So we learned another truth of the trail last night that we’ve experienced a few times, but was once again confirmed… the first person to fall asleep in a shelter will always be the loudest snorer. Also, they’ll inevitably be right next to you. I swear the guy next to me last night has sleep apnea… his snoring shook the whole shelter, and ear plugs were pretty much useless. Thanks to that performance, we slept in for a bit.
It was still very cloudy, but it wasn’t raining, though it had rained overnight. The first part of the trail was comically difficult… a steep descent down a running stream. We had to avoid getting our feet soaked, while trying not to slip on the wet rocks, while making sure we were safely going down. It was very slow going. People weren’t kidding about to difficulty of the Whites Mountains. We knew we’d slow down, and we were right. I’m not sure we could go any faster than we have been.
The one nice thing about the Whites are the AMC huts that are along the trail, and we stopped into two of them today. First was the Galehead hut, where we got some lemonade and a few baked goods for $8. The chocolate mint cake was excellent. We hit the Zealand Falls hut around 3pm, where we filled up on water, and got some lollipops that they were giving away to thru-hikers. The huts are full service during the summer, and usually require a reservation, and are fairly expensive, which is why most thru-hikers don’t stay at them. They’re just a nice place to relax for a bit and buy a little food.
Even though the day was mostly overcast, we did end up getting a few nice views. One of the more dramatic was on Guyot, where the low clouds over Twin Mountain and clouds off to the west made the mountains look even more impressive.
The last 5 miles of our day were nice and flat, but were pretty eventful. Bear Bell happened across a black bear cub just crossing the path. We turned and went back down the trail about 50 yards to make sure it had space and that momma bear wasn’t going to get angry. We never saw a momma bear, but we made a bunch of noise for a few minutes to scare any animals off before heading on. We must’ve looked like crazy people in the woods. About a mile before hitting the end of our day we came across a bunch of grouse in and around the trail. They’re kind of like brown chickens that live in the woods.
We’re tenting out tonight near the Ethan Pond Shelter. The pond is very picturesque, and we’re told a moose has been frequenting the area, so we’re hoping to catch a glimpse in the morning. We did 14.5 miles today, which is about the longest we’d had planned for this section. Tomorrow we begin the climb into the presidential range.
