Really, Man?

I started out this morning (August 18) at the Notch hostel in Lincoln, New Hampshire, and my task for the day was doing about a 17-mile slack pack over the Kinsmans. And as I mentioned earlier, the Hikers Welcome hostel will help you do a slack pack over Mount Moosilauke, but I decided that I’d rather slack pack the Kinsmans. It’s a much longer stretch, so it seemed like a better use of a slack pack opportunity than just 10 miles over Moosilauke.  

And I was far from alone in slack packing the trail today. Eight other hikers at the Notch had the same plan. Plus, there was a hiker named Swiss who was going to slack the Kinsmans today, too. He stayed at Hikers Welcome last night, but now he’s here at the Notch for tonight. So in total, there were nine of us doing the same slack pack. The eight of us leaving from the Notch set out at 7 o’clock and piled into two different cars that drove us to the trailhead at Kinsman Notch.

So you hike from Kinsman Notch to Franconia Notch, and it's a pretty challenging stretch. And there are two shuttle pickups at the end of the day. One is at 4:40, and the other is at 7:00. The Notch staff generally assumes that most people won’t be able to make the 4:40, because, as I said, it’s not an easy hike by any means. But I think all of us who piled into the shuttles this morning were convinced we could do it. Plus, the weather wasn't particularly great, so there wouldn’t be any reason for us to linger at the peak or any other viewpoint, since there wouldn’t be anything to see.

I think another reason the hostel offers the later pickup option is that people often want to hang out on the mountain for a while to take in the great views and relax and all that, but when the weather isn't so nice, you tend to just want to power through the hike and get it over with.

So they dropped us off at Kinsman Notch, and we all kind of spilled out of the car and immediately headed for the trail. Some poor guy was there at the trailhead doing Trail Magic, and we just ran right by his table. We’d just eaten breakfast at the Notch and weren’t hungry or thirsty yet, and we also didn't want to spend any extra time hanging around, because we needed to make miles.

So we all just whizzed by this guy without paying him any real attention, and you could see the joy sort of drain from his face as we did. And I kind of assume that Swiss ran by him, too, when he got dropped off, for the same reasons. So I felt really bad for the guy. I’m sorry, Trail Magic person! We really do appreciate your effort! The timing just wasn't right today.

So, just to review everyone who was doing the slack today — first, there were four members of a group called the Chain Gang. They’ve been hiking together for a long time now, and they have this plastic chain that looks very heavy, though it actually isn't. And each day, one of them carries the chain, and they all take turns. So in this group, there's a guy named Frodo, a guy named Tuna, a woman named Ivy, and a woman named Pippi.  

Groovy and Half Boot also did the slack today, plus a woman named Ultra, and me, of course. And the ninth person was Swiss, from Hikers Welcome, though he obviously didn’t start out with the rest of us.

We eight immediately started sprinting toward the trail and up Mt. Wolf. S. had told me that a couple of the hikers she follows on YouTube did Mount Moosilauke and then Mt. Wolf on the same day, one right after the other and with full packs — and I guess they were none too pleased about it while they were doing it, which doesn’t surprise me. Even slack packing it, it was pretty challenging.

My inner monologue all day was just Keep going, keep going, keep going. I was trying to keep up with a bunch of very young people who were all very fit and accustomed to doing big miles. But I didn't want to be the only person who didn't make the early shuttle, so I had to hoof it.

Not having a full pack made the hike so much nicer, though. I was really happy to be slacking when I was hiking up — I should probably say climbing up — South Kinsman. The first peak you go over is Mt. Wolf, and then you go down a little bit, and then you go up South Kinsman, which is very steep. There are sections of it where you are literally rock climbing.

I imagine the views are absolutely spectacular when it’s clear, because when you're climbing up the rock face, there aren’t a lot of trees around to obstruct the view. But we were stuck in the clouds. The wet air also made the rocks slippery, so that definitely added to the challenge. I tried to take some pictures to show sort of the absurdity of the steepness, but I don't know if it really translates in photos.

Eventually, I made it to the peak of South Kinsmen, which was the high level of the hike, with plenty of time, and then I just started bombing down the mountain, trying to catch up with everyone. And in the end, our group managed to finish a little bit before 4 o’clock. So we all did the hike very fast, but Frodo and Tuna just naturally have an incredibly fast pace, so they were able to stop for lunch. I did not. They were also able to stop at Lonesome Lake Hut to check it out and see what it was like. I did not.

[Wife note: Sorry, guys, I couldn’t not include this gif. Rob/Patch will get it.]

 So I guess technically, I didn't really keep up with them. I just managed to finish at the same time, because I didn't stop and those guys did. But we succeeded in catching the first shuttle back, which had been the goal, and at that point, I was just exhausted.

When I’d gone grocery shopping yesterday, I knew I’d be at the Notch for a few days, so I picked up a 12-pack of Sierra Nevada IPA, so I could have some for the whole stay and also be able to share a couple with my fellow hikers. I’d handed three or four of them out last night, but I had six left, so I wrote my name on the box and left it in the refrigerator.

On the way back to the house, I was thinking, “Oh man, one of those Sierras is going to taste so good after working so hard on the trail today.” And as soon as we arrived, I went straight to the fridge, reached into the box of Sierra Nevadas — and it was empty!

The box was still there, but none of the beers were [Wife note: I feel like that makes it worse somehow.], so someone had clearly helped themselves to my beer, even though I’d labeled it, which is a major offense at a hostel. Everyone puts stuff in the refrigerator and the cabinets — it’s common practice — and as long as you put your name on it, it’s understood to belong to someone and not be up for grabs. And you really should respect that. So it became this big scandal in the house. Everyone was just aghast at the audacity of someone to go and drink my beers.

There's a guy who works here who’s named Patches, and he got that name because he was a medic in the army. And Patches felt really bad for me, so he gave me a beer from his personal stash, and I gave him money to buy me a six-pack on the next grocery run.

All in all, it was fine. But it was definitely a scandal. Whoever you are out there who stole my beer, I really hope you enjoyed it. And I also hope that you stubbed the crap out of your toe the next day. I actually think I know who it was, but I don't have any evidence, so I’ll refrain from making any accusations.
 
Overall, today was a good day, and I’m going to take a zero tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to that.