Day 30 - Tuesday, July 12

Linda

Rousted ourselves out at 6:00 to beat the crowds to the bathroom before breakfast at 7:00. There are so many people, all crowding around. This morning our entire table was full of through hikers. We filled up on hot cereal, bacon, pancakes, juice and tea. The cook sent Mike a huge pancake, since he'd gone back so many times the night before for bread, etc. We said good-bye to Dennis and Greg, the Northbounders, and left about 8:30. The 5 miles to Mizpah Hut were fairly easy. The trail skirts around all the peaks, so its mostly downhill.

The Mizpah Hut was a really beautiful, rustic building, with a high vaulted ceiling, nestled among the trees. In retrospect, we probably would have enjoyed staying at one of the smaller huts more than Lake of the Clouds. Most of the others are more intimate and less trafficked by "touristos", so more appealing to our sense of aesthetics, but we didn't know that when we planned to stay there. We did enjoy our stay, though - we'll just have to come back here someday and stay at some of the others when we have more time to enjoy them.

Before going on we donned our rain gear, as it was starting to sprinkle. After five minutes it started to pour, and the rest of the day was miserable. I wasn't feeling terrific to begin with, and the rain, mud and 2,700 foot descent into Crawford Notch were almost too much. We walked the 3.5 miles to Ethan Pond Lean-to, only to find it full of noisy people. Mike had gone on, but Brian and Rick decided to stay, and I was beat, so we set up the tent quickly and crawled into the bags. Ronald was really pissed at having to pay $2.00 for a wet tent platform, surrounded by a bunch of rowdies, so it took a while for him to get on speaking terms again. I was upset because of all the crummy circumstances of the day, plus I was soaked through and my hair was dripping. I was so cold, I could hardly stand it. Ronald got out the stove and cooked some soup in the tent. The soup helped a lot (again, the miracle cure), and the stove really warmed up the tent. The day seemed much better then, even though it was still pouring outside. Ray came in later that evening and set up his tent. We were asleep by 8:00.

Ron

Made excellent mileage today after a great breakfast. We sat down this morning with eight other through hikers at one table and proceeded to pig out. We were still eating long after the other tables were cleared. After all the good-byes we headed out, south to Georgia. The five miles to Mizpah Spring Hut were on beautiful trail, flat smooth and slightly downhill. After the hut the trail got worse. It was wet with lots of ups and downs. The trip down to the edge of the ridge was bad as we hiked over a series of knobs and ledges.

The rain was not making progress any easier. It's good that rain came today instead of yesterday when we were crossing the Presidentials. The trail down to Crawford Notch had recently been relocated with switch backs and was really easy walking. The steps are hard on the feet. We stood at Crawford Notch for a while, resting for the next assent to Ethan Pond.

Occasionally in our walking we find conflicts with miles posted on signs and the guide books. The guide book said 3.5 miles to Ethan Pond Lean-to and the sign said 2.8. So who's right? The sign is probably closer because the guide books are frequently wrong.

The rain continued all the way to the lean-to. When we arrived, there were seven people in a ten man shelter. The caretaker would only allow one other person because the rest of the people didn't want any more. I was pissed because I did not want to pitch the tent in the rain, get it all wet and still have to pay two dollars. Linda and I were mad at each other. She wanted to stay and I did not want to pay for a wet tent. We resolved our problem and stayed. We setup the tent, cooked and ate supper in it. Rain really makes your spirits low.

(14.2 Miles - 344.0 Total)