Day 76: The Outlook is Good

Summary
July 26th

NOBO mile# 1718.1

Tolmann’s daily mileage 13.3

Tolmann’s total mileage 694.8

Finished my time at Mountain Meadows Lodge this morning with a breakfast of hard boiled eggs, a bagel, fruit salad, and some cereal. Then packed up and hit the trail by 9am. 

The morning’s hike was through a landscape of glacial erratics; tremendous boulders in dark woods. I also passed by Thundering Brook Falls; a cascade tumbling down a 30+ft granite ledge. There was a tour group that arrived there a few minutes after me, so I didn’t stay for long. 

My goal for the day was to at least get to a privately owned cabin, called The Lookout. The owners built a platform over the roof with a ladder to get folks up above the trees, which is why they called it The Lookout. This was 13+ miles from Mountain Meadows. If I could, though, I hoped to get to the next shelter, which was an additional 3-ish miles beyond. 

By 11:30 I had reached Story Brook Shelter, which had been reported as having aggressive bears recently. As I was eating lunch, the NOBO hiker who had stayed at MML came in and ate, as well. He was going to try to get into Woodstock for the night, a goal far beyond my abilities. 

It was only 8 miles to The Lookout from Stony Brook, and just under 3 miles beyond to the next shelter, Winturri. That didn’t seem too far fetched. 

There were some serious ups and downs though; there was even one place where someone had thoughtfully left a ladder to get down an 8 foot rock wall. 

Although I felt pretty strong, it wore me down quickly.  
I managed to keep my momentum up by repeatedly telling myself that the uphills were training for the Whites. 

I started to question my stretch goal mid afternoon. There was a part of me that believed once I got to The Lookout, I’d consider the remaining miles as an easy add on, so tried to keep my mind open. 

The Lookout was on .1 mile side trail, up a considerable incline. Still, although I was tired, I made pretty quick work of it. 

The cabin was pretty incredible. The ladder led up the outside to a small but serviceable platform. After I dropped my pack inside, I went to check out the view. 

 Photo from Google images 
As I think I’ve mentioned before, I have a considerable fear of heights. So I wasn’t sure I’d be able to climb to the platform, but, with only a slight hesitation, up I went. 

The view had not been oversold. After shooting some pictures, I sat back and tried to identify the mountains I was seeing. I’m pretty sure I could see all the way into the Whites, including Moosilauke, Franconia Ridge, and even the Presidentials. It was awesome. 

Then I went down to decide if I was going to stay or go on. 

It really wasn’t even a close decision. I was beat. And 13 miles with full pack is the best I’ve done since coming back on the trail. 

So I scoped out a place on the floor, knowing rain was moving in overnight. This was somewhat of a questionable move, given I no longer have my sleeping pad. But I thought it was worth a go. 

Over the course of the next hours, the place filled up with 12 other hikers, and near dark a couple and their 26 month old daughter pitched a tent outside. I had a great conversation with NOBOer Switchback, and a SOBOer that I can’t for the life of me remember his name. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be wet. Clouds have already started moving in. I wish it was clear; the night sky must be incredible here!!