valley way campsite to gorham, nh

the privy was really comfortable. the roof was clear plastic so i could see the light from the moon, and when the sun came up we woke up naturally. it rained a bit last night and we were both happy to not have to pack a wet tent.

we packed up, skipping breakfast and hiked the .5 mile up to the hut and had breakfast with maestro and the two SOBO thru-hikers that were doing work-for-stay.

we hung out for a while and i journalled since i didn’t have a chance last night. maestro wanted to get up madison before 09:00 so he could say he did all the presidentials in 24 hours.

we set off up a very steep climb, but thankfully it was only .5 mile to the top. from there it was descending the rest of the day. it took a while to get below tree line. the trail was extremely steep but levelled off gradually as we approached the bottom of the valley.

we arrived at pinkham notch visitor’s center around lunch time. sadly the deli was closed because the cook was out sick, but we each got a ben and jerry’s, and then had our lunches.

kick decided to push on ahead. he is meeting up with some friends in a few days and they’re going to slow him down for a day, so it’s his best chance of reconnecting with us.

maestro and i decided to share a hotel room in gorham. we left and hitched a ride to town and spent the rest of the afternoon watching tv amd drinking beer.

one additional image from today: