Into the Whites

Day 32

 

We tried to sleep in but to our surprise both woke up around 5am and laid in bed (so nice and comfy) until about 6:30AM.  Keeping the tradition alive, Eric made coffee in the room using the jetboil and last of the fuel in our large canister.  This made Hayley very happy because she didn’t want to waste any previous fuel but wasn’t willing to haul it up the Whites.  We’re still using all free fuel we got from Monson and two small canisters remain. We are so grateful for the give and take nature of thru-hiking. We are trying to give back as much as we take via hiker boxes and impromptu barters with other hikers.

We scheduled a shuttle back to trail for 11:30AM.  This gave us plenty of time to have a lazy morning, shower (again because we can yay), finish laundry, re-pack bags, and of course eat more food.  We each got an omelet, home fries, and Texas toast at back at the old Pizza Hut turned BBQ restaurant (Road Hawg).

Our shuttle driver was also able to get us a little earlier and we were back on trail by 11:30AM.  This was after another round of trail magic in the parking lot from a 2020 thru-hiker who actually hiked the entire AT with her dog (a larger scruffy terrier) who was given the trail name PR short for Public Relations.  We appreciated the fruit and oatmeal cream pies.  This coupled with the large breakfast was plenty of fuel to get complete our first day in the White Mountains.  It feels like we’re back home!

Trail started gradual and then went steadily up to Mount Moriah.  Over 3000 feet of elevation gained over the course of 6 miles.  Our efforts were rewarded with great views of the presidential range. The sun was hot but breezes cooled us down. We had a nice long break on one of ledges.

 

At Imp Shelter, where we will camp for the night, we enjoyed the last of our beers from town.  This also will reduce our pack weight by 2 pounds.  Anyway, they were well worth it! Warm PBR is surprisingly tastey in the woods. We ran into our SOBO friend from Colorado (trail name Just Jeremy) and strategized our next day in the Whites as there is some expected thunderstorms in the evening.