It was an absolutely perfect, beautiful August day for a hike. Not too warm, not too cold, a nice breeze to keep the air fresh (though it was windy up on the exposed peaks). The trail even got a little easier today. After the strenuous climb up and over the various Baldpate summits, we finally got some normal trail where we didn’t have to climb up or down with our hands. It was a nice change of pace.
We got a little bit of unplanned trail magic when we arrived at Grafton Notch this morning. We were chatting with a couple of day hikers who were getting ready to climb Old Speck (they’re working on all the 4,000+ peaks in Maine) when we mentioned that we’re thru-hikers. Another day hiker overheard, and offered us a couple of Gatorades… so kind! Then the first people we were chatting with offered us an orange, which we gratefully accepted.
We hiked about 13 miles today, and took a few nice long breaks to enjoy the weather and the views. At lunch we perused the register at the Frye Notch Lean-to and recognized a few names of people that we haven’t seen in a while. It’s looking like we may catch up with some folks that we haven’t seen in months.
Tonight we’re tenting next to a woods road right by a pond. It’s pretty peaceful and serene… except for the little annoying red squirrels that keep scurrying all over the place. One was hanging out on a tree as we ate, no more than 4 feet away, and kept poking his head out to stare at us. What a little creep. We’ll be heading into Andover tomorrow, and we’re looking forward to a shower and clean laundry.
