When I stopped by Cascade B&B yesterday to drop off our supply box, Bill, the owner, gave me some advice. He said we'd better have our Spider Man Web with us for the descent off North Kinsman. I was skeptical that it could be steeper than Moosilauke, but it turned out he was right. Even though we only had 8.7 miles to go, we knew they would be tough miles.

The trail followed the brook for a while, then started up South Kinsman. The climb was steep, rocky and rooty, and the going very tedious. We were glad we didn't have to worry about getting into town by noon. We never would have made it. One of the alternate plans we discussed yesterday was having Ronald leave early with an empty pack to blast into town fast and light by himself. However, it's doubtful he could have made it either. Good thing we didn't have to find out.

When we stopped to take a break on top of South Kinsman, Ronald was giving me grief about not keeping up a good enough pace. So I decided to give myself some distance, and started down a few minutes before them. I find I do much better without anyone right behind me, and may actually move faster. Ronald tailgates too much when we go up or down hills. Then I feel I have to choose my steps too quickly, and that can lead to mistakes. It's always been that way. Even when we were 20 years younger and in top condition, Ronald could always hike faster on hills, but I could hike longer. I wish he would just go ahead and let me keep my own pace. There's never a question about me getting there. I think he feels responsible for keeping us all together.

They thought they'd catch up to me before I even got to the top of North Kinsman, but I was quite a ways down the other side before they finally caught up. We picked our way down the rest of the way to Lonesome Lake Hut together, and got there just before noon.

Easy, Cowboy and Creeper had blown by us on one of the steep stretches, planning to do a long day today. However, the lure of the first of the AMC huts, especially one beside a beautiful lake, was too great. They called it a day at Lonesome Lake.

As a little bit of background, the AMC is the Appalachian Mountain Club, and has control over the trail from Kinsman Notch to Grafton Notch, Maine. It's a well-oiled and very powerful machine, and is sometimes called the Appalachian Money Club, or the Appalachian Money Changers, among other things. Many hikers have love-hate feelings about them. They are controversial, because of their monopoly on one of the most popular sections on the entire AT. The AMC operates all the huts and campsites, and maintain all the trails. On one hand, they try to be environmentally responsible, and have initiated some innovative composting methods for waste materials. They make visitors very aware of the fragile nature of the environment, and the pack-it-in-pack-it-out philosophy. On the other hand, the continued development of tourist areas like Mt Washington, and the hut system itself draws more visitors to the area, thus increasing the environmental impact. Also, the fact that they have a monopoly on services, and therefore, no competition, makes all their services very expensive. A night in a hut is $50 (which includes dinner and breakfast), and a tent platform or shelter is $5 per person.

I guess it depends on the perspective. From a thru-hiker perspective, it makes planning a hike through AMC territory a bit more difficult, and potentially expensive. You can't just camp anywhere. Much of this section is above treeline, so is very exposed and rocky. With very few exceptions, that makes it necessary to stay at a hut, shelter or tent site every night. In recent years, the AMC has adopted a policy of sorts for thru-hikers. Each hut and shelter reserves two thru-hiker spots, where you can work for room and board. However, that's only if you're one of the first two hikers to the hut each day. This time of year, there may be a dozen hikers vying for those spots each day.

From a short-term vacationer's or day hiker's perspective, it makes a wonderful vacation package. The huts are fairly close together, usually 5-7 miles, so families can come out and "hike the huts" for a few days. All you need to carry is a small day pack with water, lunch and clothes. The huts provide bunks with bedding, wonderful dinners and breakfasts. Even though the terrain is extremely rugged, you have all day to hike just a few miles, and you know there's food and a bed waiting. That makes it very easy to relax and enjoy the experience. Maybe someday we'll come back and do it that way. I'm sure the AMC will still be here.

However, I digress. We hung out at the hut with the guys for about an hour, consuming $1 all-you-can-eat hiker leftovers, and reading through the hiker register, before starting out again for Franconia Notch. Lonesome Lake is one of the most accessible huts from several short trails, so there were people everywhere. It's easy to see why -- with the White Mountains looming grandly over the sparkling lake -- the scene is spellbinding. We lingered at the lake, long enough to take a couple pictures, then went on.

The trail was so crowded with day hikers, we just creeped along for a while. There were lots of families with young kids, and none of them seemed to understand the concept of stepping aside to let other hikers pass. That's one of the first rules of courtesy any hiker should learn. I've often needed to let a speed demon by. It's like standing to one side of an escalator step, or pulling over to let faster cars pass on a narrow highway. Oh well, it was a beautiful afternoon, so we couldn't get too frustrated.

Even with the day-hiker delay, the last 2.6 miles went by much quicker than coming over the Kinsman's. We'd finished the steep descent by then. When we came out of the woods to the highway, we weren't really sure where were. We walked up a few yards on the road, and started to hitch. When a guy finally stopped to pick us up, we realized we'd been hitching on the Interstate 93, not Highway 3, like we should have been. They run parallel to each other here, so it's hard to tell. No wonder the cars were whizzing by so fast! Anyway, the guy who picked us up was in no hurry, so was happy to drop us off at the B&B in North Woodstock.

We checked into our room, and set about our normal town tasks of showers, laundry and organizing supplies. Describing the Cascade B&B is difficult. Shabby gentile might be a start. The place is an eclectic mix of nice antiques and junky modern furniture, but the room is clean and comfortable, so no complaints. The oddest part is the couple that owns the place, Bill and Betty Robinson. They've run the B&B for years, and seem to really cater to thru-hikers, but they are unlikely hosts in a place like this. Betty is in a wheelchair, and Bill shuffles around like he's about ready for one. They both smoke like chimneys, and cough and wheeze like the next breath might be their last, and outwardly appear a bit gruff. Yet, they are very kind and helpful, really know their trail stuff, and thru-hikers flock here. They're sure a case for not judging a book by its cover!

