The Whites

I'm through the White Mountains and had a blast. The weather wasn't very cooperative most days but I did get 2 good days with some nice views. My first 2 days I saw nothing but clouds, mist and fog. Very windy on top above the tree line. 3rd day sun came out and had a nice day, but I was below tree line most o the day until the end when I got a cool sunset. Day 4 the clouds rolled in again and decided to only do 9 miles to try and summit Mt. Washington on a better day. Stay at Lake of the Clouds Hut, had to do some dishes in order to spend the night because guest can pay up to $100 to stay at one of these Huts. As a thru-hiker we get to eat the leftovers for dinner and then breakfast in the morning. We have to sleep on the dinning room floor but it was still nice. Summited Mt. Washington the next morning in worse weather. 50 mph winds with 60-65 mph gusts. Had a blast. The rest of the presidential range was windy and in the fog. Spent the night on top of a mountain, as very windy but in the Mormon had an awesome view of the Presidential Range. Spent the entire day with an amazing view of the Whites.

Tomorrow I will be heading into Maine. As of tonight I have just under 300 miles to go. Should be finishing up around the 16th of August.

A Cold Soda

You never know what cold soda can do for ya. I am usually not a big soda drinker but out here on the trail I have found myself drinking more of it then normal. It's one of those silly pleasures one gets when they have been out in the woods for a long period of time.

So, this morning wasn't really going my way and I was having trouble getting myself to hike. It has been a rough couple of mentally for me and my brain has been kinda fried. Three plus months on the trail is a long time and I think it has started to get to me.

This morning I'm walking at a much slower pace then normal, 9 miles by noon instead of the usual 12, and I come along to this cooler full of ice cold sodas. Which happened to be right at the 500 mile to go point. Now I sat down and had a soda and boy it taste good. So good I ended up having a second. And since having those 2 sodas I have felt rejuvenated and ready to go. I feel a lot better mentally and am good to go. So you never know what a cold soda might do.

Trail Update

First and foremost Happy Birthday Eric! And good luck Ricky, stay safe.

I crossed into VT today as well as going over the 1,600 mile mark. Things are well I am enjoying the trail. Mass was great, Conn was good, NY had it's good spots but a lot of section that there was really no defined trail. Jersey was great, not what I had expected from it.

Got a new pair of shoes after the last ones bit the dust after 1,200 miles, got my money's worth on those. New pair is doing good broken in pretty easy, no blisters. Was home for a day on Sunday which was really nice.

All in all looking forward to VT, the Whites and of course Maine. Tentitive end date is sometime around the 20th of August. Hope to reach NH on Friday.

Time to go, got 8.5 miles to go this afternoon.

Day 92: 1,604.8 (1,613.3 end of day)