Mt Moosilauke, N.H. 25 to N.H. 112, Kinsman Notch

Finally a bright sunny and rainless morning, after all the nasty weather of the last few days. This was our day to do Mousilauke, the southern most peak of the Whites, and the first peak above tree line since Tennessee- a bit exciting. It's also known for a very steep and tricky north side, so we decided to go up that way rather than down.

Another hook up with Phat Chap, the plan was to drive around to the hostel in the morning, then we'd take him back to the north side and he'd drive our car back to the finishing point, all for which he refuses to accept payment.

The AT in New Hampshire can be frustrating to follow, it's often not marked as the AT and doesn't have the usual white blazes. We'd already experienced this a cupla years before doing the presidential traverse, it was difficult to follow the AT at times and some folks got lost.

We hadn't gone but 50 yards when we hit this problem again, the trail was not marked as the AT and we have to backtrack to the map on a Forest Service kiosk to see which way to go.

The trail almost immediately starts going up, following a stream as it cascades down the mountain, and some times the trail and the stream are the same. It's rocky and steep, with the occasional root system to make things even more tricky, plus wet and slippery. The stream is raging down the side of the mountain, swelled from the snow melt.

It's a bright sunny day so we didn't bring any rain gear, not a problem at the lower elevations, as we get higher there's more and more snow on the evergreens and as it melts in the lovely spring sunshine, it falls down on us in big gloops, like huge raindrops, and we're soon getting wet.

In addition, the snow on the ground has melted to some extent, turning into slush, we're wearing day hiking sneakers so feet are now wet and a little cold as well.

Moosilauke is above the treeline but you don't pop outa the woods until almost at the summit, along the way we get some spots with great views of snowfields glistening in the sun, temps are pretty good as long as the wind doesn't kick up, so we feel pretty good.

Just near the summit and we emerge from the forest through a little hole, kinda like outa the rabbit hole and into the strong wind,

it's so windy that I can't control the camera and am afraid of dropping it, plus the wind makes gloves a necessity, making operating the camera a real challenge.

The wind has blown ice and snow onto the rock cairns that guide the way, now they almost look like little figurines wearing white capes, hunched over with their backs to the wind. It's only a few meters to the summit and we follow the figurines as they lead us up to the top.

It's layer up immediately with the biting wind, we're hot and sweaty from the climb but you feel the wind blow right through and take the sweat right off your skin, it's a cold feeling.

Quite a few have ventured up, it's not really cold and some hardy youth are decked out in shorts, but their legs look blue, it's all in the wind, and some bought dogs too, there are two that look like snow they're so white, they could get lost.

We don't spend too much time on top, it's too windy and cold. Off the summit and back into the trees it's much warmer, and the further down we go, the warmer it gets and the less snow on the ground, until finally it disappears altogether and the trail is just plain muddy.

The landscape flattens out, meaning low country is close by, and we come out of the woods finally and into a

field, here it really feels like spring time, it's warm and sunny, the grass is bright spring green, and the insects are buzzing around. Everything looks full of spring juice.

Phat Chap has warned us not to try and cross the creek that's now raging by, the snow melt has made it to lower elevations and is running past us, and apparently the bridge on the AT that crosses it is washed out. He says following the road instead "is a legitimate blue blaze", meaning that taking a diversion off the AT is OK and still counts as trail miles because of the conditions.

We're soon back to his hostel to grab our keys and head on back to town for a cold beer and some food. The normal condition after a backpack is to be fairly tired and hungry, since this was only a day hike, we have energy left to cook, there's a free-for-guests BBQ at the motel and a rather enticing looking store across the street that has fresh food, including

steak and veggies, so we decide to cook out rather than dine in.

The motel guy is Quebecois, he's very friendly but has a commanding view of the whole place, and I get the impression that he notices everything that happens. I have a little trouble getting the BBQ to light and he quickly comes down from his perch to assist, it all works out and we're soon enjoying grilled steak and veggies, with some cold beer to wash it down.