[at-l] Trip Report

[Art Cloutman]

I had been planning most of the Summer for a 5 
year reunion of my 2004 AT Thru hike with the 
group of people hiked with me most.  Because we 
often came into camp laughing and positive even 
after a long tough day, another hiker nicknamed 
us "The Happy Brigade".  She meant it in a 
derogatory way but we adopted the name and I have 
it on my address book so that I can easily write 
to the entire group.

I had hopped to do a three day backpack from 
Glencliff to Franconia Notch.  Part of the reason 
for hiking this section was that I had persuaded 
the group to slack from Kinsman Notch to 
Franconia Notch in 2004 and it turned into near 
disaster.  We started late and ran into rain and 
heavy fog.  Footing became treacherous, the fog 
shined the light back into our eyes when we ended 
up night hiking.  We managed to borrow two cars 
so half the group hiked northbound and half 
southbound.  Te faster part of the group finished 
around 10:30 PM then worried for the next 4 hours 
about the last two hikers to come in around 2 in 
the morning.  Anyway, I wanted to make up for 
that mistake  and offer an opportunity to hike 
the Kinsmans on a nice day.  Two issues conspired 
to make that not possible.  The first issue was 
that 3 members of the group could not make it 
before Friday evening giving us only two days for 
a three day hike.  And the other issue was the 
prediction for a full day of rain on Sunday - the 
last day of the hike.  So we changed our plans 
and decided to hike up Mt Mooselauke on Saturday 
to camp and Beaver Brook Shelter then have a 
short hike Sunday morning to the parking lot in 
Kinsman Notch.

We arrived at the parking area in Glencliff about 
9 AM Saturday.  Not a cloud in the sky, 
temperature around 65 degrees.  Perfect weather 
for a hike above treeline.  We met a smiling Gigi 
with her dog Bug Catcher heading south from 
Katahdin on her journey to Springer Mountain. 
She started on August 15th and had not deadline 
for completing her hike.  She was very upbeat, 
enjoying her hike, having a wonderful time on the 
trail.  She just finished the Whites and was 
heading to Welcome Hiker Hostel to pick up some 
supplies - post office across the street.  And 
then head on to get more mile in on this 
wonderful hiking day.

We took our time heading up the hill, stopping 
often to talk about our experiences from 5 years 
ago and to get up to date on each other.  "Poky" 
aka Eric Feeley has been doing graduate work on 
environmental studies in Montana.  "Burnie" aka 
Megan Conners is continuing her career as an 
occupational therapist in Cleveland.  "Flava 
Flave"  aka Katie McPhee is also working on her 
master's degree in environmental studies but at 
the University of Maine.  "Rainbow" aka Annie 
Kiermaier  has started her own business in social 
work with young children.   I go by the trail 
name of "Gabby"  and most of you know that I am a 
retired high school mathematics teacher.  We had 
much to talk about.  And three out of the five 
had not done much hiking  so were out of shape. 
–There were other members of the group from time 
to time but this group of 5 hiked as the "Happy 
Brigade" for at least a thousand miles.  We have 
become lifelong friends and think of one another 
frequently.

We had incredible views from the crowded summit. 
The nice weather convinced a lot of people to get 
out there and hike.  We could see from the Green 
Mountains of Vermont to the Presidential Range. 
Mount Washington was easy to pick out to the 
east.  The entire Franconia Ridge glowed in the 
foreground.  It was easy to pick out Mt Mansfield 
to the west and I believe I was able to identify 
Jay Peak.  We persuaded someone to take our 
picture.  After a relaxing lunch we headed two 
miles down the trail to Beaver Brook Shelter. 
There was a couple in the shelter with a tent. 
They were taking up more than half the space 
leaving room for only two more people.  I 
politely advised them that the tent did not 
belong in the shelter.  He explained that his 
girlfriend was not experienced in backpacking and 
was concerted about the critters.  She was 
concerned about bugs and mice.  They took the 
tent out of the shelter and set it up on a tent 
pad.  While they were moving the tent two SOBO's 
arrived from Eliza Brook Shelter.  Desperado and 
Mozey left Katahdin on August 4th.  They are 
taking their time heading to Georgia but have a 
time limit because they are from the UK and have 
a 6 month visa to remain in the US.  We had a lot 
of fun talking with them.  They were a cute 
couple.  Giving each other hugs a peck on the 
cheek.  They seem well organized.  They had 
reasonable sized packs and they knew they need to 
pick up the pace to finish in their restricted 
time period.  I wonder if it is possible to get 
extensions on visas?  We had a little fire 
Saturday night.  We told stories and recalled 
incidents from 2004.  The Sobos had some nice 
stories to tell of their experiences so far.

It was a cold night.  The temp at 4:00 PM was 
only 45 degrees.  But a warm from was suppose to 
arrive during the night.  It did arrive around 
three in the morning with strong winds and heavy 
rains.  We woke in the morning to a steady rain 
and temps about 50 degrees.  We slept in not 
leaving camp until 9 AM.  It was a difficult walk 
down the wet rocks to Kinsman Notch.  All of the 
wooden steps that are bolted to the rocks have 
been replaced with pressure treaded lumber.  That 
was very comforting.  It still took us a good 
three hours to walk down in the rain.  We headed 
into Lincoln for brunch at Peg's and then back to 
my place on Crystal Lake.  Everyone commented 
that because of the weather this shorter version 
of our planned hike was perfect.  We enjoyed some 
wonderful weather with 360 degree views and we 
were reminded of how tough it could be when the 
weather turned bad.

I hope we don't have to wait another 5 years to enjoy one anothers company.
-- 

Life is Good!!!
Art Cloutman