[at-l] hikers at Crawford Notch

[RockDancer]

The weather was fierce on Monday night as T-storm cells went over those
camping in Crawford Notch. The booms & flashes were nearly the most intense
I've ever had while in a tent, made a bit more intense with the echoing that
Mt. Webster & Mt. Willey provided. From 9 to 9:30, the worst of it,  I sat
on my pad fighting back the "I've gotta get out of here" flight response.
Then rain came down heavy forcing all the little duties that are required to
keep the water from the most important bed items. Next morning I went to the
hiker stealth site and of the 6 there was only 1 guy who wanted to go to
breakfast. The others got soaked in the night and, at 7 AM, were already
gone - carrying their wet gear up Mt. Webster and heading to Lakes of the
Clouds.

Seen between Sunday 4 PM and Tuesday noontime, all Northbound:
Daddy-O
Zigzag
Lorax
Coconut (woman who suffered stolen pack at NH Rt 25A)
Pacemaker Man
Nomad
Honeybadger
Milk Man
Jihad
Easy turtle
Hot Sauce
DudManBro & ManBearPig
Blur & SitCom

The lone southbound hiker is Movin', and he is indeed moving well. He left
Katahdin on July 3, so only 20 days to reach Crawford Notch. He may be the
single fastest SoBo hiker that I've met at Crawford Notch.

Dan is the floating caretaker at the shelters this year. He had a
confrontation with a bad bear at Guyot Shelter and the summer caretaker has
now carried in chains in order to hold down the bear box there. Earlier in
the season this bear acquired a taste for hiker food, due to hiker
negligence. The caretakers are going to keep an eye out for another week to
see if the bear will move on and convert to its regular diet. Ethan Pond has
also acquired some chains. The bear went a bit crazy moving the box around
but didn't break it open. When Dan tossed small stones and yelled the bear
continued to harass the shelter, from morning to 11 PM one day a week ago.

Caleb is this season's caretaker at Ethan Pond. Seth, the caretaker for the
last 10 years, quit suddenly last summer. The rumored cause is the love of a
female SoBo hiker. 

Toothpick & Little Aspen, 2010 hikers, dropped by to say hello. A real treat
to hear their stories.

I'll be returning on Friday for a few days. --RockDancer