intro

So, yeah, "roots of grass". I had a list of names but nothing was really standing out... I started thinking about "grassroots", "indie"... that sort of thing. Not going for the Mary Jane angle or delving into the world of lawn care service provision. Anyway, we'll roll with it and see how it goes.

I've had the idea of starting a blog for awhile and finally thought I'd give it a whirl. I've been mildly active on Facebook for a couple years and thought a blog might be a better way to post my thoughts in a more passive way (ie you have the option to come here and read rather than having my posts presented to you whether you wanted to see them or not... though friending / de-friending [Facebook] is an option, I suppose). This is also maybe a better arena to write longer posts, go into deeper detail, etc.

Anyway, my general thought at the outset is that I'll just post whatever I fancy at a given time. Very open-ended, few commitments. Not sure of frequency. We'll just let the dogs run and see what happens. Am I looking for fame? I don't know... it might be more the case that I feel like I can express myself well via writing and want to dabble with the notion of "being a writer". Another avenue to a more fulfilling life... and maybe a water tower filled with gold coins. I like trying new stuff. Anyway, babble, babble. On with it!...

day 124, Gorham, NH (The Barn)

Start:  Imp Campsite
End:  US 2 (The Barn)
Miles:  8 today, 1868.6 total

Post-hike note:  This page was unintentionally left blank.  I simply never got around to writing anything for this day.  From what I remember, I came down the mountain and stayed at The Barn in Gorham (the other hostel in town).  Being a few days after 9/11, just about all of the fast food -type restaurants and other establishments had "God Bless America" displayed on their signage (instead of the typical "$1 cheeseburgers!" -type advertising).

day 123, Imp Campsite, NH

Start:  Pinkham Notch VC (Hikers Paradise)
End:  Imp Campsite
Miles:  13.1 today, 1860.6 total

Had an extremely bad episode this morning involving the Hikers Paradise staff.  Bruce woke me up at 5am, like we had planned last night.  I started getting my stuff together by the light of my headlamp.  The plan was to depart for the trail at 5:30, but I figured it would be no big deal if we left at, say, 5:35.  I mean, we're on the trail and, in general, people are pretty easy going (and slow to get out of bed at 5am!).  So at 5:30 I'm brushing my teeth when I hear the car start.  I grab my stuff and get down to the planned meeting location at 5:33 or 34.  No car.  I set my stuff down, look around a bit, and then head to the front of the building to see if the car was up there.  Nope.  I look in through the window at the "bird clock" and it reads 5:35.  So Bruce had left without me (Logos was the only other guy going at that time) and didn't bother to check if I was almost ready.  So then I ring the bell at the front door.  The door's locked, but there's two signs saying the place is open (this is maybe 5:45).  The other male staff member (2 males, 1 female) comes out in his robe saying he doesn't know where Bruce is and that I shouldn't have woken (is that a word?) him up.  Anyway, some time goes by, I wait some more.  A little after 6am I go to the front.  The door's unlocked so I go in and sit to warm up while I wait.  The guy comes out again and asks me to go outside.  I start to say that the "Open" sign is up, and he starts screaming for me to leave.  I pack up, argue with Bruce, get half my money back, and hitch back to the trail.

Post-hike note:  I had to cram the last few sentences as I was running out of space on the journal page.  Obviously, this wasn't a fun way to start the day.  I'll certainly take the blame for being a few minutes late down to the meeting spot, and, yeah, I knew I was pushing some buttons by considering the "Open" signs as indicating the place was legitimately open that early in the morning... despite the likelier cause being that someone had just forgotten to flip them to "Closed" the night before.  But, I was nevertheless a paying customer, and a certain level of friendly or at least professional service... receive I did not (to say the least), from two different staff members.  I had initially paid them to stay two nights, and after the various arguments that we had, I was glad Bruce at least agreed to reimburse me for the 2nd night.  Regardless, there was no way I was going to stay there again.

To be fair, I have no doubt many other hikers have had better experiences at Hikers Paradise, and I certainly wish the hostel success going forward.  However, being that this is a journal of my personal experiences hiking the Trail, and that the events of the morning were, by far, the highlight of the day, it seems appropriate, at least to me, to include in the blog.

day 122, Pinkham Notch VC, NH

Start:  Madison Springs Hut
End: Pinkham Notch Visitors Center (Hikers Paradise)
Miles:  7.8 today, 1847.5 total

Post-hike note: This page was semi-intentionally left blank in my journal due to the day's terrible events elsewhere in the nation.  I'll re-cap what I remember, despite it now being 12.5 years later:

The morning at Madison Springs Hut was somewhat uneventful.  I'm pretty sure I had hut-prepared breakfast, and then helped the staff with various cleanup duties for awhile.  I vaguely remember someone playing music from a radio, but at that time of morning, I don't think the news had broken yet.  I eventually got my stuff together and headed out.

