Got up early this morning and took another shower just for good measure. We were packed up and ready by 7:30 when breakfast was served. Breakfast was quite an event. All the guests are segregated, by their room number, to separate tables. Betty served us coffee, still in her nightgown and bathrobe. She weaved in and out between tables in her wheelchair, with a coffeepot in one hand, and a cigarette in the other. Then, Bill shuffled back and forth between the dining room and the kitchen, serving us our pancake and sausage breakfast, one at a time. Breakfast was good, but the whole image was absurdly surrealistic, like something out of an old "B" movie.

We'd called yesterday to make shuttle reservations back to the trail for 8:30. Pinnacle and the two Southbounders were planning to share the ride back with us and continue on the trail. During breakfast, the plans changed several times. Pinnacle, it turns out, is only 17, and still in high school. That explained a lot of his behavior right there. The three of them had discovered they were kindred spirits, and decided to take a day off to hang with some other friends and work at a Reggae Festival at Loon Mountain (a ski resort just a few miles away). Ah, youth! Maybe I'm just envious that I rarely did things that spontaneous when I was a teenager.

The shuttle van drove up promptly at 8:30, but we had to drop off the reggae crew first, so it was 9:00 before we got to the trailhead. Then, the shuttle driver didn't know her AT very well, and dropped us at a trailhead parking lot, almost a mile from where the AT really crosses Rt. 3. We didn't discover that fact until she drove away, so we had to walk on the connecting trail before making any forward mileage for the day. Luckily it was fairly level. Both Ronald and I were nursing some nasty blisters today, so we used the first mile to pound them until they were numb enough to ignore.

We started our real climb out of Franconia Notch up to Franconia Ridge at 9:30. The first leg of the climb was about 2500 feet. It started out as a long, steady climb, but of course, it changed to a boulder crawl before the top. While we were stopped for an early lunch along the trail, Creeper, Cowboy and Easy all buzzed by. We caught up to them a bit later, on Little Haystack Mt, our first above treeline summit.

From there the trail continued up and over, and up some more, and over some more, all with spectacular view in every direction. We crossed Mt. Lincoln, and Mt. Lafayette. These are the open vistas Ronald has been waiting for ever since we started in Georgia. The hiking is sometimes brutal, but with a big payoff for the effort. Brandon is really in his element on these trails. He loves the boulder hops and climbs. He just kept repeating, "This is awesome, man!" His youthful enthusiasm is inspiring. Just wish my old knees could benefit from that enthusiasm.

As we started down off the north peak of Mt. Lafayette, the sky started turning dark and threatening. We had planned on making it to Galehead Hut, which was almost 6 more miles. Easy, Cowboy and Creeper were with us now, and Brandon could easily keep up with them, but there was no way I could. They said it was cool if Brandon jetted on with them, just to get off the ridge as soon as possible, in case the weather turned stormy. We followed behind as quickly as we could.

We picked our way down 1500 feet in a couple miles, but there was still one major obstacle between us Garfield Ridge Campsite, much less Galehead Hut. Mt. Garfield was one little, quick blip on the elevation profile, but in reality it was a 1000 foot killer climb in less than a mile. Which, of course, was followed by a vertical dive, rocky descent off the other side.

There was no way we would make it another 3 miles beyond Garfield to Galehead, and we probably wouldn't have spent $150 to stay there anyway. I was worrying about Brandon, because he still thought we were going on, and I wasn't sure how far the other guys planned on going. Ronald kept assuring me he was perfectly fine with them. I knew he was safe, but I just didn't want there to be any confusion that would mess up their schedule. Needless to say, with the rough trail and threatening weather, the late afternoon was just a race against time, rather than anything to be savored.

There was one bright spot that stood out this afternoon. After we split up, we realized that Brandon had the only remaining water. Of course, this section was bone dry, so we figured we'd just have to tough it out with no water. A while later, I came around a corner, and there on a rock in the middle of the trail, sat one of our Nalgene bottles. It was still half full of grape Kool-Aid, and we pounced on it thirstily. We should have taken a picture, but didn't think of it until later. Sure was sweet of Brandon to remember his tired, thirsty old parents. He really can be thoughtful at times, and that simple act of kindness lightened our steps for a while.

Unfortunately, it wasn't long before we were dragging again. We crossed one tiny little stream, and didn’t' even stop to worry about whether it was safe to drink. It looked clean, and that was good enough for the moment. We drank our fill and plodded on. After making it over the top of Mt. Garfield, we plunged off the other side. We came to a sign pointing to Garfield Ridge Campsite .2 mile. At first we thought it was the side trail to the shelter. It had to be the steepest .2 miles I've done so far. Part way down we figured out that we were still on the AT, and the sign was .2 miles to the shelter cutoff. That was a relief, because we sure didn't want to go back up there in the morning! We had already decided that Garfield would be home for the night. Just hoped Brandon would be there when we got there.

Sure enough, at the real shelter cut-off trail, he was there, waiting patiently. Gave him a big hug and kiss for leaving the bottle of Kool-Aid (can't help that mushy mom stuff occasionally). Turns out they were only about 20 minutes ahead of us, so we weren't doing as poorly as it seemed. The water source for the shelter was a beautiful stream flowing right there at the trail junction. It was the coldest, freshest water we'd tasted on the entire trail. We filled all the bottles and the water bag before walking up the steep trail to the shelter.

