Our New Hampshire Vacation - Day 2 - Saturday Sept 16 2006

Installment #2

Ash Trees, Kids in FlipFlops and the We Hate George W Bush Society

Saturday morning we learned a lesson in dehydrated food storage. Dehydrated food has a shelf life contrary to the one on the pack. We decided rather that our usual oatmeal breakfast we would try the last Blueberry cobbler pack we had. I started up the stove and put the water and fruit mix on to boil which was supposed to turn into a fruit syrup on which the biscuit mix bakes and hardens. So what you are supposed to get is a large, cookie like, biscuit with blueberry syrup running through it in veins. We have had it before, and it is quite good, BUT not this time. This time we got thin blueberry soup, no biscuit.

As we were going to be hiking 3 to 6 miles today (using miles as it was marked that way - why do American’s resist the metric system?) we went for a quick brunch at Willey house in the centre of the notch. Willey house is a snack bar and gift shop that sits on the site of a famous landslide. Looking at the cliff faces on either side of the notch, the idea of being in the valley during a landslide is terrifying. There are large bare patches on the rock and I was left wondering just how much rock fell in the slide. We stopped at the AMC centre and talked to an older gent who told us if we wanted a good view of the notch to climb Mount Williard at the entrance to the notch, but as we had limited time, we decide to hike into Mizpah Spring Hut starting around noon. Michelle wanted to do the Webster Cliff trail that goes along the side of the notch, but seeing as there is a lot of scrambling (hands and knees) involved we decided to take the Crawford path which is much shorter 3 to 4 miles rather than the 6 miles along the cliff.

We bought a weekly parking pass, parked at the trail head to the Crawford path, loaded our packs lighter than usual and headed off down the trail just into the trail we came across an elegant little waterfall that made a very interesting bubbling noise and left the air, cool and moist. The trail then followed the creek that fed the falls for about 1.5 miles through a rather open deciduous bush which had lots of Mountain Ashes growing that were dropping copious amounts of bright red berries. Having never seen Mountain Ash trees I had to ask one of the other passing hikers what they were. Along this section of trail there were many hikers. We were passed by the young employees of the AMC that service the huts. All the supplies are hiked in on the backs of these kids. Yes, they look like kids, no more than 15 or 16 yrs old. Being the end of the season they are in incredible shape not an once of fat on any of them. The first two that passed us were carrying supplies on a simple ladder pack that consisted of a ladder frame held together with canvas and tied to it by twine was stacks of boxes of food. This was no backpack, just a simple frame which the hiker holds by reaching downward and grasping the bottom of the ladder. The pack is not tied to the hikers back it is just held like you might hold a person piggy back. Along the trail we had to stop a couple times to take a breather but these kids just plowed on by, at top speed, some wearing nothing more than shorts, T Shirts and flipflops no hiking boots or quick dry clothes. If Michelle and I have kids, this is a summer job I hope they think about. I would have loved to have done this, for a summer.(had I not been such a lazy little bugger as a kid)

Having left a bit late (1PM) we reached the hut just about dinner time. The tenting area was entirely taken up but they had opened a couple over flow sites one being in a spruce grove behind the hut and another on a grassy meadow in front of the hut. We were put in the spruce grove but as it turns out this was the better site because the meadow site is over the waste reclamation system that dries human waste and turns it into soil. Interesting system which uses manual labour the AMC kids again, to aerate the waste. Only one problem is it STINKS.

The hut was full of children of various ages some from a school group and some from a scout group. Luckily the spruce grove sheltered us from the noise as the cubs and school kids were LOUD. They did however, quiet down about 9:30 PM. Several other tenters came out of the bush to set up their stoves on the rocks by the hut. One couple had a back pack stove much like ours (MSR product) they were cooking dehydrated stuff again much like ours, we agreed that the Alpine Aire Pineapple chicken was a good choice. We realised that George W Bush seems to be the common enemy of tree huggers in the US. I made the mistake of saying something positive about him and got an earful, from one of the hikers. In reality I am no great fan of him but I thought it impolite to say negative things about a countries president while a guest in the country.

The smell of the dinner at the hut made our simple meal seem inadequate but after the hike it was appreciated. Michelle and I have decided that one day wee are going to go back and hike the trail using the huts (a chain of them run along the range) as meals and lodging are proved and thus you have to carry less as you hike. Bunk beds with mattresses are provided and the water is drinkable at the huts so you don’t have to pack as much water. Water is one of the heaviest things you carry hiking.

We ate and talked about what we were going to do the next day as it was getting to late to hike without headlamps (ours seem to be missing). We decided that rather than moving our tent to a new site we would use this site as our base camp and hike away from the notch into the presidential range, as far as we could and return in a day. After making plans, we called it a night and headed off to bed in the spruce grove. I hung the bear bin with our food in it in the tree not far from the tent. As my sleeping bag was wet from our leaking camel back hydration pack, I slept in just the fleece liner. Thank God it was warm when I went to sleep but it got very cold during the night. I got up once during the night, to move the bear bin farther from the tent, because there were odd noises in the bush. However it was not bears but die hard through hikers doing the Appalachian trail AT NIGHT. I could say I was impressed but I kept thinking just what would you see doing that. Oh well whatever turns your crank. Thus ended our first day.