Met two teenaged Southbounders who had just graduated from high school and were taking six months to hike the AT, and whatever other diversions they find along the way. Chief was already there, spending a few "vacation" days with his parents. He's a Northbounder with a shaved head and a red braided goatee. Ronald met him a few days ago, just before Jeffers Brook, but Brandon and I missed him somehow. Pinnacle showed up later in the day, too. We were amused, but not surprised. He'd been complaining about Easy and Cowboy slowing down too much, right when he wanted to start doing big days. Yet, here he was, taking an unplanned short town day. Said he was out of snacks and cigarettes. Now there's a set of priorities for you.

North Woodstock is a tourist town to be sure, but it's much quainter than the likes of Gatlinburg, and certainly more convenient. Everything a hiker could possibly need is within a couple blocks of the B&B: grocery store; PO; laundry; restaurants; pack shop. Even had an ice cream parlor and a brewpub right across the street. What more could a thru-hiker want?

Brandon even got to go water sliding in the river flowing through the City Park. It is also right across the street. The river forms a series of natural cascades and water slides as it passes through town, so he was in seventh heaven. What a treat!

Had a great lobster dinner at the Chalet Restaurant. Figured we had to partake of the local delicacies at least once while in New England. After dinner, we headed back to Cascade to finish organizing and make a grocery list. We've now added peanut butter and sugared Kool-Aid mix to our list of staple items. Decided the energy boost is worth the extra weight. The only thing the local store didn’t have was slide film. We'd forgotten to include a roll in our supply box, and only had a few shots left in the camera. Chief kindly offered us a couple rolls of Seattle Film Works film, so we'll use that until we can find some more.

After Brandon went to bed, Ronald and I walked across to the pub intending to get a quiet table where we could sip a microbrew and write. But, we didn't even get in the door before the loud music started, we so came back to sit on the front porch of Cascade. The evening is beautiful, but it's starting to get chilly, so guess I'll call it a night.

Today started out slow. The growing number of blisters on my feet gave me pain with every step. On normal trial, the pain will generally dull after a short distance of hiking. With all of the boulders and rock on the AT in the Whites, my feet constantly got slammed against the sides of my shoes with each step. I was half way up South Kinsman before the pain settled into a dull constant ache.

The climb up Kinsman wasn't hard, just long and tiring. There were numerous vertical boulder climbs that slowed our pace to a crawl. It was somewhat gratifying to get to the top and find Cowboy and Easy still there. I guess we were making better time than I thought.

Brandon and I stayed on top longer to give Linda sometime to get ahead. We had been pushing on the climb up the mountain. Both of us are better rock scramblers than she is, so she we getting frustrated with us dogging here so close. After five minutes we took off fully expecting to catch up before the top of North Kinsman. The climb up north wasn't as hard as we had been lead to believe. We were surprised to arrive on top and not see Linda.

As we started descending North Kinsman, the trail become more packed with people. This was the most people we've seen on the trail so far. I expect there will be even more as we get deeper into the White Mountains. We finally caught up with Linda after a particularly steep section. Obviously she hikes better when we're not crowing her.

At 11:00 we hit the mass of humanity at Lonesome Lake Hut. It the first of the AMC huts on the AT. Located an easy mile and a half from the highway, it was packed with people. Easy 8, Cowboy and Creeper were already there and had secured lodging for the night. AMC huts along the AT have and arrangement with thru-hikers. They allow a number of thru-hikers to stay for the night and exchange work for food and a nights lodging. Generally the work is a couple hours of meaningless jobs. With limited spots available you have to get in early to get a spot.

Our destination was North Woodstock so we didn't plan to stay. We did take advantage of the all-the-leftover-you-can-eat for a buck thru-hiker special. There was cake and lemonade leftover from last night and this morning's meals. After an hour we said good bye's and waded our way through the masses to Franconia Notch. The trail down was flat wide and easy. Eventually we passed the common trail to the hut and left the masses. The rest of the hike down to the notch was peaceful and quite.

The AT crosses the highway in a very poor spot. It turned out to be the start of the freeway. This made the hitch more difficult. After a few harrowing moments we got a ride into town. Tonight we are at the Cascade B&B. It's sort of eclectic, but it's cheap and smack dab in the middle of everything. There's a laundry, ice cream store across the street and a brewpub next door.

Brandon went swimming with a couple of south-bounders just out of high school in the river across the street. They made a belly board out of pads and had a great time in rapids and whorl pools. Afterwards we all trucked down to the Chalet Restaurant for a Lobster dinner. I was able to get maps for the White from a local outfitter. Until now we had been hiking blind.

Pinnacle arrived later and decided to spend the night in town. We also talked with Chief, he's leaving tomorrow after his long visit. From here he's taking mostly blue blazed trails through the Whites. Since he'll cut off a lot of miles, I don't expect to see him again. He was kind enough to give us a couple of rolls of slide film. I've forgotten to put slide film in the northern mail drops. It is impossible to find in the small towns along the AT.

Today we got up and ate breakfast then headed on up North Kinsman. Going up the mountain wasn't to bad but going down the other side was steep (but not as steep as Moosilauke). When we got to Lonesome Lake Hut, Easy, Cowboy, and Creeper were already there and had decided to stay for the night. We stayed and talked for a while then headed on down the trail to North Woodstock. The trail down to the road was flat and we made great time. Once in the notch we had to hitch hike into town. We got a hitch fairly easily and then checked into the Cascade B&B. I went swimming in the town "swimming hole" (a river). The rest of the day we walked around town and wrote in our journals. We had dinner in a semi-fancy restaurant then went back to the B&B and relaxed.