green house restaurant to kinsman notch

we woke up at 04:30 to two crows screaming at each other. it literally sounded like one scared the other (aaah!) who scared the other (aaah!) and back and forth. i rolled over and dozed until 06:00.

we all breakfasted at one of the picnic tables in the restaurant’s beer garden. we chatted about the plan for the day and it was decided that beginning tomorrow with a steep descent wasn’t going to be fun. the shelter we had planned on staying at was halfway down mt. moosilauke.

after some time waiting for our tents to dry, we headed out. before we reached the trail we had crossed into the white mountain national forest enumerated by guthooks.

rocket’s knee was bothering him, so bugs, lyric, and rocket decided to moderate their pace. kick, maestro, and i hiked some pretty flat miles before hitting a road. kick had some intel that there was a hostel about .2 mile that he could get a snack. we walked to the hostel, but having enough snacks, i didn’t get anything.

we headed out pretty quickly and once back on the trail it wasn’t long before we started up mt. moosilauke. the climb was extremely steep and sustsined. i passed bugs and rocket filling up water bottles, and shortly afterward passed lyric. it was a few hours of sustained climbing before we reached the top. toward the top i was so tired and it was so steep that i was only hiking about 100’ before i had to stop and breathe for a few seconds.

right at the top suddenly kick was coming back down toward me without a pack. we had reached the 1800 mile mark and he had missed it. there wasn’t a marker, so he and i scraped one together while the others arrived one by one.

we got to the top of the main climb which was right near the south summit, but still had a bit over a mile to get to the main summit. the mile was mostly flat and we made excellent time. as we got above tree line, even though the last bit was another climb, our excitement powered us to the top.

at the top we sat behind a low wall to stay out of the wind. i changed out of my hiking shirt so i could lay it out to dry. it was literally dripping with sweat. we ate our lunches and took a well needed break.

eventually even with additional layers our hiking heat dissipated and we started to get cold. we packed up and after summit photos we headed out.

the afternoon was a multi-mile descent that was even steeper than the ascent. we all stayed together and took the descent slowly. it was steep enough that one wrong step meant potentially facing severe injury.

we passed the shelter that was the original stopping point for the day and continued down. the trail was parallel to a small stream that had a number of cascades. eventually we got to “the waterfall” which was a cascade that it was easy to get below to take photos.

from there it was a short .6 mile to a stealth site near a brook. when we got there however it had been covered by sticks in an attempt to prevent camping. we went a little further to a parking lot where we discovered a sign that forbid camping within .25 mile for forest preservation.

there were no shelters or tent sites for at least 3 miles uphill and we were tired. the parking lot had a privy, a trash can, and a picnic table. we decided to dry out our tents on the lawn and hung out at the table. we ate dinner and the others played cards while i journalled.

the plan is to camp on the grass beside the parking lot when it gets later. if someone comes to shoo us we can at least point out that we’re not degrading the forest.

some additional images from today: