Friday 6/27, Saturday 6/28, Sunday 6/29

Camping in the whites with Matt. All hiking and no running the past few days. I hope that doesn't hurt my running ....

Friday:

Drove up to NH early AM. Took the Kinsman Ridge Trail off I-93 - went up and over Mt. Cannon, then proceeded onto to North Kinsman, over to South Kinsman, and way way down to the Eliza Brook Shelter. It was a lot of up and down, the rocks were wet, and there were lingering thunderstorms that never seemed to hit us. Hot, humid, and hazy. Not ideal hiking weather, but a good day.

Total mileage for the day - 9.9 miles

Saturday:

I don't like backtracking. But since Matt and I decided to "wing it" without any semblance of a plan (only a map), out best option ended up being doing a significant amount of backtracking back up and over South and North Kinsman. We then headed east, stopped for a bowl of soup at Lonesome Lake Hut (I have mixed feelings about these full service AMC shelters, but the soup was good). We headed down into the valley, walking through Lafayette Campground then turned north. Winging it brings its benefits, as we decided to head back to the car and go out for dinner before returning to the woods. We walked about 2.5 miles back to the car, then drove to Twin Mountain for burgers and beer at a tiny family restaurant that we found. We think that the whole town was there that night (about 20 people). Then it was back to the car. We drove to the base of the Garfield Trail and walked into the woods about 1.5 miles. We set up camp a little ways down a snowmobile trail that intersected the hiking trail. Had a little fire, then crawled into the tent for a rainy night.

Total mileage for the day (estimated) -11.5 miles

Sunday:

An easier day. It rained all night but cleared (sort of) in the morning. The rest of the hike up Garfield was unbelievably humid. At some points we could see our breath (isn't that only supposed to happen when it's cold?) The trail for this mountain was quite simple and easy. Thogh Garfield is a respectable peak at 4500', the trail is long and steady, and only gets steep right at the end. We cruised up and spent over an hour (at least) at the summit, which was in and out of the clouds, offering a variety of interesting views. The last time I was on this mountain was a trip years ago with Bob and Owen. It was raining, windy, and perilously cold. That night, we ended up camping at the nearby Garfield Ridge Campsite, waking up to snowfall in early June. That sucked, this was much better. At the top of the mountain we surprised some AT thru hikers who we had camped with the first night at Eliza Brook Shelter. They were wondering how we got there before them (they left very early Saturday morning and didn't see us pass them). Of course, we got in the car and took an entirely different route to the peak.

We finally turned around for an easy descent back to the campsite, where we made dinner, packed up, hiked out to the car, and drove home.

Total mileage for the day (estimated) - 8.3

General thoughts: It was a successful trip, but I continue to be plagued by foot problems on my hikes. After having horrible luck with boots, I switched to my well broken in running sneakers this time, and I still got blisters (though not as bad). I was intrigued by one of the thru hikers, who was wearing things called "Chocos" which were basically heavy duty Teva sandals. He wore those and socks (which of course, were constantly soaked) and said they worked great. Something to think about. In anycase, I hope to go out for a short run today, but I may wait till tomorrow. We'll see.