From Hazard’s notes:
Day 99: August 16, 2009
Travel:
From: Trapper John Shelter, NH
To: Ore Hill Shelter, NH
Beginning: 7:30am
Ending: 4:45pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 19.1
b) other – .3 each way to Hexacuba for a look at the wild shelter, .1 to Ore Hill.
c) AT Mile Marker – 1772.3 culumlative
Weather:
AM & PM: Sunny and hot yet again.
People: Crocstar, Joe Kickass, Rattlefoot, Carhop, Kermit.
Animals: Nothing special.
Money: $0, $1773 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: The guidebook simply says, “Privy uses old chair.” The book doesn’t lie and there was the remains of an old rocking chair nailed to the base of the privy. Sitting on the chair was quite relaxing, but it made wiping hard. It was another beautiful day and our first mountain was Smarts Mountain. We were climbing for what felt like a long time until we finally got to a rocky outcropping where Spoon stopped to hang is legs over the edge. We were both under the impression that this was the top of Smarts until we were scanning the skyline and realized that the mountain to our left had a fire tower on top and that there was supposed to be a fire tower on top of Smarts Mountain. That sinking feeling was felt by all of us that we weren’t even close to the top and that we were looking at it from far below. We trudged on, making our way to the top of the mountain climbing wooden ladders and steel steps drilled into the side of the rock. When I got to the tower I dropped my pack and joined Spoon who had already made it up the loud steep steps. Panoramic views surrounded us as we had a midday snack. The fire warden’s cabin below us was originally built by the NH forest service but was now maintained as a shelter by the DOC. At some point Spoon thought it would be a good idea to simply drop his snack bag full of crackers to the ground below instead of walking them down the stairs. Needless to say they were pulverized upon impact. Before we made our way back down I tried spotting Mt. Moosilauke without much luck because I realized I had no idea what the top of that mountain looked like. As the three of us were about to leave the tower, Joe Kickass and Rattlefoot were just arriving. The trail took us down the mountain to South Jacob’s Brook where I found Crocstar sitting up on the rocks taking a smoke break. I snapped a picture and then moved on.
PM: By the time I got to the side trail to Hexacuba Shelter, Crocstar was pulling out his lunch. Spoon had already walked up the .3 mile side trail to the shelter and I wanted to take a look at this unique shelter myself so I dropped my pack and made my way up. Hexacuba is the only hexagon shaped shelter on the trail which is also paired with a pentagon shaped privy. After I took some pictures, Spoon followed me back down to the trail where we had some lunch. Afterwords we filled up our water and headed up the short 1000′ climb to the summit of Mt. Cube which had us traverse over exposed, steep rock faces. The trail took us down to a road where we passed an older hiker that we recognized from passing a few days in a row. I had to know why we kept running into this guy the past few days and I learned that his name was Carhop and that he had been thru-hiking the trail by driving up the trail and hiking southbound to another car that he would then drive up to the next section of trail. He had not told his employer what he was doing and spent his mornings working remotely as if he was actually at home and then hike from 3pm until late into the night. He slept in hotel rooms every night and I can only imagine when he actually had time to sleep. It just goes to show you that anyone who wants to hike the trail bad enough can do it. Even if you have a job you can’t quit. We said goodbye and good luck and made our final approach to Ore Hill Shelter which was buggy enough for Spoon and I to pitch our tent just in case. One of the things Crocstar bought in Hanover was a bug bivy that allowed him to sleep in the shelter sans mosquitoes. None of us would be having a sleepless night again, especially the night before we were to enter the White Mountains. At the shelter we met an older hiker woman named Kermit, who had hiked in the White Mountains before and had her nephew hiking with her this week. We picked her brain about what to expect in the Whites while her nephew made a fire. Joe Kickass and Rattlefoot made it into the shelter that night as well. I would learn that Rattlefoot got his name from the time he accidentally stepped on a rattlesnake and somehow managed to not get bitten. Spoon and I retired to the tent early because we were going to start a new schedule of waking up at 5am to get ready for hiking through the Whites. The trail will be getting harder and we’ll need to end our day of hiking around 4:30pm to get a spot in the huts. I had a tough time relaxing in anticipation for climbing Mt. Moosilauke tomorrow.
