Legs and Borders

Trail today was very demanding as if White Mountain's were making sure I'll remember them. Unfortunately as nice as staying in the hut was last night, I didn't get much sleep. People were walking to the toilet all night which was not far from where we slept and it kept on waking me up. I've packed up as soon as there was enough light and left the hut before 5 AM. First descent from Mt Madison to Osgood campsite wasn't as bad as people were trying to make it, very steep sure and for the first half above the treeline, the strong wind was setting me off balance, so I had to keep low profile. I've also seen my first (and hopefully not last) moose of the trail! Big, clumsy beast it wiggled it's enormous ears when it saw me and walked away to the forest.  After the descent there were two options, bridge on the AT has been condemned so there was a detour around it but it was skipping 8 miles of the trail. Other thru hikers inform...

Odd day in a good sense of the word. I've left my cozy camp spot at the top of Mt Madison at 5 AM and went over the peak of a very climb heavy Mt Jackson. I've arrived at Mizpah Spring Hut before the breakfast scraps time, I was the only thru hiker here - I've been offered two pancakes, one sausage patty and a mountain of oatmeal. After this nutritious calories hit I've carried on walking towards Mt Washington, the main highlight of the Presidential Range, the highest mountain range in New Hampshire. After climbing Mt Eisenhower the range has begun, ridge was running above the treeline for most of the day and the views were amazing. Weather had other plans though and after an hour it got cloudy, by the time I've reached Mt Washington there was very little visibility. Trail was really well maintained and quite easy on foot, there was plenty of day hikers going up and down the mountain. ...

Easiest day in White Mountain's so far, the streak of free breakfast scraps continues. By easiest I don't mean that it was an easy day overall, only compared to the other two I've hiked through these mountains. Goal number one was to make my way to Galehead Hut for those sweet breakfast leftovers, on the way there I met Iceman and I told him about my plan, he was unaware of that deal but decided to push on with me. We arrived with lots of time to spare, all the guests were still inside the hut, we also went in as it was raining. We met here three more thru hikers: Push from Pennsylvania who was working in trail maintenance and his two friends Mufasa and Magician, they were planning to finish AT within next 30 days. At 8 AM our food arrived, we got few sausage patties, scrambled eggs and plenty of oatmeal. It didn't take us long to completely empty all the bowls, we also bought few cakes and coffee, it was a great stop overall. From he...

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 ...