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Now this was
one hell of a hike! 17.2 miles through hell and heaven!
Originally estimated at 16.5 turned out we needed to hike another .8
to get to the parking lot at the end of the day.
The day started out all grey, and soon it began to drizzle. It was actually
really cool to be hiking in a steady drizzle - you could hear and feel
the plants around drinking up the water and loving it! Very cool. It
was also very cooling so I wasn't sweating as much, although the hillstompers
downwind of me will probably argue with that. :-)
Just as we were approaching the midpoint of the hike, Eliza Brook, the
sun suddenly came out and it warmed and dried us as we ate and filtered
more water. It had been a fairly nice level hike to this point - about
7 miles of wood lands and up/downs with plenty of little streams for
Droola.
After a nice break, we set off prepared to hit South Kinsman face first.
Nothing prepared us for the how hard we actually hit it. It was STEEP,
with big boulders and tiny foot holds. As we started the ascent, we
started hearing an angry rumbling overhead as the sun suddenly disappeared.
This was a pretty technical and exhausting climb, lots of thinking about
where to put your foot next as you precariously try to balance with
one foot next to your face and the other trying desperately to brace
off of a 1/2 inch crack in the boulder 2 feet away. (Not much of an
exaggeration!). Then throw in a steep grade, and a very angry storm
system. We had: Thunder, Lightning, HAIL, and a drenching large drop
downpour. Not only that, but as we got nearer the top, we became more
and more exposed (i.e., less trees to protect us from the lightning!).
I felt like I was in some sort of survival movie! The drama of the South
Kinsman Experience was awesome. Droola was miserable, and at one point
gave us all a huge scare as he careened 5 feet down a cliff. Thankfully
it was a soft landing, and he was fine - but I felt like I was going
to have heart attack. The whole approx. 2 hour climb was an experience
of drama. Thankfully we had our ponchos or we would have been miserable
in addition to being terrified! :-)
Some things that were awesome about the South Kinsman Experience were:
hiking in drenching rain and hail, seeing a stream appear in seconds
on the boulder you're climbing, hearing thunder coming from the cloud
that you are in(!), waiting for that one lightning bolt that fries you
to the boulder you're standing on, knowing that it could have been much
worse, and of course the moment we break out to the top and the storm
suddenly stops!
This was the most amazing thing, just as we were coming out to the peak
the storm moved off as quickly as it moved in. In fact you could see
it moving by, and off in the distance a strip of blue sky and streaming
sun shine moving toward you.
We changed into warmer clothes at the South Kinsman peak, took some
pics, and then moved on to North Kinsman. Within 10 minutes the SUN
had arrived and we were taking all the warm clothes and ponchos off.
We got to North Kinsman to enjoy great views of the Franconia Ridge
and Cannon Mt. There we changed socks, chomped some powerbars, and some
more of Susan's Awesome Fried Provolone (Thank you Susan!!!). As we
sat there enjoying the sunshine and the views - we suddenly hear that
familiar angry rumbling behind us. We turn and see a huge dark cloud
approaching FAST - I mean like 80 mph fast! We rushed to get all our
gear together and off the mountain. Our trail led us out of the path
of the storm, so we didn't get drenched again - at least not then.
The way down was pretty cool. We took the Cascade Brook trail, which
seemed like it would be less steep that than the Fishin Jimmy trail
which the AT follows. However it was basically a very mossy brook, so
it was a technical hike down as well, with lots of careful placing of
the feet and poles! I could not have made it without my carbide tipped
poles! They saved my cranium from rocks many times! :-) Along the way
we passed a shelter that had a caretaker. It looked very clean, had
some tent clearings, toilette, and even a very nice pond with very pretty
lilies. This would be a very cool place to do an overnighter, but probably
crowded.
Anyhow we got rained on again 'bout 4 miles from the end, but only briefly.
We had so much left over adrenaline and endorphins and we ran/jogged/trotted
the last 2-3 miles. I was amazed that I had that much energy left. It
was a very strange experience - you're in pain from muscles ripping
and joints aching, and you're really dead tired from such a long hike,
but there is this rock solid foundation of energy which just keeps flowing!
Splitz was running along side of me, and kept shouting that she shouldn't
feel so energized! That it was wrong to feel this way! Someone who shall
remain nameless was running way up ahead (hint hint) screeching like
a moose in heat! What could we do but follow!
:-)
In anycase, post-hike depression hit hard as we got into the trail-hog
and went home - but we were tired, and it soon passed as the joints
and muscles starting throbbing and stiffening into pure sources of concentrated
pain.
Can't wait to do it again!!! We should look into the classic NH endurance
hike - All the presidentials in 1 day! Yes my pain-loving friends it
can be done!
~TT
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