Franconia Ridge

If you remember my last article, Naomi and I were staying with Cindy and David, friends of mine, who live in New Hampshire. My wife Kim, had come to visit us there.

On Sept. 24th Kim took Naomi to the Post Office to get our bump box, (a parcel we had mailed to ourselves from New York State filled with sweaters and my boots and various other items that we knew we would need but did not want to carry). Our bump box had not arrived yet.

Cindy drove Curly Dan and I to Franconia where we waited for Kim and Naomi. When they arrived we said our good-byes. Kim drove home to New Brunswick and Curly Dan, Naomi and I started up the arduous climb. Although it was difficult, the views were spectacular. In my opinion the absolute best on the whole Appalachian Trail. Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Lafayette were beautiful. Both of these mountains are over five thousand feet high. The leaves were turning red and orange and the mountains were magnificent. We took too much time enjoying the views and we did not make Gale hut where we were planning on staying.

In the White Mountains you are not allowed to camp where ever you want. The Appalachian Mountain Club or AMC has exclusive rights. You are required to stay at one of the lodges which are very expensive. However, they allow Thru-hikers to work for stay. Thru-hikers really resent this and write all kinds of nasty comments in the log books at the lodges. After all, most of us have walked 1800 miles (2900 kms.) from Georgia without paying a cent to sleep in a shelter and camping where ever we wanted. Thru-hikers have several names for AMC like American Money Club and others that I will not repeat in this article, but use your imagination.

When we arrived at the summit of Mt. Garfield we found a burnt out basement. Flying Bear and Laughing Bird were there. We decided that we would illegally camp out in the basement. The wind was blowing a strong gale but the basement offered some shelter. I went to get water and Naomi made supper. We all bedded down at 8pm. The wind just howled and it was desperately cold. In fact, the wind was blowing so hard that my sleeping bag was slapping me in the face. Even though we had hiked over dangerous cliffs, walked inches away from poisonous snakes, had bears within a few feet of us at night, hiked through hurricanes and flash floods, this was the first time that I felt that our lives were in danger. At 9pm I told Naomi, “Let’s move before we freeze.” She agreed.

We hiked back down the mountain until we were below the tree-line. I found a spot where we could crawl under the thick, stubby spruce and put out our ground sheet. Although we spent a cold night, we survived.

The next morning we climbed back up the mountain to the basement. I was truly afraid that our friends would be froze to death. Curly Dan, Flying Bear and Laughing Bird were all still alive and did not seem any worse for the wear.

Franconia Notch

We left the Hiker Welcome Hostel on the morning of September 20th and hiked to the top of Mt. Moosilauke. Even though the mountain was more than 4800 feet high, we did not get much of a view because we were in the clouds. I called David and Cindy, friends of ours that were living in Bethlehem, New Hampshire and they asked us to stay at their place for a few days.

On the way down the mountain I met a woman who looked very familiar. She was another good friend of mine that had married an American and was also living in the area. Suzanne had learned of our whereabouts from Cindy and decided to find us. She had met Kim (my wife) in the parking lot at the bottom of the mountain and they hiked up the mountain to meet us.

We all hiked down the mountain together along side a beautiful waterfall that cascaded down the steep incline. We decided to take the rest of the day off.

We took Curly Dan back to the hostel and then went to David and Cindy’s for some R & R. When we arrived there, we soaked in their hot tub. Suzanne and her husband Bob, David, Cindy, Kim, Naomi and I all ate a delicious  gourmet meal of stuffed tomatoes, steak and potatoes. Lots of fun!

The next day after a hearty breakfast, Suzanne drove us back to the hostel and we hiked 9.8 miles in 3 hours and 3 minutes. Kim and Suzanne met us and again drove Dan back to the hostel before going to David and Cindy’s. We feasted on chicken and the best roast veggies I have ever eaten. Mmmm!

Cindy, David, Naomi, Kim & Lorne

The next morning we had to drive more than 30 minutes out of our way to pick up Dan. We hiked from Kinsman Notch to Franconia Notch. The trail was extremely difficult but the views were magnificent. In fact, I believe they were the best vistas of the whole Appalachian Trail. It was a great day.

There was a slight mix up in getting picked up but Suzanne arrived on her mountain bike and said she had seen my car at a different parking lot. We turned around and shortly afterwards my cell phone rang and it was Kim. She picked us up and took us to a grocery store so we could get some ice cream before we went to David and Cindy’s for supper.

It might seem strange to eat Ben and Jerry’s ice cream before supper but our appetites were massive, in fact insatiable. We knew we were eating them out of house and home, so we would try and subdue our appetites (to no avail) before we descended on our hosts like a hungry hoard of locusts.

The next morning, even though I was up at 6 am, we did not get to the trailhead until 10. It was pouring rain. We hiked for an hour up a steep mountainside before I heard Naomi blowing her distress whistle. When I hiked back down the mountain a ways, I found her crying. She said that she was sorry but she could not do it.

