Eliza Brook Shelter
Today started spectacularly. Beaver Brook shelter faces a clearing in the trees through which I could see the coming White Mountains. The rain had let up turning into thick pools of mist that sank into the valleys below leaving only the peaks and ridgeline visible as if floating on a lagoon. It was a great way to wake up after the wet day yesterday and immedatly I came up with a plan to reclimb Moosilauke in this better weather.
That is just what I did letting James get ahead of me before I started chasing him. I left my pack hung up in the shelter and set off. I carried trekking poles in my hands, some granola bars in my pocket, my camera, and my rain jacket around my waist. The climb back up went quickly getting to back to the summit in about 40 minutes.
Today the weather was much better with the wind only gentaly blowing. Mist still hung in the air keeping the views to a modest level with nearby peaks visable and far off ones only occasionally poking through the mist.
I marveled for a while looking at the views, studing the litchens, flowers, and grasses. The only thing that distracted was the blackflies which were nipping at me resulting in about a half dozen bumps.
I headed back down the mountain to pick up my pack and start my chase. Initally afterthe shelter the trail was slow and wet and the it got worse!
It started misting ending up in a light rain that would continue the rest of the day. The trail itself became extrodinarily challenging with steep rock, trickly footing, and in some places the trail itself was the stream. In parts the trail crews had in the past attached wooden blocks to the rock at steeper spots however they were replaceing the steps today and instead of removing one, and replaceing it they had whole sections removed at time which made the progress slow and very very trecherous. During this part I did get the treat of hiking next to Beaver Brook. The Brook was a long cascading water fall swollen by the rain. When I had to take a break from my progress downhill it was stunning to stare into. In the end it took me an hour and half to cover a mile and a half.
At last I got to Kinsman Notch where I started my up the one hill of the day. The uphill was not a big deal but the trail surface itself slowed one down. Seven miles of muck, roots, and rocks winding through the dense woods. Most of it could have benifited from the addition of bog brigdes with muck about a foot deep. It slowed me way down and when taken with the downhill from Beaver Brook I would have to say it is the toughest and slowest 9 miles on the AT thus far though not as painful as the northern PA rocks.
James and I arrived at the shelter at about 6P.M. to a summer camp camp group who was taking up ever inch. Every hook had something on it and their gear was everywhere to the point that we had to stand in the rain for 10 minutes before there was enough rom for someone to stand under the roof. It took them 45 minutes to clear enough space for our sleeping bags. Finally they cleared out moving into their tents and James and I unpacked, dried off, and started dinner.
Then the rush started with 9 more thru-hikers rolling in. Unfortunatly the shelter only had room for 6-7 hikers so people had to set up tents too. The summer camp group took up most of the tenting areas and the rest were so poorly drained that they will filled with mud. In the end people had to set up wherever they could find ground that wasn't a puddle. The site is the most poorly maintained I have ever seen. The prescribed paths in it are filled with up to 6" of much. They are badly need of bog bridges. This is the first section of AMC managed trail thus far and I fear that the next 100 miles or so are going to be very unpleasent if this is any example!
The summer camp consoler started offering us their massive stock of excess food. I benifited by taking a cup of chopped vegies to add to my MacN'Chesse along with some pesto. That made this dinner one of the best yet! Yum! They also gave me a couple of ripe avacados one of which I ate on totillas with cheese and the other which I am saving for lunch tomorrow. This dinner really rocked!
All in a very unpleasent day and for many unlucky enough to not fit in the shelter an unpleasent night.
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