Appalachian Trail (day 78) - Eliza Brook Campsite to Mt Lafayette / mile 1833

The views have arrived!

Very early start today to make it in time to the Lonesome Lake Hut for free breakfast scraps for thru hikers! It's not a glamorous thing I know but at this point any calories are good, the way it works is after paid guests (they pay minimum 130$ for the night) finish their breakfast thru hikers are allowed to claim the leftovers only requirement is to be there at 8 AM.

Myself and Tum Tum who also left early to make it to the hut had a big climb to accomplish first, it was steep with lots of boulders and holding on to the trees for balance and support, eventually we made it to the top of Kinsman Mountain and the first big view of Appalachia opened up for us, the weather was perfect and so was the panorama, I might have shed a little tear at this point it was very exciting.

After a funky descent, we made it to the Lonesome Lake Hut in time for food. It was nothing fancy, few scrambled eggs, waffles, porridge and coffee but it was good nutrition nonetheless. I've carried on hiking with Tum Tum until the road intersection where I made decision to go to town as my shoes were falling apart and I needed a new pair.

It wasn't the easiest town to reach as only Interstate road was leading to it and hitchhiking from Interstate was illegal, but I managed to catch a (very expensive) AMC Shuttle to Lincoln from the trailhead parking. The shoe outfitter here was great and I've got a pair of Salomon's at a discounted price, I did a small resupply at the Price Chopper as well, had a Maple Creemee and caught a different (more affordable) shuttle back to trail.

From here a big ascent to Frankonia Ridge has begun, it was a steady long climb, there was plenty of day hikers going up and down as it was Saturday. Finally the treeline has ended and a beautiful long ridge walk revealed itself. It was absolutely the best few miles of trail I've walked from Georgia so far and luckily I had an amazing weather. Frankonia Ridge started at Little Haystack and ended at Mount Lafayette, it was the second highest after Presidential Range mountain range in New Hampshire, it was going through a fragile alpine environment, all camping or campfires were prohibited.

At about 6 PM I went past Mount Lafayette with plenty of good pictures and left the Frankonia Ridge behind by going back below the treeline. It didn't take me long to find a good campsite, it was in the pine forest, my favourite habitat to camp on this trip. Black flies were horrendous though so I skipped the dinner and zipped myself inside the tent as quickly as possible.

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