Kinsman Notch 1804.9 Hikers Welcome Hostel 1795.4 (SOBO) (9.5 miles, 779.5 total miles)
I slept amazing last night, making up again for my late night at the resort. After a solid 8 hours, I felt good, though it was a rough morning of me feeling groggy and out of it for the first hour or so.
I double checked my backpack, since I had forgotten my trekking poles the day before when I was originally going to hike Moosilauke. I also finally remembered to put on sunscreen, since I’d be over 4,000 feet later in the day.
I had a breakfast sandwich from the hostel, and one of those Starbucks drinks in a glass bottle that Furps had bought. It was a 40 minute drive to Kinsman Notch, where we’d start the day, and I threw in my headphones and put on some music for the drive, not feeling particularly social.
We got to the trailhead parking lot around 7:30, and Sunshine arrived very shortly after. I had brought her a daypack as well, and she transferred what she needed over, and Acadicus took her full pack back to the hostel for us.
We were hiking 3.8 miles up the steeper side of Moosilauke, which was strenuous, but enjoyable. I’d rather hike a steep up than down, just because it feels easier on my body.
I hadn’t hiked in 3.5 days, just like over the 4th of July, so I wasn’t sure how I’d do. The first day after the 4th was rough, but I also didn’t start hiking that day till early afternoon.
Sunshine and I chatted as we started the hike before the real ascent, but talked less as we started breathing heavy up the incline.
There was a waterfall to our right for most of the climb, which was very pretty. We stepped up many rocks stairs and several wooden steps that were attached to the steeper rocks. A couple places required a small amount of scrambling.
I was wearing my brand new shoes, and it was nice to finally have shoes that didn’t have the tread peeling off. The colors were less ugly than I remembered, as a bonus.
It had been a cloudy morning, but the sun began to come out as we hiked. When we’d done .7, we stopped for a water break, and saw we were close to halfway done with the steepest part.
There was a shelter in another .7 that Sunshine and I decided to stop at as well, since there was a privy and we could have another water break.
We saw plenty of people hiking both up and down the mountain, since it was a Saturday. We saw fellow slack packers who were staying at the hostel, lots of day hikers, and a few going NOBO with full packs as well.
When we were close to the shelter, the trail opened up behind us for a partial view of the Whites, and it started to level out by the time we reached Beaver Brook Shelter.
Sunshine and I spent about 20 or 30 minutes at the shelter, which was only a couple hundred feet off trail. She did me the favor of collecting water for us both, and we headed out shortly after filtering it.
We had 2.3 miles to go to the summit, and only about 1200 feet of elevation left, with a grading of less than 600 feet per mile. So it was a pleasant remaining hike to the top, and I talked to Sunshine as we hiked, which helped the time go faster.
The terrain changed back into alpine territory, and I enjoyed the smell of pine wafting through the forest again. The trees began to get shorter, and I knew we were almost above tree line.
About a quarter mile before the summit, we reached the ridge above tree line, and saw the mountains behind us. We continued up a very relaxed uphill, walking over smaller rocks that were interspersed with beautiful white flowers that grew among them.
The summit was covered in large rocks, and in several spots wind guards had been set up for people to hang out in. There were probably 20 people up there already.
A NOBO named Scott, who was staying at Hikers Welcome, took our picture for us at the sign marking the 4,802 foot summit. It was my first 4,000 footer of the trip, since I’d skipped the Killington summit side trail this time around.
I remembered vividly the first time I’d hiked up Moosilauke, and seen the amazing view of the White Mountains. I had teared up, and felt a lot of strong emotions at being there. The view is just incredible, and no picture I could take would do it justice.
I didn’t feel as emotional this time, having already experienced the Whites and what was to come. I’d also now been to the Rocky Mountains last year, too. I did still feel in awe of the mountains, but last time was my first time ever seeing views like that, and it was life changing for me.
