1045 miles, 8 states, and still walking....

We’re here in North Woodstock, NH, taking a zero after a tough, long hike yesterday, bringing us to 1,045 miles completed. So far, we haven’t gotten a lot of love from New Hampshire. Of course, we started out at the ER in Hanover. Our last hiking day before the Pox erupted, Pancho lost structural integrity in one of his boots. His wonderful boots that required no break-in and caused no blisters at all. During our downtime in Hanover, we bought him a new, different pair of boots. Naturally, they turned out to be a nightmare. Instant blisters and bruising on his ankle. He ended up hiking in his sandals for 3 days, until we rolled into the Hiker’s Welcome hostel in Glencliff, after making a desperate cell call to REI from the side of a mountain.

We had a great stay in Glencliff with Click! and Longtime, a daughter-father hiking duo, and Pokey-dot and Early Fire, section hikers from Asheville. Thru-hikers are known for the insane amount of food they can consume. And even among that group, Longtime is a champion. In Warren, NH, the Greenhouse restaurant serves the Moosilauke Monster, a deep-dish, double-crust beast of a pizza, with 7 lbs. of toppings. We watched Longtime--all 160-lbs of him--take down half of the monster. Then wolf down the ginormous hungry man breakfast the next morning. Impressive stuff.
We also met lots of great new folks, including Miss Janet, trailangel extraordinaire, Phatt Chapp, Sherpa (the original), and Blister Sister, who cooked a fantastic meal for all of the hikers in honor of her own birthday. Blister Sister is a triple crown hiker and Sherpa will soon complete his second triple crown. Pretty amazing folks.

Before heading up Kinsman Notch to Mt. Moosilauke.

The cascade in Kinsman Notch. The sign at the bottom
advised us to exercise caution "to avoid tragic results."

Longtime and Click!, a father-daughter pair from NY, taking a
break at Beaver Brook shelter, Kinsman Notch.

Pancho approaching the summit of Mt. Moosilauke,
on an absolutely beautiful, clear day.

We were able to slackpack a couple of days here at the beginning of the White Mountains, a good thing since this is arguably the toughest section of the entire AT. The conventional wisdom suggests that whatever your daily mileage is, you should halve it through the Whites. Yesterday, we were able to slack a seriously steep 17 mile section from Kinsman Notch to Franconia Notch. We also got a taste of the notoriously changeable White Mountain weather, including a delightful hail storm. For once, we were lucky enough to make it into a shelter right before the bottom fell out….

Coming and going at Hiker's Welcome, Glencliff, NH.
(l-r): Deja, Miss Janet, Swift, Pancho, Doc Boom, and Trashcan.

Hikers at lunch. Trashcan and Doc Boom, Eliza Brook shelter, NH

At the moment, we’re getting ready for another trivia night, here at the Woodstock Inn, a hotel we chose based entirely on the fact that there is a microbrewery in the building. Shocking, no? We’ll be heading out again in the morning, for a longer stretch in the Whites, including a jaunt up Mt. Washington, home of the worst weather in the country. Awesome.