We were on the trail by 6:45 to get down to Crawford Notch early. The trail was in good condition, so we covered the three miles to Rt. 302 by 8:15. The plan was for me to hitch into North Conway by myself, go to EMS and get boots and a stove pump. Ronald and Brandon were going to hang out at the trailhead. I'm not really wild about hitchhiking alone, but it didn't make sense for all of us to try to hitch so far. This seemed the best alternative.

Our guardian angel started working again by sending us a trail angel. As we came down to the trailhead parking lot, I chatted briefly with a guy just getting out of his truck to start on a day hike. I showed him my boot, and told him what we had to do, and asked if he thought there was enough traffic on the road to easily get a ride. He said there shouldn't be too much of a problem, then wished us luck and headed on up the trail. I changed into my cleanest clothes, and walked over to the side of the road to put out my thumb. It hadn't been more than a few minutes, when the guy, whose name was Tom Edelmann, came back down the trail. Tom said he was having guilt pangs about leaving us there on the road, and asked if we'd like to borrow his truck to go into town. We quickly accepted his kind offer, and exchanged names and addresses, and showed him our drivers' licenses to let him know we were legit. What a generous thing to do for us! Just think how much faith it would take to hand over your car keys to a total stranger. I'm not even sure I could do it. We had experienced that kindness once before in Georgia in 1977, when two brothers loaned us their car to drive into Hiawassee for supplies. It amazed us then, but we never thought it could happen again. As he turned to go back up the trail, he said he hoped he was doing the right thing. We tried to assure him he was, and that we would be very careful, and return the truck right back here in a few hours, and thanked him again for his kindness.

Having wheels meant we could all go into town, so we had a wonderful drive up the highway. New Hampshire is a beautiful state, and this area is spectacular. The day was sunny and warm, and the sky bright blue with huge white clouds floating high above the dark mountains which lined both sides of the highway. The perspective is certainly different from a vehicle than when on foot. We passed numerous trailheads, ski and recreation areas, then came the motels, restaurants and outlets galore. We drove to EMS, which was very grand indeed. It was in a huge hotel, just off the lobby. I found a terrific pair of EMS boots. They fit better than any other boots I've ever had. I think I'm really going to like them. Ronald found a stove pump across the street at another outfitter. Brandon also sweet-talked me into buying him a new Gerber lock-blade pocket knife. There was nothing wrong with his mini-Leatherman, but the blade on it is so short, it can't even cut straight through the cheese and summer sausage we've been eating for lunches. We've been teasing him lately, because he always borrows one of our Swiss Army knives to cut his food. This is a serious knife, so if it doesn't do the trick, nothing will.

Before heading back to the trail, we picked up a few groceries and a knee brace for Ronald. Also called Hiker's Paradise in Gorham, and arranged for them to pick up our mail drop at the Post Office, so we don’t have to worry about timing on Saturday. Had lunch at Mickey D's, ice cream at Dairy Queen, filled the tank with gas, wrote a thank you note to Tom, and were back on the trail by 12:30, content and grateful. This had turned out to be a great day after all!

The climb up to Webster Cliffs was long and steep. By the top it was getting really windy, and Webster Cliffs is a series of open rock ledges. The views were stunning, but we were almost blown off the side of the mountain a couple times. We continued over Mt. Jackson, then pressed on to Mizpah Hut. Once again, Cowboy and Creeper aced us for the thru-hiker spots, but that wasn't much of a surprise, since it was after 5:00 when we got there. We paid for a tent site and chatted with Papasan for a few minutes before walking over to the Nauman campsite, which is just a few yards from the hut.

We set up our tarp on the tent platform. It was the first time we'd set up the tarp in the northern section. We've been in shelters the rest of the time. It was quite a feat using the bolts on the side of the platform to anchor the tarp down. Freestanding tents work better on a wooden platform. By then it was cold and windy, so we put on all our warm clothes and climbed into the sleeping bags right away. I got out just long enough to fix dinner, then hunkered down again to stay warm. Went to bed before it even got dark, because it was too chilly to do anything else. No complaints, though. We were very thankful for how well the day had turned out.

Another day for the wonders of trail magic. On the hike this morning to Crawford Notch, we were debating how to best resolve the problem of equipment failure. We finally decided that the best plan would be to send Linda into North Conway and we'd wait at the trailhead. There was nothing we could do about her boot. She had to resolve that herself.

At the notch, we were preparing to send Linda off, she struck up a conversation with a gentleman that had just stopped to do a day hike. He headed off across the road and up the trail and Linda walked over to start hitch hiking. A few minutes later the gentleman returns. He said that his conscience was getting to him. He offered to let us use his truck while he was hiking. That was a god send to us and would allow all of us to go into town. I could tell he was nervous about his decision and did my best to reassure him we were responsible people.

Soon we all piled into the truck and headed for town. It was quite a drive to North Conway and without a vehicle Linda would have been gone most of the day. We went to EMS and Linda found a great pair of boots. They didn't have replacement pumps in stock, but the outfitter across the street did. Brandon got a new knife for being so sweet. The blade on his mini-leatherman in inadequate for what he needs to cut. After that we went to the grocery store. We couldn't leave town without a trip to McDonalds. We even stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back for a treat. As usual we spent way too much money, but at least we're back on the trail again. We stopped at a gas station and filled up the truck on the way back. I figured that was the least we could due for the Trail Angel.

After all that we were still back on the trail by 12:30. Our mornings adventure was merely a speed bump in our trip. From Crawford we climbed steeply up Webster Cliffs. The view from the cliffs was stunning. High winds buffeting us as we climbed became a concern to me. The trail goes steeply up the narrow cliffs and we were really getting whipped from the wind. Every now and a gust would hit making it hard to stand. As we reached the top I was getting quite chilled in just shorts and a tee shirt. The shirt was wet with sweat from the climb. I had to keep moving fast to keep warm.

We made the remaining distance to Nauman Tentsite and got the last tent platform. Tarps don't easily setup on platforms, but we were able to rig it. A constant wind has been blowing all evening but the tarp has done a good job blocking most of it. We don't carry a lot of cold weather clothes. So when we got into camp, I put on my thermal top and bottom and then my wind shell. It's not the warmest but it'll do. When it gets chilly we jump into the sleeping bags.

Today was a great day. We woke up and were on the trail about the same time as every day. We only went about three miles and then we stopped at Crawford Notch and talked to a day hiker. When he left and we got our stuff together then mom walked out to the road and stuck her thumb out. (We were going to sit by the side of the road and wait for her to go into North Conway and buy what she needed to buy then hitch back out to the trail.) She had not been there one minute when the hiker we had talked to came back and lent us his truck. We thanked him and exchanged names. He went back up the trail and we took off with his truck. Once in town we went first to EMS and got boots for mom and a replacement for the fuel pump. I also got a knife because the blade on my old one is too small. After that we went to the grocery store. On the way out of town, we stopped and ate lunch at McDonalds then filled the truck with gas. We then drove back to the trailhead. We left the truck then headed up the trail. Up from the road the hike was steep and we were making good time. On top of the ridge the wing was blowing so hard that a few times it blew me off of the trail. I even made a song about it. We got to Mizpah and checked in there was no thru-hiker spots so we got a campsite and set up our tent then had dinner. The wind was cold and the tarp wasn’t much protection but we all snuggled down in our sleeping bags and went to sleep.