Title

24 June
(Resuming from my backlog of trail notes after weeks of procrastination)

From: Hikers Welcome hostel, Glencliff NH
To: Kinsman Notch, shuttle to The Notch hostel, Woodstock NH
Mileage: 9.3
Weather: Cloudy, cool

I started the morning with the breakfast sandwich that I bought the previous afternoon.

Stealth and StillBill hit the trail early, and I watched them start down the trail while I waited for Penguin (a rare situation). In the meantime, I settled my hostel bill.

Just after Penguin and I got off the road and back on the trail, we faced a stream crossing with the stepping stones fully submerged. After looking at other options (fallen mossy log, bridge way downstream), Penguin decided to wade the chilly water but was not happy about it. I followed suit. It wasn't bad, just an inconvenience to begin the day.

The 3,800 foot climb up Mount Moosilauke wasn't very difficult for us, just long. It was a change getting up to the treeline, where we were taller than the surrounding vegetation. Eventually even the stunted trees stopped and we were hiking the rocky trail to the peak. We were surrounded by drifting cloud (aka fog) so visibility was limited, but I enjoyed the cool breeze.

We found Stealth and StillBill at the summit sign having lunch, so we chatted a bit, took a few pictures and had a snack ourselves. Penguin was eager to move on, so we left Stealth and StillBill.

We made our descent and reached Beaver Brook shelter, where we met up with Slack and discussed options for the night. We decided to seek bunks at The Notch hostel in Woodstock, but Penguin insisted that the WiFi had to be very good so she could stream hockey videos.

There was a bad sign, literally! It warned that the trail ahead was dangerous in wet or icy weather (the former being true) and to consider other routes. But this was the AT's route, and there weren't any good options, so we proceeded on an unnerving one mile descent on very steep, slippery rocks alongside a waterfall. Some spots had wood steps bolted on the rock faces, but even these could be slippery and usually stopped too soon (i.e., big drop at bottom). At one point Penguin lost the trail, but I found it running down a 30 foot cliff much to our dismay.

After many anxious moments and lots of cussing, we finally made it down to reasonable trail, when I realized I dropped my phone. I remembered the last time I used it for a picture near the bottom of the rocks and had to backtrack and climb a bit. When I got to the spot, there was a hiking couple holding my phone trying to find contact info. I was grateful and relieved to get it back.

There was one more obstacle - a few feet of trail had washed out along a steep section, but I found it easy to jump over. Others later considered this a bigger obstacle than I did. Maybe I was just numb by that time.

I found Penguin with StillBill and Stealth waiting in the Kinsman Notch trailhead parking area. StillBill and Stealth had called for a shuttle and offered to share with us. However, Serena drove up in a shuttle van from The Notch hostel by coincidence and took Penguin and me there, and StillBill and Stealth to their hotel where they had arranged to meet someone (they canceled their shuttle call).

The Notch (http://notchhostel.com) was more formally run than the more communal Hiker's Welcome hostel. I won't say better or worse, as each hostel I have used has a distinct "personality" and guest ruleset. We left our footware and packs in a shed for that purpose, donned the flip-flops provided and got cleaned up and settled in our bunkroom. Penguin was happy with the WiFi, the freezer had Ben & Jerry ice cream pints and frozen pizza for sale (which Penguin took advantage of) so all was good after a difficult afternoon.

Penguin and I agreed to hike the Kinsman Peaks the next day and catch The Notches' scheduled 6:30 pm shuttle from the Flume Visitor Center at Franconia Notch back to the hostel, then take a zero day. From what we heard, Kinsman had rocks but not as bad as descending Moosilauke.