Ethan Pond Shelter (2,831 feet) mile 1,844.8 to Nauman tent site (3,803 feet) mile 1,854.1 for a 9.3 mile day.

Last night I took a risk, I slept with my rain fly off to get a nice breeze through the tent. Well, the risk sort of paid off! It rained during the night, according to Birdie, around 5:00 it started and rained briefly. Thankfully those trees kept the rain off of me, as far as I could tell! Haha

The day started with a 1600 foot descent which then turned up at the bottom to a higher ascent. It’s easy to get frustrated with these downs and right back ups because usually at the bottom there is something there and we ask, why is it necessary to go down to these places, well, it’s the mountains and they put these things down there because it accesses the rest of the world and there is really no way around it. It took a while for me to get over this fact! Haha This time it was two things, this one was a road to access North Conway, NH and for the Maine Central Railroad.

Now it’s time to work our way up a 3,799 foot climb, but, it’s stretched out over 8.7 miles. But first, it was time for some trail magic!! One of the hikers dad came over from Boston to do trail magic for his daughter and whoever passed through that day.

The first mile and a half though, to Webster Cliffs, was a straight up rock scramble! But, as usual, the climbs in New Hampshire are so rewarding! Webster Cliffs, on the climb up to Mount Webster, provides spectacular views across Crawford Notch, which we just climbed up from, to the Willey Range.

The final push up to the peak, as usual, I was greeted with a wonderful rock scramble, and, if I haven’t said so before, I really enjoy rock scrambling! Here is a small taste of what this one looked like.

Finally making it to the top at 4,052 feet of Mount Jackson, at the south of the Presidential Range, we had a beautiful clear long range view.

You know, they say Vermont is a muddy place, but, I have found New Hampshire to be a muddy place and it is a deep mud! At one point today a guy in front of us stepped in a muddy spot thinking it was just a little mud, then, when it went up to his mid thigh he realized it wasn’t just a muddy spot!

That is half of my 120 cm (47 inches) trekking pole.

Finally we made it to our campsite for the night. As we were setting up our tents our old friend on trail, The Mayor, showed up. We had been hoping to catch back up with him to finish out the trail and tonight was the night, he fought up with us!

Puppy Love, out!

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