Pemigewasset Wilderness Day 3

I woke up in the shelter at Guyot feeling pretty good!  I had done my hardest day, day 3 was much shorter and I got to have hut food for dinner.  I didn't have my stove, so I was able to pack up pretty quickly, except that it took a little while to filter enough water.  But, I was "on the road" by about 7. I decided that rather than eating at the rather dull camp, I would go back up to Guyot mountain, and eat in the view. Also, there were a ton of people around, and you aren't supposed to pee in the outhouse, and I wanted to get out of camp to pee!

I was glad that I hiked out of camp to eat - maybe not always the right choice, but there it definitely was. There were a ton of people in the eating area at Guyot, and you have to be so much more careful with food due to the traffic level and people sleeping there. On top of the mountain, I found that the cairn had one of those built-in chairs, so I sat down for a delicious breakfast. Sadly, that wasn't what I had - I had these squeeze packs that were supposedly "smoothies" but were not that good - they did have a lot of protein and other energy. I did bring my coffee beans, which were delicious, so there was that. From my cairn-chair I only had a little over two miles to my next peek, South Twin, so I was in no rush. Still, after about a half hour I headed off.

The hike to South Twin was quite nice. It wasn't very steep, but lots of rocks, so I practiced trusting my feet and planning one step ahead as a way to go faster. I'm getting a little better at it, I think. The area around there was above tree line, and I love the little scrub pines and grasses. It dipped down to pine forest, and then back up to South Twin, which I had been on before the previous year.  Once again, the view was amazing, and I sat for a little bit and chatted with and listened to some AT through hikers, Mouse, Moose and Red.

It's so interesting to listen to the through hikers, and hear about their trips. At this point, they are pretty close to being done, most of them seem pretty eager finish. One of the hikers had flip flopped and was finishing at Harper's Ferry, so it was really cool to hear the hiker grapevine, and listen to them telling each other about places to stay, and how easy/hard the hiking was coming up. They all use the guthook app to find out about trails and water, I have to check it out.

My objective for the day was North Twin, the peak that I didn't get the previous year.  There was a sign on South Twin that said it was a mile away, the map said 1.3 miles, and there was a sign on North Twin that said 1.0 miles. Hm.  I took my water, a sandwich, my phone and a snack in my daypack and hid my big pack on South Twin (OK, I didn't hide it that well, I figured no one would steel it because they would then have to carry it), and did the hike over there with the smaller pack. There was a lot of downhill on the way there, which made me a little nervous, but actually it wasn't so bad on the way back. The view on North Twin was really nice, you could see the hut! It wasn't as nice as South Twin, but nothing to complain about for sure.  I ate and enjoyed for a bit before going back to South, where I sat for about 45 minutes, eating, people watching, and enjoying the 360 view. Finally I decided to head out for the hut.

The hike down from South Twin is brutal - I remembered that from the last trip. I did this hike in this direction so I wouldn't need to hike up it again :)  The hike down wasn't easy either, it took me 45 minutes to go down .8 miles!  At the bottom I was psyched to see the hut, check in, and get a bottom bunk. There was a brand new fall cru, they only had two people up there so far - they were so cute! There was this totally neurotic woman who said that she just took the MCAT and I was like yup, she's going be terrific, and this adorable kid named Max who is taking a gap year before college and will be studying documentary film making. The neurotic woman had everything running ship shape, and Max was smiling along, like his life was just beginning.

I sat out on the porch and talked to this nice guy from NYC who was there with three friends - he was the fastest of the group and was sent ahead to reserve bottom bunks. His friends came soon after, one guy who started being interesting until I realized that he was one of those people who never stops talking, and two women. We sat for a while, and I looked at Galehead. There was no reason to climb it. It's not a particularly interesting mountain, and I'd already done it. The top is a pile of rocks with no view, though there is a viewpoint part way up. In the end, though, I had the energy and that guy was just talking talking, so I decided why not?  So, I did peak #8, and was glad I did. It wasn't at all hard - it's just a mile total, out and back, and it took me 45 minutes with a stop at the viewpoint in each direction.  After, I read my book, people watched, and talked with some through hikers.

The through hikers on Galehead were an interesting crowd. First, there was a woman who hadn't washed her socks in 12 days, and accidentally put them on the wrong feet, and could tell because of how they fit. Yuck. There was a guy who hike with a foam roller (smart!) but it was blown away during a storm that night. There was a guy who was "platinum lining" meaning that he had spent about $20,000 on his hike! And a guy who had just graduated college and wanted to walk across America until his dad (who probably didn't want his son walking down random roads) told him about the AT. They talked to us for a while about their experiences including lowest moments (putting on wet and cold clothes, snakes in the shelter), bears (oversized raccoons, but scary when with their cubs), and luxury items (foam roller).  Most of them eat junk, though one guy said he eats real food, and takes an hour for lunch every day. None of them hike 30 mile days - they said that when it becomes a slog that they stop. Interesting. They had all lost weight, there was one woman who was saying that she didn't have much weight to loose to begin with, so it becomes a balancing act, because if you are too small you can't carry everything.

Anyhow, dinner was delicious, lasagne, bread (of course), salad, and tomato rice soup with beans. For dessert there was ginger bread. I sat at a table with the group of four and two couples who were nice. There were two other tables, one a group of high school students who were in some kind of program that involved sitting in circles and talking about their "rose" and "thorn" for the day and such. And, a bachelor party. I was scared about the bachelor party because, well, bachelor party. And I was pooped. But, they weren't too noisy.  At least, I put my book down at 9:30, and fell asleep, and didn't wake up until morning.