We saw the Kinsman Mountains and Franconia Ridge, which Shrek was currently hiking for the day, and what we thought was Mount Washington in the distance. I bought Peak Finder up on the mountain, but didn’t have enough service to download the maps I needed.
I noticed we could see the Riverwalk Resort from where we were, and I sent Furps a picture of it and one of Sunshine and I at the top. He said he was glad we were hiking together.
We hung out for a while, cracked a couple summit seltzers, and had lunch. Sleepy arrived a little after us, and spent some time hanging out. He’d hiked northbound from the hostel with his full pack, and was planning on doing a 16 mile day to Eliza Brook Shelter.
After Sleepy left, Catchup hiked up, who had also hiked northbound with his pack, and sat with us for a while as well. We talked about shoes and the AMC huts that are scattered through the mountains ahead.
We also talked about animals, because Sunshine just found out two days ago that her beloved dog who is only five years old has been diagnosed with cancer, and was given 3-6 months to live.
She is devastated, and loves him as much as I loved and still love Frankie. She has gone through some difficult emotions the last couple days, deciding if she should quit to go home and be with him, or finish her hike.
It is a very difficult decision, but she has decided to try to finish the hike if she can. Sunshine only has 400 miles left, and about a month more to go. Her dog is being very well taken care of with her parents, and her mother urged her to stay on trail and do this for herself to heal.
She’s gone through a lot of life with her dog, the way I had with Frankie. After Catchup left, we started to talk about it more in depth, and I found myself just absolutely overcome with emotion.
I wasn’t sure if I was feeling her emotions, or if it just triggered some deep feelings about Frankie, but I shed a couple tears while we talked and just really felt the loss inside me again. The last time I’d been on Moosilauke, Frankie had been alive, and that really hit me for some reason.
Sunshine and I had a good therapy session together, and we headed down the mountain after spending almost two hours at the summit and having lunch.
The trail stayed relaxed for a while, as we slowly descended to tree line again. We both put in our music for a bit, and got the steeper part of the descent out of the way. It was quite rocky and rooty for a bit, then got a lot better.
We passed a few water sources flowing across the trail. From summit to Hostel, it was a 5.7 mile hike, and it went by fast. We reached a couple fields and a road walk for a bit when we were less than two miles from the hostel.
After a quick, flat jaunt through the woods, we found ourselves back to the road that would take us to Hikers Welcome. We got to the hostel at a little after 1:30. It had been four hours of hiking, and two hours of breaks.
We had done 10 miles, and it went quite well. I definitely could have done more, and in retrospect maybe would have done the 20 mile slackpack from 25A to Kinsman Notch. I didn’t know about that one as an option before, though, and had done 25A to the hostel days ago.
Still, it was nice to have an easy day to get myself back into hiking mode after taking 3.5 days off. Sunshine and I got showers, laundry, and sorted food for resupply to Lincoln.
Our plan was to hike the 16 miles to Franconia Notch to get to Lincoln, and stay at Chet’s Place. Chet is another old friend from the trail, and has a hostel right near the resort that we were at. We can resupply at the Price Chopper and do a little hostel hopping.
I called Chet, and was pleased when he remembered me right away. We made plans for Sunshine and I to stay at his hostel tomorrow evening, though we do have a bail out shelter if needed.
We will do a little light packing tomorrow, and Hikers Welcome will drop off our extra food from our bags at Chet’s. It will be a 10-12 hour day, and our first official one in the Whites.
The weather doesn’t look great after tomorrow, so we will have to play things by ear, since a lot of the upcoming trail is exposed over tree line.
We got pizza for dinner, and put on Bridesmaids in the common room from the extensive DVD collection at Hikers Welcome. I was sad my stay was over, but happy for the time I got to spend at the of my favorite AT hostels and in Lincoln with old friends.
I was ready to start hiking again, though, and hoping to catch up to some of my friends who are just a few days ahead. I shouldn’t need anymore zeros for a while, but am feeling apprehensive about the weather coming up. I’d just have to take it one day at a time.