October 12th, 2019 would be the day. Solo. I enjoy solo hiking, being alone with my thoughts and views in the woods, not worrying about my speed, or someone else's, but would have preferred if my wife Jean had been able to come along. She wanted to, but caught a bug this week and just wasn't feeling up to it. I had booked two bunks at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, but it was just me and only Friday night. Couldn't get in on Saturday, as it was homecoming weekend for Dartmouth and was all locked up. When I finished the 46 in NY, my wife was with me and we held up hands and fingers to make 46, but I wasn't paying attention and it actually read as 64. Ugh. I don't have 115 fingers and I didn't want to make a similar mistake on such a momentous occasion, trying to manipulate only ten digits this finisher, so I had a neat banner made up at my local Fed Ex Office. Drove up after work, really not a huge fan of the night time driving up there, for fear of a wildlife encounter, but aside from my iPhone trying to take me to Ravine Lane in Lincoln, rather than my intended destination, the trip up was uneventful.
Checked in at around 1015 and was just too wired from the drive to sleep, so had to enjoy one of the Cloud Drop DIPAs I picked up in Rutland. Couldn't score any Heady Topper this trip. Chatted with some folks who were up around the wood stove in the basement of the lovely lodge. It's one of the prettiest lodges I've ever stayed in! Can't speak to dinner, since I got there so late Friday, but I heard it was good. The bunk houses are sponsored by various Dartmouth College graduating classes and I'll admit, I was feeling a bit jealous of the students and alums who have access to the lodge. I'll have to give a call to Queens College and see if they can work on getting one in the Catskills for students and alums! The bunkhouses have a central common area to hang out and rooms off of that common room and bunk beds within, pretty typical lodge or hostel experience up there. Bring your sleeping bag. I think somewhere I read that Moosilauke is called "Dartmouth's mountain". If that's the case, they sure show it plenty of love, because Moosialauke has some of the best trail and rock work I've ever seen.
Breakfast in the lodge was simple and I definitely could have used a bit more of it. Oatmeal, scrambled eggs, couple of pieces of bacon and a muffin, along with three cups of coffee. Apparently, you can have dogs at the lodge and before hiking, I made sure to make friends with all of them! There are many funny and whimsical signs around the lodge, like the one I saw telling me I was 2,724,480 inches from Maine. So that's how far away I was last month! On the trail, the signage was adequate and clear and well-maintained and seemingly newly painted. No trail markers or blazes on trees, but these trails get so much traffic, that you would have a hard time getting lost, as the path is quite clear. Went up Gorge Trail to the summit, then the AT over to South Peak, then down the Carriage Trail to Snapper and out. It's pretty much up, until you go down, without any of the up and down undulations that you'll get on a ridge trail, it being a single mountain. Lots of access to water in Gorge Brook till you get to 3300 feet. You gain elevation on Gorge quickly and before you know it, you are on top! There are several viewpoints along the way, but only the first one had a view as the clouds were shrouding the summit at first, from about 3000 feet up. I headed up, hoping that it would clear.
Careful to pick my way to the summit doing the rock hop near the top, I don't think I could stop smiling. This all started on Cascade and Porter in 2015, being triggered by my friend Keith who asked, "What's next?" as we both neared the end of the 46 and after saying no to all the thru hikes he suggested, my ears had perked up when he said, "What about the Northeast 115?". Now that sounded do-able and here I was on 10/12/19 at 1040 AM bringing this journey to completion. Out came my sign for some pics, taken by a gentleman who was working on the 100 highest and I saw that same look of interest that I had three years ago when he queried, "What's the 115?". Another journey launched? The clouds were socking in the summit, but that didn't stop multitudes of people from coming up from all directions. Saw several New Hampshire 48 finishes. Worked as cameraman for many, while I enjoyed a Cloud Drop. Since we were in the clouds, I thought the choice was fitting. Decided to sit there and wait to see if the clouds would clear and was up on the summits I visited today for about 2 hours, just hanging out and basking in the joy of a job well done. I was glad I lingered, because the clouds lifted and burned out and we could see Washington, the peaks on the Franconia Ridge and in the distance the Vermont peaks and now I can see how the individual parts of Mansfield(Chin, Forehead, etc.) get their name.
A mom and her daughter who finished the 48 Saturday, along with their retriever, were planning to go back the way they came on Gorge Brook, but I convinced them to go down the Carriage Trail, reasoning that anything called "Carriage" must be a bit smoother since carriages went up it back in the day. She seemed happy with the suggestion when I met her at the end of the trail. Whereas the day had started cloudy, at the end, the sun was out and it was warming up nicely. I thought we might see bugs, but thankfully that didn't happen. Picked up a Ravine Lodge Patch, after once more taking advantage of their fine flush toilets, before hitting the road. Once again the iPhone proved it is not an adequate GPS and wasn't working and I made a left hitting the road as I exited Ravine Road, when I should have made a right, driving all the way down to 112 before turning around, after the now functional iPhone GPS told me to make a U-turn. As I traveled in the wrong direction, I had noticed what looked like an AT hiker trudging up the road, with a heavy pack, front and back and he had his thumb out, so I picked him up as I traveled now in the correct direction. He's been section hiking and searching for something. Much to his surprise he scored a ride to Rutland. Are there many lost souls out on the AT? I hope he finds his way.
The journey started 9/20/15 on Porter. What happened since then? Along the way, I met many nice people. Special thanks to
JoeCedar
for all his sage advice. Most special thanks to my wife, who while she cannot quite understand the zeal with which I approach hiking, at least has built up a tolerance for it! It was about 50/50 hiking solo vs groups. Vermont and NY were all day trips. New Hampshire and Maine were weekends or weeklong trips. I stayed in all of the high mountain huts in New Hampshire, except for Lonesome Lake, as well as several lodges and one hostel. My favorite restaurant found on the journey was Salt in Gorham, with Horse and Hound, a close second in Franconia. My favorite place to stay was Kinsman Lodge. Such a welcoming place and Sue is the kindest host and you should stay there. I became skillful at setting up shuttles, so I could traverse from Crawford Notch to Franconia for my first big trip, as well as my favorite trip on the journey, the Presidential range from Appalachia back to Highland Center. Three nights in the huts with my wife for that trip and it's my favorite memory, with the added bonus being the coin op hot showers in Crawford Notch visitor center! The only thing that tops those showers is the new soaking tub in our new bathroom that I've luxuriated in the past two weekends after hiking. Ahhhhhhh......Saw moose poop for the first time on the Kate Sleeper trail and lots of it in July, but didn't see my first moose until Maine this past September! Pulled over for speeding once on the journey last weekend in Warren NH. Got off with a warning, once. Thanks Officer Brigham! Dollars spent? Many, though I did not keep a total. What I got for the time, effort and money? Priceless!
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