Miles Today: 12.3
Mile Marker: 1,812.7
After more than a thousand miles of relative boredom The White Mountains in New Hampshire have delivered! I feel like I'm backpacking again. The views are incredible, but you have to WORK for them. Mileage will be seeing a significant decrease for the next sixtyish miles.
I woke up relatively early this morning, grabbed a breakfast sandwich, and went and hung out at the Post Office to charge my phone (only place with an exterior outlet I could find). I caught a hitch almost immediately. Two guys were going to do the mountain I did yesterday, but from a different trail. They drove a few miles out of their way to get me back to where I needed to be.
Early in the day I met Janice and chatted with her for a while. She is getting into backpacking and had tons of questions. I eventually hiked on and took a break at a rock outcropping. She caught back up and she told me her life story while we enjoyed the sun and the view. She is semi-retired and just bought a camper to take all over the US. We bonded over our love of hiking, but our hatred of camping. Believe me if I were able to afford to hike all day and stay in a hotel every night, I absolutely would. Camping is the means to the end for me. I'd much rather be clean and in a bed at the end of the day. It was a very welcome break from hiking by myself.
The rest of the day was miraculous. The weather was perfect and the views were magnificent. I've said it before, but I just couldn't get a picture good enough to convey what it looked and felt like at the top today. I think I'm really going to enjoy the next few sunny days despite the daunting terrain.