Now as you can imagine, you cannot hike 1,800 miles (2897 kms.) and spend four months in the wilderness without having some ill affects. My body had several areas that had infected rashes. I was so emaciated that you could see all the veins running up the side of my chest. But you also suffer some psychological ill affects. I know that Naomi could have continued to hike that day. We had hiked through worse. She was in better physical shape than I was, but she was a pitiful sight to behold, crying in the cold rain. I called Cindy and she picked us up and took us back to her place.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Before I write my article, I consult my journal. It never ceases to amaze me, that it is not what is written in my journal but what is left out. As you can imagine, when I got off the trail I told everyone who would listen about my adventures. All my friends and relations each have their favorite tale. This is one of my closest friend’s best loved and it is not even mentioned in my log.

My wife had come to visit us as we hiked part of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. On September 19th we left Three Mile Road after having breakfast and decided to hike to highway NH25A, a distance of 25 miles (40 kms.) This would have been a very ambitious trek at the best of times but not only was this the mean old White Mountains but we would be walking with Isabel. Isabel was a hurricane and she was nasty. Well any thru-hiker is use to hiking in the rain but Isabel was making it a little more interesting. I was in the lead with Curly Dan and Naomi some distance behind. I came to what I could tell was a cliff but we were in the storm, so I could not see the bottom. I joyously yelled at the top of my lungs as I stared into the abyss, “Yheeehaaa!” Then I stood on the root of a tree. Isabel’s wind was blowing so hard that it was lifting me up and down 3 feet (one meter). Curly Dan arrived and he too triumphantly yelled into the wind at the cliff’s edge. It was just so exhilarating!

When Naomi arrived she was not so enthused. In fact she was extremely angry with me. She said that she was disappointed in me that I would risk her life just to reach Mt. Katahdin, Maine before October 15th when it closed. She was in tears. I told her that our lives were not in danger and besides I was having fun. She was not convinced.

Anyway we did not have much of a choice. We continued hiking the rest of the day, Naomi begrudgingly and Curly Dan and I whopping it up while Isabel released her fury on us.

That night we met Kim (my wife) at Hiker’s Welcome Hostel in Glencliff. The hostel was nothing more than a barn but it was dry. There were several hikers there. We met Flying Bear, Laughing Bird, Shrek, (who actually kind of looked like him), Detour and Fat Chap. Kim found it hard to relate to thru-hikers because it was as if we spoke a different language. When we shared our trail magic stories we used words that only hikers understood like Sobos and Nobos and cameling up. A Sobo is a Southbound thru-hiker, a Nobo is a northbound thru-hiker and cameling up is when you come across a water supply you drink as much water as you can hold.

We went to sleep with the sound of Laughing Bird laughing herself to sleep.

Curly Dan, Lorne, Naomi and Tom

We had been staying at Tom’s house for the last few days. He bought muffins for breakfast and we ate them with cereal and yogurt. Tom took Buttercup to the trailhead at highway US 4 to hike north. This meant she was about a day’s hike behind us. When he returned, he took Curly Dan, Naomi and I to the trailhead where we finished our hike the day before. Tom left his truck there and hiked with us.

It was a beautiful day and we had great Vermont scenery to admire as we walked. Naomi and I were filled with excitement because Kim (my wife) was going to meet us today in Hanover, New Hampshire.

When we arrived in Hanover, I could smell gas. When the others remarked about this I said that it was probably my car. We went to the Ben and Jerry’s to meet Kim. She arrived two hours earlier and had gone for a walk. We waited for an hour and a half  and the Ben and Jerry’s door was locked because it was a half hour after closing time. Needless to say this was not a very good start to our reunion after four months apart. But, things were going to get worse!

When we walked back to get my car, I had been right when I jokingly had said that the gas we smelt had been coming from my car. A firefighter said that we were not allowed into the parking lot because of a car leaking gas, MY CAR! The fire chief and I got into an argument because he was having my car towed. The argument heated when he would not let me check out my own car. He kept yelling at me in his commanding voice to step away from the car. I told him that I would do what I wanted.

In the end I lost. The tow truck showed up and loaded my car and towed it to White River. Kim and I caught a ride with the tow truck and I persuaded him to leave it in a gravel parking lot across the street from the service station. The parking lot was next door to the Best Western.

Naomi made arrangements to stay with a friend of a friend in Hanover but Curly Dan and Tom had no place to stay. The plan had been for me to drive Tom back to his truck. So, in the end, Tom and Curly Dan spent the night in our room. Not a very romantic way to spend our first night together in four months.

My cell phone woke me up the next morning. It was Naomi saying she was going to hike from Hanover to Three Mile Road. When we got up, Tom, who had made arrangements to retrieve his truck, took me to the Wal-Mart. I bought some seal-all to repair my gas tank. I stole my car back and got out of town before the police or firemen could catch me. I drove out some old dirt road followed by Tom in his truck to make my repairs. I could not find the exact spot the tank was leaking because it was on the top of the tank. I decided to just drive the car. As long as the gas tank was not full it would not leak.

Tom left at noon. We found Three Mile Road and Kim cooked moose steak and corn on the cob. Curly Dan and I walked back into Hanover and bought groceries. Kim sneaked back into town and picked us up. We all set up camp on the Three Mile Road and feasted on Nachos and wine.

