8/24/12 – 1824 miles
The White Mountains are very rugged and strenuous but beautiful. Tonight we are camped at Garfield Ridge Shelter/Campsite, only 10 miles from Franconia Notch the starting place today. We have three tents set up on a wooden platform. Unfortunately, we are right beside a group of section hikers on the first day of their trip, excited to be in the mountains, ready to stay up late into the night talking and joking. But we are ready to go to sleep. When the sun goes down, it’s time for thruhikers to go to bed.
There were several mountains we crossed today: Haystack, Lincoln, Garfield, and Lafayette. They are not as high as the mountains out west, but the trail is very steep and rocky up and down each and every one. Our forward progress dropped to one mile per hour through much of the hike today.
We are pretty lucky – the weather has been perfect. There is no rain in the forecast for the next several days so we are reveling in the idea of getting through the Whites without dealing with slippery rocks, wet gear, and no views. Lets hope the weatherman is right.