Jul 25 - New Hampshire

DAY #128
START LOCATION: Trapper John Shelter
FINISH LOCATION: Ore Hill Shelter
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 19.3
TRIP MILEAGE: 1,773.3
MILES TO GO: 405.8

It poured and poured last night. I awoke around 1:30AM to the falling rain and didn't fall back asleep until after 4AM. I just laid there, listened to the rain and kept an eye on my tent's waterproofing. I usually sleep like a rock, so this was unusual. Thankfully I dozed back off. I awoke around 6 to find it had stopped raining. This was a relief. It meant I didn't have to wait it out to break down the tent. But, breaking it down when soaking wet makes for a longer morning.

As I headed down to the shelter from our campsite, there were two new people in the shelter that must've pulled in late the night before ... After some mutually awkward staring, the three of us connected... Bumper and Breeze. It was stoked. I last saw these two before I hopped off the trail in Daleville, VA in mid May. They were headed to Trail Days in Damascus and I shared a shuttle with them from Bearwallow Gap way back on May 13. They are a blast to hang out with and we caught each other up on our shenanigans since.

Smoke and I were the last ones out yet again at 9:45AM... Not a good start when we had a threat of rain most of the day, a 2,100' climb, a 1,500' climb and a 900' climb spread over a 19 mile day. But, we kept our hopes up to pull it all off.

We cruised a couple miles to Lyme-Dorchester Road and Smoke clued me in about a cool trail magic spot called out in his guidebook. A woman that lives on this road offers free ice cream and water to thru-hikers. We were all in. We rolled up and gave a little yoo-hoo and out came this sweet old lady with a couple ice cream bars. She asked if we were northbounders and also if we were "purists". A thru-hiking purist is someone that hikes every inch of the AT and passes every single white blaze. For example, some shelters are located on blue-blazed loop trail with a both a southerly and northerly junction with the AT. After stopping here via the southerly entrance, an anal-retentive northbound purist would not continue on the blue-blaze to rejoin the trail at the north entrance, rather, he/she would return to where they left the AT and hike the section that the blue blaze skips. This way they are not missing any piece of the AT. It's a ludicrous practice, because 1) any non-AT trail that connects the AT is still a trail in Appalachia. 2) The ATC specifically identifies a thru-hiker as someone who has reasonably hiked the length of the trail regardless of whether they've passed every white blaze. This allows for a hiker to reasonably customize his/her hiking experience and make it more their own.

Anyway, Smoke and I answered the woman's query into our subscription to purism with a resounding "no". She then told us that if we continue on the unpaved Lyme-Dorchester Road for 2 miles north, we'd skip a boring, viewless, overgrown, dewy and tick-infested 2 mile section of the AT. Absolutely. So we enjoyed our ice cream, downed a mountain dew, and continued down a very nice dirt road to the next AT intersection. It was great. Smoke and I usually dub our blue-blazing or otherwise off-AT exploits as "Make Our Own Destiny". But, as an homage to New Hampshire, we're calling it "Hike Free or Die".

We rejoined the AT to begin our 2,100' climb up Smarts Mtn. Thankfully the rain held off until about .2 miles before we summitted. We ducked into the Firewarden's Cabin Shelter until it passed. Many of the shelterers from the night before were there and we yucked it up as we ate our lunch.

We pushed on in the afternoon and were treated to some gorgeous rocky vistas up, on and down Mt. Cube. We could see our hike completed over Smarts and a bunch of our peaks in Vermont. The weather front. Moved out as well, giving way to some awesome clouds and blue sky. The trail was extremely muddy today and it really soaked our feet, especially Smoke's. He has trailrunners, I have boots. So, his feet get wet fast but dry fast. Mine take a while to get wet, but dry slower. Anyway, it put a damper on our last 3 miles and lay-up camping option was tempting. But, not pulling off a 19 today meant longer day tomorrow concluding with the 3,000' trek over Mt. Moosilauke... Not a good scenario. So, we sucked it up and finished off the 19.3 by 7:15PM. We're exhausted, but glad we did it. It's a windy, crisp, clear night so our clothes should dry nicely.

One more full day of hiking tomorrow before an extended break from the trail. Explanation coming soon... I promise.

-natedog