When we got up the morning of Sept. 14th, Tom made us waffles. Then he took Buttercup, Naomi and I to Vermont Highway 11. Tom knew Vermont like the back of his hand. He knew every logging road, footpath and snowmobile trail in the state. We planned to hike through the Appalachian Trail until we reached Vermont Highway 140, a distance of 26 miles (42 kms.). Tom said he would pick us up there but if we wanted to leave the trail earlier there was a snowmobile trail that would take us out. When we had hiked 21 miles it started to rain so we decided to call it a day and took the snowmobile trail. Tom picked us up and took us back to his home. When we arrived there were burgers and fries awaiting us.

The next morning Tom cooked us bacon and eggs before taking the three of us back to the trail. Buttercup, Naomi and I hiked to White Rocks, the place Tom had proposed to his wife. It was beautiful so we decided to have lunch there.

On the way down we met Felix who had given us some “Trail Magic” way back in southern Virginia. We also met two girls with whom we shared a shelter the first night in Vermont. One of them had fallen and cut her leg on the rocks. She put a child’s bandage with froggies on it. I offered to kiss it and make it better. She accepted my offer but I did not follow through. She was extremely beautiful and I would have been too tempted.

We hiked to Upper Cold River Road and called Tom on my cell phone. It took many tries because there was very little service there. When I finally got through, his wife told us that he had been there to pick us up but had left to pick up another hiker, “Curly Dan”. He arrived later with Curly Dan. We stopped at the grocery store and bought stuff to make a really good spaghetti supper.

The next morning we had breakfast of yogurt and cereal. Curly Dan, Naomi, and I hiked together and Buttercup hiked a different section of trail that she had missed. We hiked past the junction where the Long Trail splits off the Appalachian Trail. For some reason there seemed to be many more women hikers hiking the Long Trail.

We hiked “The Green Tunnel” which is the name hikers have given to Vermont because that is what it resembles while hiking though it. Tom picked us up after we had hiked 24 miles (38 kms.).

We were going to make New Hampshire tomorrow. We averaged 24.5 miles (39.5 kms.) per day since our stay with Tom. This was a great help. Written in the margin of my guidebook are my calculations. We have averaged 14.37 miles per day since we started and 15.5 per day since Hot Springs, North Carolina which is where we achieved hiker’s shape and came up to speed. We needed to average 15.8 miles per day to arrive at Mt. Katahdin, Maine by Oct. 15th when they closed the mountain. It was still do-able but we had the nasty White Mountains to contend with next. On a good note I was going to meet my wife the next day. The first time we had seen each other in four months.

We got up and out of camp early on Sept. 12, 2003. We hiked up to Stratton Mountain, Vermont. There was a fire tower there. The caretaker and his wife fed us tea and cookies. Later a Sobo (Southbound thru-hiker) named Drew came along. He had hiked with Mooky, the Canadian we met in Connecticut, for a while but an injury had taken him off the trail. We discussed philosophy and ghost stories while we relaxed.

After, the caretaker took us up the fire tower. I even managed to shame Naomi into climbing the fire tower. Up until now I could not get Naomi anywhere near a fire tower. The view was spectacular. We could see all the way to Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, a distance of 116 miles. (187 kms) The fire tower stole my lens cap for my camera and a lens filter for Drew’s camera. Drew managed to find his filter but I never found my lens cap. We said our goodbyes and hiked to Spruce Peak shelter.

The next morning we hiked to the road leading to Manchester Center, Vermont. We hitched a ride, along with Snooze, a Sobo, with a girl driving a pick up with Alaskan plates. Snooze and I climbed into the back. She drove us part way there. Snooze and Naomi hitched a ride to the Post Office. I hitched in afterwards.

We called Tom from the Post Office. Tom was a retired U.S. Army Coronal we had met by chance in Pennsylvania. He told us to give him a call when we reached Vermont and he would slack-pack us through the state. I could not believe such a generous offer but Tom gave me his phone number when I said that I would take him up on it. Now, Tom, good to his word, said he would pick us up in 45 minutes.

Naomi and I then went to EMI to buy her a new pair of boots. The salesman assured us that Vasque would replace Naomi’s old boots. We left the old boots with the receipt and purchased a new pair of light weight Solomon boots.

I bought groceries next door. Tom showed up and took us to Upper Cold Road. He told us to hike up Killington Mountain and call when we hit US 4 on the other side.

Tom took our heavy packs and we hiked to the top of Mt. Killington. There was a great view but Killington was in a cloud and the view played peek-a-boo with us. When we came to the road I called Tom. His wife said that he had left to pick up Buttercup and for us to go to the Long Trail Inn and he would pick us up there later.

I yogied a drive to the Long Trail Inn were we ate burgers and fries and Long Trail Ale while listening to music. Tom picked us up later. He had Buttercup with him and he took us all to his house.

Buttercup had been reading the logbooks in the shelters and had read that while I was hiking I had got my wife to buy a hearse from the local funeral home. Before we went to bed she asked, “Will you sell me your hearse?”