Lyme-Dorchester Road (1,103 feet) mile 1770.4 to NH Route 25A (903 feet) mile 1784.5 for a 14.1 mile day.

For us to reach Mt Katahdin on September 20, 2021 we must hike 14.5 miles per day from here on out. With the White Mountain National Forest only a day away we new the days of 16-18 miles a day were almost over. Today, tropical storm Henri made landfall and was pushing its way towards the inland of New Hampshire. The path showed it basically following the AT North and then turning back east and going back out in the ocean. Here is what the weather channel showed.

We continued to monitor the weather on our Dark Sky App while we hiked. We decided to hike today because, honestly, it looked like it was being hyped up and there wasn’t going to be much. Well, we called that one! It was definitely not a sunny day to brag about, but, we only got drizzled on twice and I was barely wet at the end of the day. Well, from rain that is, sweat, a totally different story!

The totally climb for the day, 4,193 feet, first up Smarts Mountain and the up Mount Cube. Up one, then down it, and then up the other one! Haha

We got to the top of Smart Mountain and there was a tower there to greet us, it was a tall and lanky sort. I started up the tower and then realized my wrong, there is a tropical storm friend! You ain’t gonna see nothin, so I turned and went back down only after two flights of stairs.

It was a weirdly beautiful day on trail, yes, the views were covered in clouds, but no all the way. Several times the mountains top was the only thing with clouds. Sometimes we could see the rain moving across the mountains and down into the valleys.

We stopped for lunch and captured this photo just before it started raining… drizzling on us, for 5 minutes.

Climbing on…

We made our way to the top of Mount Cube. It was granite covered and the top but thankfully not too slick! Climbing these giant granite rocks proves to be a very difficult undertaking.

On the back track out to the Atlantic was when we were supposed to get the most rain from Henri, so we got a bunk at the Barn Door Hostel for the night. It was a nice space run by some good people. The original intent for the hostel was for rock climbers. You see m, the hostel is located in Rumney, New Hampshire and climbers come from all over to climb these rocks here in this town.

They brought us to Walmart to grab anything we wanted to eat for the night, so, I picked up some Ben and Jerry’s triple cookie dough ice cream, don’t ask what doughs, all I remember is chocolate chip and sugar. You know, Ben and Jerry’s, it’s from Vermont, we were just there! Support local! While in Walmart I ordered a pizza from across the street, gotta keep the calories up! So, dear reader, this is our secret, you can’t tell anyone!!! I at a large pizza and a pint of ice cream that night. But, you know what, I still probably didn’t eat the 5-6,000 calories I burned that day.!

Puppy love, out!

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