Platform Pair

I woke up this morning (August 23) at the Mountain Inn in North Conway. I slept in a little bit later than I normally do on the trail, because I didn't have a ton of miles ahead of me today. I also needed a ride back to the trailhead and didn't want to ask Hydro to take me too early. Rainbow had let him stay in his hotel room for the night, so I was hoping he was getting some good sleep.

I eventually left the hotel at about 8:30, and even though Rainbow was taking a zero in North Conway, he came along for the ride. It was a beautiful day— the first beautiful day we’ve had in a long time. So Hydro and Rainbow were thinking about doing a day hike around Mount Washington, just to see if they could get a view of the peak, because those are typically very elusive.

At about 9 o'clock, Hydro dropped me off at the trailhead where he’d picked us up last night, which was Crawford Notch. And when we pulled into the parking lot, the AMC shuttle was there. And shortly thereafter, two shuttles from the Notch hostel showed up. The Notch hostel offers slack packing around Crawford Notch. So one car was full of hikers who would be slack packing south from Crawford Notch back to Franconia Ridge, which is one of their slack pack options, and the other car was full of hikers who’d done the slack pack already and were getting back on the trail and continuing north.

So right now, I'm in a quite a hiker bubble. I was discussing that with Rainbow, and we think it's because as the trail heads further north, there are fewer and fewer options for hostels and stealth camping. You have to camp in designated spots, and that tends to bunch everyone together. It's kind of fun to see other hikers. But on the other hand, it's a little bit stressful with respect to securing good camping spots. Because if you get to a campsite late, you might be out of luck.

I definitely saw some familiar faces in the parking lot, and one was Sings with the Pines. It’s so funny that I keep seeing him here and there along the trail. I saw him initially with my friend Charlie back in southern Virginia. Then I saw him throughout Virginia and Maryland. Then again in Pennsylvania. And then again in Great Barrington in Massachusetts. Oh, and before that, Jon and I saw him in Connecticut. And now, here we were, reunited once again in New Hampshire.

A bunch of us were chatting in the parking lot for a while, but eventually, it was time to start actually hiking. So at about 9:30, I hit the trail, and I only had six or seven miles to cover, but the first part of the hike was up Webster Cliff. And Webster Cliff was one of the areas on the trail that I’ve been a bit nervous about. I’ve actually hiked up Webster Cliff many, many times before, and every time, it was pretty difficult.

I did it a few times when I was a camper at Pine Island Camp. I did it a few more times when I was a counselor at Pine Island. I hiked it in college with Jon. One summer after I’d graduated from college, Jim and I and a couple of other guys from our university hiked it together. So I definitely have plenty of experience going up Webster Cliff, but I hadn't done it in probably close to 30 years. So, I didn't have a good feeling about what I was up against.

But as I mentioned, it was beautiful day, and I had plenty of time. So I just hit the trail and started heading upward, and it was definitely challenging, but it wasn't anything that I needed to fear nearly as much as I had been. I got some great views and just took my time and had lunch out on a cliff overlooking Route 302, which was really nice.

I knew that I was reasonably far ahead of a bunch of people, because I’d started early, and also, most of the hikers I’d seen at Crawford Notch in the morning were heading south. So I didn't expect there to be a lot of competition for campsites.

I eventually got to the campsite that’s adjacent to Mizpah Spring hut, which I think is called the Nauman campsite. Most of the tent sites in the White Mountains are intended to accommodate at least two tents. Some of them are even meant for four tents. I picked out a tent platform and did my best to take up as little space as I could, but the platform I picked was definitely for two tents maximum. After that, I went over to the hut and got a nice bowl of soup and did some route planning and read a bunch of comments on Far Out. It was a really enjoyable way to spend the rest of the afternoon.

After a while, I made my way back to my tent, only to see lots and lots of hikers steadily filing into the campsite. So I was glad that I’d arrived when I did and was able to claim my spot on the tent platform. And then I saw Pathfinder pulling into the campsite. I knew I was going to have to share my tent platform with someone, so I immediately hailed Pathfinder over to set up his tent and be that person. He and I did a good job of finagling two tents onto one platform, and I’m glad to know he’ll be my neighbor tonight.

I'm gearing up for a long day tomorrow, because I'm going to be climbing up to the Presidential Range and hiking over Mount Washington. That's going to be a big day. Fortunately, the weather's supposed to be absolutely beautiful. So I'm definitely going to get lucky with that one.