Day 70/June 10

Miles hiked:  13 mile in 9:37

Start: Franconia Notch, Liberty Spring Trailhead, NH

Finish: Galehead Hut, NH

Elevation gain: 4,573'

Before he headed back to Massachusetts, Peter Crisci gave me even more of his clothes, since the forecast was for colder temperatures and strong winds in the hills. I selected some mittens and overshells and a heavy pair of Gore-tex pants.

The climb up Liberty was a slog, with the full food complement, plus the extra clothing. On the way up, I met a couple of thru hikers that I've encountered recently. They are from Virginia and headed to Katahdin, too.

They told me that they decided to camp at the Liberty Spring Campsite, still in the trees, but vey close to the ridge line. During the night, one of the gusts of winds broke a tent pole. Fortunately, some fellow campers had a repair sleeve, which they used. But in the morning as I met them, they were climbing down and heading into Lincoln to get a new pole, and perhaps a repair sleeve as well. 

The sad thing for them is that they had reservations at the Lake of the Cloud Hut, which they would not make in time, so that cost them some money, since the AMC hardly ever gives refunds.

For me, the day started of with sunshine and reasonably warm temps in the 60s. But as soon as I got above treeline, all hell broke loose. First, came the strong winds, so I put my Gore-tex jacket on at once. Then came the rain, which immediately condensed on my glasses, making it hard to see things. And then I started seeing this:

Yeah, that looks like ice. But not a lot of it, so I wasn't too concerned. 

But the winds were increasing as I climbed, and eventually gusted up to 60 miles per hour. With one hand holding a pole to stop me from being blown over and the other hand shielding my glasses, the going was slow, but stopping wasn't an option. Keep moving or lose body heat quickly. Eventually, I pulled out of the wind behind a crag and put on the heavy Gore-tex pants, as my windbreaker pants were soaked and my legs were getting cold, despite the effort to move along as quickly as I could. Those Gore-tex pants prevented my getting hypothermic, for sure. 

Rime ice on the low vegetation along the ridge, pretty, but a sign of high winds combined with fog or rain, and cold temperatures. Supposedly the wind chill factor got down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit that day.

There was a couple, who as thru hikers, had opted to slack pack the Ridge that day; bad choice, as they got hypothermic and had to be rescued by a S&R team. Fortunately for them, another thru hiker came along with a tent, set it up, got them inside and even made some hot fluids for them in the meantime. 

I got below treeline and was fine, managing to get to Galehead Hut, where I got work for stay! Yes! That meant I would have to do 1.5 to 2 hours of work, but I would get to sleep on the dining hall floor, out of the wind and without having to set up a tent. Plus, I got to eat leftovers after dinner and breakfast. The croo was pretty interesting, including a guy who had run the 7 Sisters Trail Race in 2014 and recognized me as the RD.

And at the end of a long day, the sun finally came out. This shot taken from inside the hut--no way I was going out since I was still cold.

Route from my Suunto.