My last resupply was at a Co-op supermarket, which meant they didn’t have my preferred brand of granola and I bought one from their bulk food section. And it’s not crunchy! I’m not sure if that’s what set me off, but my stomach has been unsettled all day. I didn’t eat lunch until 1, and only ate two granola bars instead of the usual four.
The day wasn’t overly ambitious mileage wise, but did have 5300 feet of climbing, and the climbing was pretty grueling. At one point a river crossing presented itself with no way to ford it without soaking both feet, except that there was a tree down across the river and I decided to shinny along that. It was risky and I lost my balance a couple of times but caught myself. Unfortunately my poles were just dangling from my wrists and somehow I managed to snap one of them. I threw them both to shore and tried to adjust the length of the broken one so that I at least had a shorter pile, then discovered that it had also broken at the tightening point, which meant there was no way to fix it. I tucked that pole away on the pack and started walking with the remaining pole, only to notice that it too was busted. So now I have to hike without poles, and if I want to put up my tent I have to find some dead wood and cut it to the right length to hold the tent up. I’ll be in Lincoln NH day after tomorrow and there’s an outfitter there, so with luck I can get new poles there.
For tonight I’ll sleep in the shelter. Luckily it’s cool now and should go down into the high teens (Celsius – maybe 65 F) so I don’t have to worry about the choice between boiling inside my sleeping bag or exposing my skin to the open air and getting bitten. In hot weather, at least with my cold weather sleeping bag, a tent is the only option because I can sleep with no sleeping bag at all.
After all that climbing I reached the top of Mount Moosilauke (the first time I heard someone mention the name I thought it was Mount Moussaka). Lots of day hikers up there. And 360 degree views of some pretty impressive mountains.
I met one new thru hiker today, Nemo from Norway. He started right about when I did. He passed me on the way up, I passed him at the top, and he has now set up his tent on the one tent platform at the site. There don’t seem to be any flat tentsites other than the platform, which isn’t too surprising given we’re on the side of a mountain.
I read more details about staying in the Whites. The huts are expensive- $300 a night for non members of the NH mountain club, $150 a night for members. Free for up to two thru hikers a night in exchange for work stay. The shelters and campsites cost $10 for the first night and $5 for subsequent nights, and by doing this you also get a discount card for things like merch and pastries at the huts. I’m just not sure how many shelters there are, but I did find an 11 day itinerary that costs $20. But the distances are lower than what I hope to do, so hard to know if I can work out something sensible. I think I’ll just assume that I can.
I’m off to bed early tonight to try to sleep off the stomach thing. Some rain in the next couple of days so will have to be extra careful on rocks.
Oh, and I crossed the 1800 mile point today, but didn’t see any marker for it, so no photo. Less than 400 miles to go!
Mile 1791.3 to mile 1806.8 = 15.5 miles
This is the rock mess you have to climb
