We had gotten lucky and recieved some sweet trail magic from a local. He had put us up for the night at his house and allowed us the use of the kitchen and showers. Even better he lived halfway to the trail.  Leaving that morning was easy, we walked the mile or so back to the main road and started hitching back to the trail head. After the first hour we were still optimistic, after the third we weren’t. Taking some time off from hitching we walked back to the brewery and had lunch. It would be a miracle if we could get out that day.

Back to hitching, car after car passed us, no one would take us back.  Even with a sign we were getting nothing. That was until the manager of the restaurant saw us and helped us out, taking us to the state park.  We would catch another hitch then back to the trail. The first part of the day we spent climbing the tall mountains and getting above treeline.  Form there we spent a good amount of team taking in the alpine views with the hint of autumn in the air. The leaves were teasing us with a taste of color and crispness in the air.

As always we were back behind Flailing, he was definitely feeling better then he was. He was finding his rhythm again and it was nice to see.  The past few weeks had been a damper on his morale and feeling better was bringing it back. I wouldn’t pass him until he decided to take a break and take in the valley below us. The sheer open rock mountain allowed us an expansive view of Grafton Notch below. Getting back into our groove felt good, having everyone back to feeling well and wanting to climb and hike.

We pushed to the shelter that night, not too many miles, since we had just a few hours to hike. If it hadn’t of taken all day to get there, we would have gone further. It’s not often we actually sleep in a shelter and we didn’t that night either. Tenting has become my preferred method of sleep.  The feeling of being in a cocoon of warmth, the air and wind blocked from whipping against me.  My own little world, that and close around me, comforting and drowning out all the outside forces. What can I say, I enjoy sleeping in my tent instead of a three walled structure.