Today's miles 16.3. AT miles 1812.2
We were the first guests to arrive for breakfast in the hotel this morning at 7am. It was one of the best breakfasts we've had in a hotel/motel, we got the normal tea/coffee and fruit juice choice plus a sticky bun then could choose a main and side dish from the breakfast menu, all included in our room rate. We had blueberry pancakes, no side. After breakfast we called The Shuttle Connection for a shuttle back to the trail, they turned up very quickly, we were at the trailhead for 8:20.
The trail today was tough and tiring again, lots of rocks to climb up right from the start. It was made a bit easier because we were slack packing so weren't carrying our normal heavy packs. Slack packing doesn't mean we go any faster. We may have been a fraction quicker going uphill but flat and downhill slack packing made no difference to our pace, our/my legs will only go so fast no matter what weight we're carrying. We've heard a few other hikers say the same. The only benefit is less strain on our joints/knees with less weight. Our first mountain was Mount Wolf (3478ft) where we passed the 1800 mile mark. We descended from there down to Eliza Brook shelter where we refilled our water and had a snack break. It was another beautiful sunny day, a bit warmer and more humid than the last few days.
We had another tough uphill from the shelter up to South Kinsman Mountain (4358ft). The ascent started off OK but then got very steep and rocky, scrambling almost in places. Tree roots made great natural ladders on some steep rocky sections. We quite enjoy the rocky scrambly climbs, they're more interesting than just a straight flat trail up. It was a beautiful 360° view from the top again today. From South Kinsman it was a shortish down and then up again to North Kinsman Mountain, still rocky trails. We had great views across to Franconia Ridge where we'll be walking next. From the summit it was a steep mile and a half down rocks again with occasional wooden steps placed to help, then the descent got easier for the last three miles. We had a few river beds to stone hop over too. We passed an AMC hut at Lonesome Lake, there were a few people staying there. It looked quite nice from the outside, we didn't go in though and have a look. Its highly unlikely we'll be staying at any of the AMC huts in the White Mountains, we can't justify paying $250 a night, we've got three nights for that price where we're staying now.
We finally arrived at Franconia Notch about 6:15pm. What we hadn't realised was that it was a further mile from there down a paved side trail to get to the road. Once we got to the road we called for a shuttle back to the hotel. There were very few cars passing in the evening, it would have taken us a long time to get a hitch back to town. The shuttle guy arrived though within ten minutes, what great service, we have to pay for it though $10 per person which is reasonable. Back in North Woodstock we bought a sub roll and muffin each and Nigel got some beer from Wayne's grocery store and returned to our hotel, we weren't going anywhere else we were tired. I had a lovely soak in our lovely roll top bath to ease my tired legs.
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