The rain stopped partway through the night. When we woke up, a lot of the tent was dry already. The alarm went off, but we snoozed it. We only had eleven or so miles to hike, we can afford a later start. Then we heard splashing that Warthog and I swore was a moose walking into the water next to us. He jumped up, out of the tent. Then sheepishly came back in. “It’s just a loon taking a bath,” he said. I laughed at the absurdity. It was a really loud bath!
The lake was beautiful, but we had to leave. We had Moosilauke to summit. Our packs were almost empty of food since it was our last day on trail before a zero day. That helped our ascent for sure. It was a sustained climb, but honestly, it went much easier than I expected. We had two or so hours of going constantly uphill, but the grade was manageable and the beauty of the forests rewarded your hard work.
We were almost to the top when we ran into Aspirations, PR, and GQ again. They were bundled up tight. They were slackpacking the mountain and were hiking sobo for the day. Apparently it’s the direction people recommend hiking it. We would see why when we got to the other side. After chatting for a good fifteen or so minutes, we decided to get to the top of this mountain! The trail winded up the mountain above the tree line. Big rock cairns marked the path, even without them it was easy to see where we needed to go.
Alcoves made out of rock dotted the summit to provided places to protect hikers from the wind. It was cold on top! We saw fellow nobo, “Sweets”, there. After saying hi we found shelter from the wind and ate our lunch. With the wind cut down, it felt like a still fall afternoon sitting in the sun. I wanted to take a catnap, I was so cozy. Confidence and pride swelled inside us. We just summited our first White mountain! One of the harder ones too! We’ve got this! A respectful fear for the rest of the Whites still stands, but it’s met by this victory.
When we headed down the mountain, we moved quickly to get back into the trees. Sitting in our protected spot, we forgot how cold it was! The trees helped. The farther down the mountain we got, the warmer we were too. Soon I realized why it’s recommended to go down the way we came up. The way was steep, rocky, and hard on the knees. We crawled down the mountain, carefully placing our feet so we wouldn’t slip. It could be disastrous to slip here. Boulders jutted up on odd angles and sat close to the edge, to a drop off. We walked next to a waterfall for about half of the way down the mountain provided for some nice scenery in contrast to our stressful descent.
Just before we came out of the woods we hit another major milestone, 1,800 miles! Each milestone is incredible! We have less than 400 miles to go. I’m amazed. I’m excited. I’m anxious to see this thing through. We are so close. I am almost without words. It’s as if I want to hold my breath while I see this fragile thing through to the end. The end. Ah!!! The end is actually in sight! It was a joyful mile marker for us all I think.
We arrived at a parking lot just behind a couple of day hikers we had seen on the path. We spoke briefly as we passed one another. They were twins (a brother and sister) and brought along his dog, Hunter, a fourteen year old spring spaniel. They kindly offered to take us into town where our condo is. The four of us fit in the back seat of a VW Golf. Three of our packs were in the back, Warthog kept his on his lap. Hunter sat on the floor in between Snow Monkey’s legs, his head resting on Wonder Woman. It was tight, but surprisingly comfortable. I swear, I think we could get a job at the circus climbing in and out of little cars after this trail.
They dropped us off in the condo complex. We thanked them repeatedly and offered to buy them ice cream or at least give them cash. They declined, but stopped once more after turning around to make sure we have everything. Once we confirmed we did, they were off! So were we! Walking into the neighborhood, going to a building, a home, with couches and a kitchen… we are so freaking excited! Tomorrow is a zero day!!!
-ansel