[at-l] Whites trail magic

[RockDancer]

A week ago I was at the Rt. 302 trailhead when a hiker from Louisiana came out of the woods. He's been suffering with giardia since Mt. Mooselauke and is hoping to get some meds when he reached Gorham. His laid back demeanor made it seem like giardia was just a little hiccup in his hike. He had walked over 50 miles being sick, and planned to walk another 50 miles before getting treatment.

So, we packed up the trail magic and headed to N. Conway on a busy Saturday afternoon. Calls were made to Louisiana, then a scrip was called in to CVS. Drove the 25 miles, in traffic, picked up Flagyl, then headed to the SubSig Cabin 5 miles south of the AT in Crawford Notch. The weekend hikers were just returning from their hikes and they were, once again, very hospitable to a hiker in need so far away from home. I thought 2 nights rest would help the meds do their job. (See http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=425590 for Jericho's version of the story).

Sunday 7/14 was spent doing trail magic at Rt. 302 again and with Jericho helping out. He gained some first-hand experience at trail magic and also got to see some southbounders relaxing and telling stories. A bonus for Jericho was the hiker Temp came in who had hiked with Jericho earlier in the year. Now, after 1300 miles they were back together. For me I was surprised to have Greenleaf from '99 stop by unexpectedly. I met his wife (sorry no name) who Greenleaf met while on his PCT hike. Both are triple crowners now. They were out for a dayhike that measured out to close to 45 miles, including Mts. Willey, Field, Tom, Clinton, Jackson and Webster. Greenleaf, earlier in July, completed his 2nd hut-to-hut traverse in just over 20 hours. He did, both times, the 52-mile "McPhail" traverse that has a total ascent of over 18,000 ft. Greenleaf was super sweet to credit me with getting him started - he saw the slide show from my '97 thru-hike.... that's all it took!

I'm having a hard time keeping my priorities straight this summer. I'm training for an Aug. 1 start on the AT, at Lee, MA. But the trail magic is more fun than doing training hikes or fixing gear or all the other things I need to wrap up before trail time. In another week Mom will be doing trail magic with me & others at Kinsman Notch. At 89 she's finding new things to have fun with. My niece's son is looking forward to the day as well, he'll get to meet real AT hikers, something he's excited about now that he's learned about it from the Boy Scouts. I wonder if anyone has told him about the smell we carry along the trail!


Arthur Gaudet (RockDancer)
Rockdancer97 at comcast.net
"The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon."