It's windy on top of the world

I got a text message from Melissa today. She was texting from atop Mt Washington mile 1848.5 NoBo. Last night they stayed in the Lakes of the Clouds hut 1847.0. The text came in at 12:30 PM so they got started this morning at the beautiful lake before peaking the highest mountain the New England. That is a 14º average incline. Tonight will be camped somewhere beyond the peak. The temp with wind chill is 29º F. at the top. The winds are down to a more tolerable 32 MPH. The weather isn't quite that extreme wherever they setup camp because they will likely have dropped a couple thousand feet of elevation

I haven't posted in 13 days because I was actually waiting for the crew to catch up to my last post. Hollywood had to come off the trail for a commitment to a wedding in Chicago, several days were spent double zeroing in Lincoln and much lower than expected hiking totals per day has put them way behind on their schedule. The new goal is to complete by the 15th of September.

Tripwire had to come off the trail and is on the mend. Jordan came up lame again on the 18th and had to spend a few days healing up at a kennel in Holderness, NH. Through the great grace of the trail angel system and a few thumbs out on the road, she got him there and expects the same to get him back once he has healed up. Hollywood should be picking him back up soon, all better and ready to run the trail back and forth again. It has taken 13 days to go 40 miles. Given 6 days off between the wedding, zeros and time to get to and from Chicago, that makes and average just under 6 miles a day since returning to the trail. The difficulties of the White Mountains was truly unexpected by all. Hardened hikers used to 20-30 mile days were taken down to 5-7 mile days by the power of these huge peaks and valleys.

Last night was a wild one at the Lakes of the Clouds Hut. The weather was terrible and the winds were blowing at 80 Mph. Truly some of the harshest weather on earth is up there. The Lakes of the Clouds hut is only 1276 ft below the summit of Mt. Washington so the weather is very close to as  brutal as at the summit.

I'll pass on the latest updates as I get them. Until next post, here are a few pictures for you:

This one was taken atop Mt Lafayette.

 Headed toward Mt Garfield.

 And finally a couple of Sunset atop Mt. Garfield.

  

Possibly the most difficult section of the trail is under foot now.

This entire week Hollywood and the whole new crew have and will be hiking one of the most incredible stretches of the Appalachian Trail.

They will hike over eight '4000 footers' this week helped by Hollywood's sister who will slackpack them this week. Every one of these mountains are on the '4000 Footer club' list. This is a NH hiker badge of honor. The goal is to hike every New Hampshire mountain that is over 4000 ft in elevation. The definition of a 4000 footer means the peak must rise at least 200 feet above the ridgeline connecting it to a higher peak. There is over 20,000 feet of elevation change in this range they are hiking now. This particular stretch is the first half of what is considered the toughest part of the entire Appalachian Trail by many. The second half includes two of the Presedentials, Mt Washington, and Mt Madison. They will hit 15 of the 48  4K footer peaks while hiking NH. 15 peaks over 4000 feet with drops valleys that drop 1000 -3000 feet in between.

Nights are down into the 40's so cold weather gear is needed again. As I type this, the temperature with wind chill is 38 degrees atop Mt. Washington. The link to the left is observatory weather page. Hollywood posted a quick note from Lincoln NH 1808.5 NoBo about five minutes ago. This means they will probably do Lincoln, Haystack and Lafayette tomorrow. 

Some of the most incredible AT huts are here as well. The Greenleaf Hut, Zealand Falls Hut, and very soon one of the most beautiful locations in the world, The Lake of the Clouds Hut. These are only three of the The High Huts of the White Mountains. There are eight huts in all. The design of them is similar to the Huts in the Swiss Alps. They are about eight miles apart. In The Whites, eight miles is considered to be a typical day hike for a thru-hiker on the six month plan.

These past few days, Starting with Sunday, will have them over:
Mt Moosilauke 4802 Ft
Mt. Kinsman 4358 Ft
Mt Lincoln 5089 Ft
Little Haystack 4840 Ft
Mt Lafayette 5249 Ft
Mt Garfield 4488 Ft
South Twin Mountain 4902 Ft

Little haystack is not part of the 4000 foot list because the elevation change is less than 200 feet.

As you may be able to tell by my multiple links and talk of the trail and not Hollywood or Backtrack, this post is all about this section of the Appalachian Trail. I'm going to take a selfish moment here and talk in the first person. It is the only stretch of the AT I have hiked personally. Many of the readers of the blog have hiked these trails with me and I hope every link brings back all the memories they do for me. If you ever get a chance to hike a section of the AT, this is the one you should do. The vistas are incredibly breathtaking, the huts and shelters are near the mountain peaks, and the hiking effort needed to get to these heights is incredibly hard and grueling on the body. You feel a real sense of accomplishment when you summit even one. To summit eight in a week is mind blowing. I am looking forward to her call the next time more than any other the entire adventure. The slackpack day tomorrow is going to be most earned.

They are dropping their packs in Glen, NH when Trail Angel Rachel meets them. I'm not sure which part they are hiking during the slack. I will tell you more details soon.