Compared to the night before, the weather coming down the mountain was fantastic.  I remember it being fairly clear and I passed people lounging in various spots as I neared the base of the mountain.  At some point between, say, 10am and noon, I found myself at the bottom at Pinkham Notch Visitors Center.  I called the Hikers Paradise hostel in Gorham and asked for someone to come pick me up.  Sometime later, a guy pulls up in a pickup truck and I throw my stuff in and we head toward Gorham.  Along the way, he mentions that the World Trade Center towers had been attacked and F-15s were patrolling around New York City.  I thought he might've had a screw loose, but when we got to the hostel, everyone was glued to the TV.  I spent pretty much the rest of the day watching TV, though at some point I did laundry and called my parents.

day 121, Madison Springs Hut, NH

Start:  Mt. Jackson campsite
End:  Madison Springs Hut
Miles:  13.5 today, 1839.7 total

Wow.  Today was a day of extremes.  For one, I've found my new favorite part of the trail: the Whites.  The scenery, when visible, was amazing.  I spent all but 2 or 3 miles above treeline.  If the weather is decent, I could stay above treeline all day.  You can see forever.  Like, there will be people off in the distance that you won't pass for 10-15 minutes - but you can still see them!  And the mountains look so neat.  Orange and green and grey, rather than all green trees.  I took 3 or 4 pictures of just scenery.  Now that I think about it, I think I took (or had someone else take) 7 pictures today.

Stopped by Lakes of the Clouds Hut, nothing too special there.  Saw the "Dungeon" thru-hiker shelter in the basement.  Then I made my ascent of Mt. Washington.  The wind whipped by, clouds rocketed past.  I had a passer-by take my picture halfway up the mountain.  Some touristy museum and concession-stand stuff on top.

And then I hiked on... and proceeded to endure the worst weather I've had all trip.  Hard driving rain to a light misting mixed with heavy gusting winds to stillness.  And a cool temperature.  I was soaked and cold, but I just kept on walking.  Still above treeline the whole way to Madison Springs Hut, where I managed to snag my first (and last?) work-for-stay.

Post-hike note: That 5-ish-mile portion from the Mt. Washington summit to Madison Springs Hut was, in hindsight, probably the most dire moment I had on the trail.  Being above treeline with nowhere to hide from the rain and wind, and with the temperature being cool, my guess is that hypothermia would have readily set in were I forced to stop walking.  Numerous opportunities to slip on the wet rocks and break something, and being alone with no one else out walking in that weather and often zero visibility, it could have been a pretty bad situation.  Looking back, I feel pretty lucky that I made it to the hut that night relatively ok and that they had space for me to stay.  I would've done anything to avoid having to camp out in that weather.

day 120, Mt. Jackson c, NH

Start:  Galehead Hut campsite
End:  Mt. Jackson campsite
Miles:  19.4 today, 1826.2 total

Almost a 20-miler in the Whites.  I was trying to do 21 from Galehead Hut to the Mizpah Spring Hut / Nauman Tentsite combo, but I couldn't make it (at least in the daylight).  The wacky thing is, I can see the Mizpah Spring Hut from here.  It's only 1.7 miles away.  I'm camped up on top of Mt. Jackson tonight.  The weather is supposed to be good for the next few days at least, so I feel relatively safe throwing down my bag right up on the summit (knock on wood).  The stars are out all over the place, and I can see the Milky Way.  I hope it doesn't get too cold tonight.  One other consideration is that the closest water source north of here is the hut.  I tried to push as far as I could late in the day so I wouldn't have far to go in the morning.  I've got about half a quart left for the 1.7 miles to the hut, so I think I'll be ok.

At some point tonight, the moon will come out and blind me.  It's been pretty bright the last few nights.  And I think I can see Mt. Washington from here.  One of the buildings up there has its lights on.  I'll be up there tomorrow!  I'm really liking the Whites so far.  It's fun clambering (is that a word?) around on the rocks, though it can get pretty dangerous, too.  Still obsessed over pack weight reduction.  Hasta mañana.

day 119, Galehead Hut c, NH

Start:  Liberty Springs Tentsite
End:  Galehead Hut campsite
Miles:  10.4 today, 1806.8 total

I may have hit on something profound.  You've got a food item, say a Snickers bar (regular size).  The total weight of the bar is 59 g.  Of that 59 g, 14 g are fat, 35 g are carbs, 4 g are proteins, and the remaining 6 g we'll lump together as "other".  I then look at the typical food I eat in a day and break each item down in a similar manner.  Then, I add up all the fats, all the carbs, and so forth.  Note that my daily diet is basically 2 Pop Tarts, a bagel & PB for breakfast, various snack items all day, and then a Lipton noodle packet with tuna and powdered milk for dinner.  I have not yet tallied the nutrition info for the Pop Tarts, lemonade mix, gorp, dried fruit, and powdered milk.  So... of the stuff I have tallied, I've found that my diet is basically 11% fats, 54% carbs, 13% proteins, and 22% "other".  Talking to Silver Wings again this evening, he was saying that he read at a nutrition website that endurance athletes typically eat 30%, sometimes 35%, fat, so I'm low in that category.  Carbs are ok.  Protein is also ok.  The glaring number, though, is that 22% in the "other" category.  Much of that comes from the tuna and bagels (both of which contain water as an ingredient... hmm... carrying extra weight perhaps?)  Peanut butter, as it turns out, has only 1 g of "other" and 16 g of fat - an awesome trail food.  I will pursue this further, as food is my burden and energy out here.

Post-hike note:  Silver Wings' "30% fat" number may have been referring to the portion of daily caloric intake which comes from fat... as opposed to the portion of daily intake in terms of weight (grams) which comes from fat.  Given that a gram of fat provides 9 calories, and a gram of carbs and protein each provide 4 calories, my diet's % breakdown in terms of caloric intake was probably closer to 20% fat, 44% carbs, 11% protein, and 25% "other".  The validity of having an "other" category might also be debatable... I'm not a nutritionist.