Garfield Ridge Shelter is just as I remember from 20 years ago, when we had come in during a rainstorm, and witnessed a stunning double rainbow over the clearing in front of the shelter. This time the storm never materialized, and there is no rainbow, but we're spending an enjoyable evening with "the guys" and Becca, the AMC Caretaker. The entertainment for the evening has been a Canadian Jay. It was flying all around camp, and Becca said they would sometimes eat from your hand. Brandon got some trail mix and stood with his hand out. In just seconds, the bird swooped in and landed right on Brandon's outstretched hand! Of course, no one had captured the Kodak moment, and we just about fell over each other in the flurry of activity as everyone fumbled through packs to grab cameras. Then we spent the next half-hour repeating the scene over and over from every angle. We were laughing at how silly we must look to the bird (or anyone else for that matter). He came back so many times we figured he must be stashing most of the goodies away to impress some lady Canadian Jay later on.

Darkness means it's time to retire to the sleeping bags. We'll watch the embers on Easy's campfire die away as we drift off to sleep.

The low miles covered today give no indication of the effort expended to cover them. Like most town days, this one also started slow. First breakfast then shuttle to the trail. The shuttle took longer because Pinnacle and the two south-bounders decided to take the day off and work at a Raga concert in Lincoln. When we did get dropped off, it was still a mile hike to the AT.

It was after 9:30 by the time we started the 2700-foot climb up to the ridge. The climb was far easier than I had expected. Sill we were tired, hot and very thirsty by the time we reached Liberty Springs. After drinking a quart each an filling up our water bottles, we headed up to the ridge. On the ridge the trail improved. At a nice wide spot, we stopped for lunch and to allow me to work on a blister that is slowing me down. Before we had finished, Easy, Cowboy and Creeper passed by.

We finished quickly eager to climb above timberline and enjoy the views. At Haysack Mt. we broke through the trees and on to a long ridge above timberline. For the next few miles we hiked along the exposed ridge enjoying fantastic views. We worked our way along the ridge, eventually reaching the summit of Mt. Lafayette. There were hundred's of people who had day hiked up to the ridge. It's a long climb but well worth it.

As we lay on top of Lafayette, dark storm clouds were building. That was one area I didn't want to be caught in a thunderstorm. We were down to a half quart of water for the three of us, no water expected until Garfield Ridge and four more miles to cover. With the possibility of a storm approaching, we sent Brandon ahead with Easy, Cowboy and Creeper. They could move faster than Linda and I. Brandon would be safer with them down off the ridge and in the trees.

Despite the profile maps. The next four miles were very hard. It was steep hard and contained lots of minor ups and downs not on the profile. We were already pretty drained by our climb in the morning. As we descended one of the bumps, we spotted Brandon's water bottle in the middle of the trail. He had left all the water for us. The site of that bottle sitting in the middle of the trail will mean a lot to Linda and I years after we're off this trail. Not because we were in dire need of the water, but instead because Brandon had remembered us. A short time later we found a small spring and were able to quench our thirst and fill our bottles.

The climb up Garfield seemed to go on forever. Up and up and up we climbed. The thunderstorm never materialized but clouds had obscured the views. As we reached the summit a light rain began to fall. From there it's less than a half mile to the shelter. Steeply we dropped until we saw the sign to the shelter. Two tenths of a mile it read. One hell of a long two tenths of a mile. The steep trail dropped out of site on big rocks. Our weary leg, knees and blistered feet wobbled down the trail. We were getting frustrated because we could here people a ways off the trail and we seemed to be headed in the wrong direction. Part way down the AMC caretaker passed and reassured us we were on the right path.

At the junction to the side trail that leads steeply backup the mountain to Garfield Ridge Shelter, sat Brandon. He had been there for only twenty minutes. We had made good time despite the conditions. I drug myself backup the hill to the shelter and collapsed. Twenty years ago the AT walked right by the shelter. I guess this is progress, you be the judge.

Easy built a fire and we made supper and with rest were able to recover nicely. The trail was hard today, but at least the views made it worth the effort.

Today we woke up and packed up. We went downstairs and had breakfast then took a shuttle back to the AT. The driver let us out .9 of a mile from the beginning of the trail so we had an extra hike. My pack felt heavy after re-supplying in town. Added with the hard climb at the start of the day, made the morning hard. Once on the ridge the trail was all up and down. Finally we broke free of the trees and could see all around. Hiking above treeline is beautiful and I am looking forward to the Presidentials. We stopped for a little break on top of every peak before heading on to the next one. All of the peaks look close together but once you start to hike from one to the other they seem farther than you first thought. After catching up to Cowboy, Creeper, and Easy 8 my parents said I could hike with the guys. We all took off and took on the next mountain together. We got to the campsite first and I waited on the trail for my parents. We had planned to head on to the next hut. When they caught up they had decided that they were going to stop here for the night. We got water then hiked up to the campsite. The rest of the evening we sat around talking and feeding a bird that would eat out of your hand.