COCONUT IS BACK ON THE TRAIL!!! She is in Vermont and still putting in the big mile days. Her breathing is still getting the best of her on the long days of sucking wind at high elevations. The lure of completing the Appalachian Trail is so intense that you sacrifice your body toward achieving the end goal. I'm going to get a location report from her tomorrow and will catch you all up as she progresses as well. Keep up the encouragement both here and on Facebook.  Both of them read the blog and appreciate all the positive energy that you give them.

WELCOME BACK TO NEW HAMPSHIRE!!

Hello from New Hampshire. Friends hiked with them today to hike The Gentle Giant, Mt. Moosilauke. Since I last checked posted on the blog a lot has happened.

Some of you know, Hollywood and Backtrack came home last weekend. They did a triple zero here at home before heading back to Finish off Vermont and head into New Hampshire. There is a lot of stuff to catch up on when you’ve been away for four and a half months. Hollywood is a landlord and there was house stuff to deal with, people to catch up with, mail to return, and all sorts of other trappings of everyday life. She came back to deal with the most important of these because when Tyler gets home he is jumping right onto the trail to finish up the grand adventure with his loving wife.

I sent ten days of food up to her today so Backtrack is going OK with food. When she was home she picked up some but I had measured incorrectly and an additional care package needed to go up to top off Jordan’s backpack.

She called me on Friday while on the top of Smarts Mountain 1762.6 NoBo. The night was crystal clear and it looked like there were a billion stars out in the sky. She has been doing a lot of night hiking to catch up the miles and now that they are in the big elevations well above treeline when they hit the peaks, the nighttime sky lights up like it hasn’t done before. It is both awe inspiring and humbling to lay on your back on top of a mountain and take in the boundless visage of the universe. They are deep in the mountains where there is no light pollution blocking out the wonder of the night sky.  They have passed through Hanover, NH and are now well into the White Mountain National Forest. This was at ten PM and they were headed to the Trapper John Shelter 1755.9 NoBo. It was there very first time summiting so late at night. The shelter was only one tenth of a mile from the peak.

In New England, you find the shelters near the peaks of mountain very frequently. While further south, you most often found them in the valleys between the mountains. They are in for many nights just like Friday night laying on top of the mountain with the stars so bright you can practically see the trail by them.

They had done 26 miles Friday through over 8000 ft of elevation change. Uphill a thousand, down a thousand, up a thousand, down a thousand, up a thousand, down a thousand, and up two thousand. A saw tooth say. That is the Whites for you. Yesterday was another seven thousand foot day over two peaks and today was 3000 feet straight up to peak Moosilauke. And 2500 down the other side. This kind of elevation change really puts those 900 ft sawtooth days that were such a bother way back in Virginia into perspective. Tonight is most likely spent in Kinsman notch, where lies Lincoln, NH. 1791.9 NoBo.

Not only were her local friends Nikki and Jack hiking today, Y- Knot , Y-Know, Pryor and another friend, came up and hiked with them too. Also she has caught back up with her friends. She has ‘caught the bubble’ which is some of her hiking friends from the past months on the trail. She now has companionship again. She is currently thru-hiking with Aaron, Dillon, and Do What.

Vermont was quickly torn down last early last week. The first day back on the trail, they got turned  around and unintentionally hiked ten miles down ‘The long Trail’ instead of the Appalachian Trail. It was 6:00 PM before she realized they had been hiking the whole afternoon on the wrong trail.  A call to Pete revealed there was no close crossroad coming up to catch a ride back to the an AT trailhead, so they had to slog back up the trail the ten miles just to get to the start again. That night they did a ‘stealth camp’ right on the trail side. 

This was one of the few nights she was truly bored out of her mind while hiking and camping on the trail. She was all alone with no shelter, or the companionship the people in them provide, nearby. She wore her phone battery down calling everyone to stave off the tedium, and called it a very early night at ‘trail midnight’ for the first time since starting the trip. They packed up and got going very early Wednesday morning to get back on track. Wednesday Thursday and Friday was head down nose to the grindstone hiking to try and catch up with to ‘the bubble’. Tuesday and Wednesday were the first two days when Hollywood and Backtrack truly hiked alone, not seeing anyone they knew or had hiked with before. It was an odd feeling to have been hiking with so many people and now finding yourself truly solo hiking the AT.

Wednesday night was spent in West Hartford, VT in a trail angels’ back yard. There was only one other hiker there. He was intoxicated and camping in a different area of the yard and didn’t get a great vibe from him. Thursday was out of West Hartford, 10 miles into Hanover, and catching up with the bubble. A day of pizza, beers and hang time in Hanover for the morning and early afternoon put them on the trail just in time to summit Smarts Mountain. Catching up with fellow hikers she knew was great motivation to pack on the miles though.   

So there you have it, New Hampshire, we welcome home Backtrack and Hollywood. Only one more state to go. The high peaks of the White Mountains are calling your names. We cannot wait to sit by the fire with you and listen to all the tails of one of the greatest adventures of a lifetime. Here are a few Moosilauke pictures.