[at-l] White, magic report

[Art Cloutman]

I went up to Franconia Notch on tuesday to do some field editing for 
the companion.  Stopped by Glencliff.  Bag o Tricks was there but all 
of the hikers had headed north before I arrived (around 10:00 AM).  I 
am terrible with names so don't remember all of the hikers that I ran 
into as I did my rounds.  Picked up a NOBO just south of the post 
office heading into Calamity Janes for an early lunch.  Went to 
Kinsman Notch and found two older ladies - one close to retirement as 
a phys ed instructor the other had fallen coming down Kinsman North. 
It took her two days from where she fell to get to the notch.  I 
brought these SOBO's to Chet's where I did some up dating and a lot 
of talking (you know why they call me Gabby).  Headed back to Kinsman 
Notch to gather information from Lost River Gorge.  There I ran into 
two more SOBO's needing a ride into Lincoln/N.Woodstock.  Stopped at 
the Woodstock Inn for information and offered a ride up to Franconia 
Notch to three hikers.  They refused since they were SOBO's and 
needed to get back to Kinsman Notch.  Stopped at the Flume after 
checking out a couple of other places in N. Woodstock.  At the 
AT/Flume trailhead I met Wren another SOBO who was just getting back 
on the trail after being in town.  She thinks she must be one of the 
very last south bound thru hikers.  Very nice girl having a good time 
on the trail.

It has been raining something fierce today with extreme winds and 
temps in the lower 60's.  Not a very good day for hikers.  I hope 
everyone who set out yesterday was able to get down from the higher 
exposed areas today.  I've been up there too often during this kind 
of weather.  It can be exciting and dangerous.

Gabby


>I was at the Crawford Notch trailhead from Saturday to Monday, about 
>48 hours. Not many hikers passed by because of cool & wet 
>conditions. The high temp on Sunday was 50 F making it more 
>difficult to sit at the trailhead than to go for a hike! Many of the 
>hikers were holed-up at the huts & hostels so only half of the 
>expected hikers came by. The weather is already improved in the 
>Whites so the hikers should be on the move again.
>
>Phat Chap, Uncle Walt and Bag o'Tricks stopped by for a visit, 
>cheering me up considerably. I promised to swing by Glencliff to see 
>them at Hikers Welcome on Monday and was glad I did.
>
>The hikers, all northbound were:
>Jason
>Evan (aka Bourbon)
>Slider
>Michael J. Fox (aka MJ)
>Red
>Master Chief
>McGyver
>Ron from Camden
>Toothpick & Little Aspen (did 17+ miles from Garfield Shelter in wet 
>conditions!)
>Powder and his dog Russel
>Backwards
>T-C
>Stryder (the 2nd one this year)
>
>Over at Kinsman Notch I gave a ride to Waddles and Kpin, section hikers.
>
>At Glencliff, in addition to 3 I mentioned, were Mala and Lion King! 
>While chatting with them 2 hikers came in: Bulldog (Mike Hanson) & 
>Hitchcock. I went over the maps for Glencliff to Crawford and gave 
>them more details about how the huts operate. Bulldog says he does a 
>basic 8 miles each day, sometimes as much as 10. They were planning 
>to take Tuesday off and then head up Moosilauke today, Wednesday. I 
>can vouch for how blind Mike is compare with Zero-Zero from a couple 
>years ago. Mike is a bit older than Z-Z, uses a white cane around 
>the hostel. I believe he is still leading himself along the trail 
>when he can, and accepts help from others as needed. Hitchcock is 
>hiking with him everyday and is documenting the hike.
>
>Arthur Gaudet (RockDancer)
>Rockdancer97 at comcast.net
>"The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon."
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-- 

Life is Good!!!
Art Cloutman