. Lafayette, which was supposed to have some of the best views on the whole AT. We missed those views, but we did get some awesome views in the next few days.
Nick on top of Mt. Garfield.
The biggest toad we have seen on the trail.
The view from Webster's Cliffs. This was another interesting climb. Another climb that made my legs and buns burn.
There he is....Mt Washington. We have been hearing about this mountain for 1800 miles. We just have to walk over that ridge up that mountain and down the ridge on the other side.
The view from the Lakes of the Clouds hut at the bottom of Mt. Washington. It was such a beautiful morning. We felt like the luckiest people in the world to get such great views.
The Lakes of the Clouds Hut. The Whites have 6 huts along the trail. About 4-5 college aged kids work in them. They run off of solar and wind energy (the huts that is). The staff composts the sewage, carries up all the food, and cooks all the meals. The huts hold 40-90 guests. They pay $90-120 to stay the night in a bunk, eat dinner, and eat breakfast. As a thru-hiker we get a chance to do "work-for-stay" where we do 2 hours of work in exchange for sleeping on the floor, dinner, and breakfast. We got to do this at 2 huts. It was an interesting experience, but not very restful. We had to wait for leftovers after dinner and breakfast, so a lot of time is wasted just waiting for the paying guests to finish eating and go to bed, for them to get out of our way.
The view from Washington looking back at the ridge we just came across. You can see the hut before the first peak.
Washington is covered in stuff. This is a picture of the tv anteannes and weather instruments.
The Tip-Top House was built in the 1800's. It was a hotel for guests to come and visit Washington. In the summer they had 100 guests a day. They paid $1 a day to stay and $1 per meal. The average income back then was $1 per week. Who knew back then people would want to sleep on a mountain so badly. This place was such a money maker that they built 3 more hotels up there.
Mt. Washington is where the highest winds have ever been recorded at 231 mph. Craziness!! You can see one of the chains holding the roof on. This building had 4 huge chains holding the roof down.
A picture of a picture of Washington in the winter.
The summit. The highest peak in the NE 6,288ft.
The cog railroad that goes up to Mt. Washington. The tradition is to moon the train and the engineer will throw coal at you. We were standing this far away for Nick to feel safe to moon them.
Nick on the very tip top of Mt. Adams.
The ridge.
Summiting another president.
John and his son Cole. They came out just to hike the Whites. They were a really nice.
Nick standing like he is a cool hiker on Wildcat Mountain.
Pond by Carter Notch Hut.
Looking back at the Presidential range.
Some of these descents just take too much thinking. I ripped the bottom of my shorts out from butt scooting down rocks.
The last look back at the Whites before going down the last notch. We are very thankful for the wonderful weather we experienced in the Whites!
Mountain Meadows Lodge where we took 3 days off for me to rest up from the lyme disease.
While we were resting up a lot of new people caught up to us. We thought this was Nick's friend Aaron when we first saw him. Nick couldn't believe we ran into Aaron at a random shelter in Vermont.
Tapping the trees for maple in Vermont.
We made it to New Hampshire. Our 13th state.
The famous Ivy League School-Dartmouth. The trail goes right through Hanover and the Dartmouth campus. We felt smart/rich for the 10 minutes we were here.
Nanna Winnie-another trail angel. She picked us up in front of CVS, took us home, gave us a shower, cooked us food, and washed our clothes. She had been dreaming of helping some hikers out for a long time, and we were her first ones. She was so tickled, and we were soooo thankful.
Nick has a twin? This is Rojo...he was headed southbound. His friends could not get over how much he looked like Nick.
We took a day off at the Hikers Welcome hostel for me to get over my diarrhea, and we were lucky enough to see some old hiker friends we had not seen in a long time. We have been hiking with these guys off and on since the beginning.
Our first mountain in the Whites. This is the highest we have been since Virginia.
Us on top of Mt. Moosilauke. The owner of the hostel we stayed at in Lincoln said they camped at the base of Moosilauke one time and it was -84 degrees. That's NEGATIVE 84 degrees.
Going down Moosilauke was interesting. Very steep!!!
It was so steep because it followed this brook that had carved the steep trail down the mountain.
The view from Kinsman. This was one of the hardest mountains we have climbed. Very steep and rocky. I was grouchy because I was still sick at the time and very weak from not eating.
Us taking in the view from Kinsman.
We are in the Whites baby!!! Our first day on the ridge in the Presidential range. This was the worst weather we encountered the whole time, which we feel very very lucky. We have heard many stories of hikers with frozen rain jackets from hiking on the ridge. This was Mt. Lafayette, which was supposed to have some of the best views on the whole AT. We missed those views, but we did get some awesome views in the next few days.
Nick on top of Mt. Garfield.
The biggest toad we have seen on the trail.
The view from Webster's Cliffs. This was another interesting climb. Another climb that made my legs and buns burn.
There he is....Mt Washington. We have been hearing about this mountain for 1800 miles. We just have to walk over that ridge up that mountain and down the ridge on the other side.
The view from the Lakes of the Clouds hut at the bottom of Mt. Washington. It was such a beautiful morning. We felt like the luckiest people in the world to get such great views.
The Lakes of the Clouds Hut. The Whites have 6 huts along the trail. About 4-5 college aged kids work in them. They run off of solar and wind energy (the huts that is). The staff composts the sewage, carries up all the food, and cooks all the meals. The huts hold 40-90 guests. They pay $90-120 to stay the night in a bunk, eat dinner, and eat breakfast. As a thru-hiker we get a chance to do "work-for-stay" where we do 2 hours of work in exchange for sleeping on the floor, dinner, and breakfast. We got to do this at 2 huts. It was an interesting experience, but not very restful. We had to wait for leftovers after dinner and breakfast, so a lot of time is wasted just waiting for the paying guests to finish eating and go to bed, for them to get out of our way.
The view from Washington looking back at the ridge we just came across. You can see the hut before the first peak.
Washington is covered in stuff. This is a picture of the tv anteannes and weather instruments.
The Tip-Top House was built in the 1800's. It was a hotel for guests to come and visit Washington. In the summer they had 100 guests a day. They paid $1 a day to stay and $1 per meal. The average income back then was $1 per week. Who knew back then people would want to sleep on a mountain so badly. This place was such a money maker that they built 3 more hotels up there.
Mt. Washington is where the highest winds have ever been recorded at 231 mph. Craziness!! You can see one of the chains holding the roof on. This building had 4 huge chains holding the roof down.
A picture of a picture of Washington in the winter.
The summit. The highest peak in the NE 6,288ft.
The cog railroad that goes up to Mt. Washington. The tradition is to moon the train and the engineer will throw coal at you. We were standing this far away for Nick to feel safe to moon them.
Nick on the very tip top of Mt. Adams.
The ridge.
Summiting another president.
John and his son Cole. They came out just to hike the Whites. They were a really nice.
Nick standing like he is a cool hiker on Wildcat Mountain.
Pond by Carter Notch Hut.
Looking back at the Presidential range.
Some of these descents just take too much thinking. I ripped the bottom of my shorts out from butt scooting down rocks.
The last look back at the Whites before going down the last notch. We are very thankful for the wonderful weather we experienced in the Whites!
2 comments:
Congratulations on being so close to the finish line! Hope you are both feeling good and getting over the Lyme disease. Can't wait to have you talk to the kids in the fall! Take care. Kim P.
I know this is way late...and I am just catching up because I am a bad friend...but I do not like this hut thing where you eat leftovers and people pay $90 to stay in a piece...what is wrong with them? Glad you didn't do that for too long. The president mountains are rad.
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