Summary
Aug 17th
NOBO mile# 1836.6
Daily mileage 9.7
Total mileage 812.0
I used my puffy jacket as a hood on my top quilt last night; I was plenty warm enough until early morning. When one’s bladder is full, one’s body uses energy to keep it warm, cooling one off. After peeing, it’s easy to get warm again!
Avalanche and I began getting breakfast ready and packing up before the rest of the folks in the shelter, but as I started stuffing my top quilt, the shelter came alive with the sound of air mattresses deflating, and morning conversations. I managed to get on the trail before Avalanche, but my goal was to get to Ethan Pond Shelter, and he had made reservations at Zealand Falls Hut, so he had a shorter day planned.
Today was mostly an unknown quantity for me; I knew that the climb up South Twin was the major ascent of the day, and that the Galehead Hut would come up before that. I had hopes that there would be leftover breakfast available for thru-hikers.
The steep and technical ascents and descents continued to be a theme, so even though the hut was “only” 2.7 miles from the camp, it took a good portion of the morning to get there. When I got there, there were two hikers eating oatmeal. But they said they had arranged a work-for-meal situation, so I just filled up my water bottles and ate a protein bar. Then three other hikers came in and just helped themselves to the oatmeal. I still felt like it wasn’t fair to the original two who were going to work, so I didn’t join in; I packed up to move on.
There is a certain amount of entitlement some thru-hikers exhibit: expectations of trail magic, flaunting of rules like LNT (Leave No Trace), acting out in trail towns, etc. This sours communities and Trail Angels on thru-hikers; then venues close, and Trail Angels stop providing magic.
The climb up South Twin was as difficult as was advertised; also, I was feeling the effects of the previous day’s hike. My legs started off feeling tired, and never really recovered. There was a continual sense of having to push through. And any ascent tended to slow to sub-mile an hour.
The hike was really beautiful; I wished again and again that my phone had more memory. I had inadvertently packed my video camera away because I had taken all my battery items and packed them in a dry sack to sleep with them to protect them from the cold last night, and then packed the dry bag away in my pack, so no camera today.
It started out overcast, windy and chilly; which discouraged me from taking breaks, especially up high.
Once I came down from South Twin, the path became much more moderate, with large sections of relatively flat trail, but still throwing in occasional technical scramble or rock field. At one point, a hiker in front of me came back asking if I had seen a couple going in the opposite direction. He had found a phone, and was wondering what to do. Should he carry it to the next shelter, or leave it beside the trail? I told him I was always conflicted about such things. We agreed leaving it by the side of the trail was iffy; it wasn’t protected from weather or damage, and there was no sure way to make sure anyone looking for would see it. So he carried it up the trail. Shortly after, the girl came running back down the trail asking if I’d seen a phone. I told her the guy up ahead had it. She was near tears, but she caught up and retrieved the phone. I wasn’t sure we had made the right decision, but in the end it seemed to work out.
I ended up catching up to to Old School, a NOBO hiker I had been seeing off and on for a while, including at the previous night’s camp. We ended up hiking about the same pace, so I had company again for a while, until he stopped to rest.
I have been aware for a while of the hike often called the “Pemi Loop”, which covers most of the trail I’ve done over the past 2 days. My expectation of this area was that it was of a smaller scale. But the combination of my slower pace with the larger distance dashed my hope of getting to Ethan Pond, so I started to set my sights on Zealand Hut and asking for a work-for-stay.
Today’s hike brought me over South Twin (4902), and Guyot (4580). I was within striking distance of Galehead, North Twin, Bond, and Zealand, but declined the invitation the spur trails gave me.
I got to Zealand Falls hut around 3 o’clock. They don’t accept work-for-stay requests until 4, so I just hung out in front of the hut for a while. There I met Cat and Sam, SOBOers also looking for work-for-stay. We agreed to wait and ask at the same time.
At 4, the three of us scored the work-for-stay, which meant waiting for our meal until the paying guests finished their dinner, and the hut croo to finished cleaning up. So we needed to wait around 4 hours until after 8pm. We had some time to visit, and do some people watching.
There were three entwined groups of garter snakes laying in the brush warming themselves in the sun. The guests at the hut were fascinated. Zealand is a very popular hut, since it is only a couple of miles from the Zealand Road. There are people who stay for multiple nights, and there are families.
Avalanche ended up showing up to claim his guest reservation, and he enjoyed ribbing the work-for-stay folks.
While we waited, there were other hikers coming in hoping for work-for-stay, as well. I felt somewhat guilty taking one of the three available slots, but not guilty enough to give up my spot. As the guests ate and it began to get dark, there were two other very stubborn hikers who hung around hoping the hut master would change his mind. He didn’t.
Finally, we were called in to eat, and got leftover stuffed shells, corn chowder, pasta and marinara, and chocolate cake, with fresh baked bread. It wasn’t hot anymore, but it was delicious.
Then we were invited to find a space on the dining room floor, as long as it didn’t impinge on the traffic patterns to the water and bathrooms. We decided to set up under the tables, so as to stay out of the way. We were told we would need to be packed up by 6am.
The hut master’s name was Crispy, and he had just finished his own thru-hike in June, so he was very empathetic to us.
Crispy ended up just having us clean our own dishes, since it was the first day of his shift, and he was too tired to come up with chores for us. He warned us that we should not expect the same thing from other huts/hut masters.
So we scored great food, and a free piece of floor. Breakfast will undoubtedly be paid for by sweeping or some such…
Tom Maynard 
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