7/13/06 Thursday: (AT) NH25 Glencliff, NH to Eliza Brook Shelter (17.0mi)

PICTURES:
1. 1222: Summiting Mt. Moosilauke... stopped raining but still cloud covered...
2. 1231: Visibility poor during our ascent and descent
3. 1242: Summit of Mt. Moosilauke...
4. 1417: Taking a break during our descent of the Cascade trail (AT)
5. 1420: Wooden stairs bolted into the rock... some were loose and some were missing :0... Most difficult descent on the AT thus far!!!
6. 1443: Lovely views of the Cascades throughout our descent
7. 1513: More difficult climbing down on rebarb and wood stairs
8. 1525: The Cascades...

I was up by 0600 with Protozoa, Dudley, Soft Lipped..., and I cooking breakfast before our long day was to begin... We all chipped in, Soft Lipped... soft boiled the eggs on his stove, I cooked the sausages on mine, Protozoa microwaved some baked beans, and Dudley made the toast... We had some coffee, which was on the house, and some milk... Once completed we quickly cleaned up departed, leaving Dudley and Soft lipped... at the hostel waiting for a package to be delivered... We had a monster of a climb ahead of us in Mt Moosilauke, and it took us almost 2hours to climb the 3500" in 3mile. We were greatly concerned about the previous days rains and the decent on the "Cascades Trail", 3000" down mostly rock, ladders, rungs and dangerously slippery when wet... It was raining when we left the hostel but the rain stopped as we began our climb at about 0900. We reached the top to find dense clouds and visibility of about 100yds which would change occationally when the wind would blow one cloud over the top of the mountain and before another cloud set in to take its place... We met a couple of North bound thru-hikers slackpacking south, they were concerned about the slippery conditions on the cascades and prefered to tackle it by climbing up instead of down... A wise move, one briefly considered by us two and rejected as against the "purest" model... I would have had a difficult time supporting this model had I slipped and fell...LOL...;)... At any rate, both Protozoa and I carefully made our way up and down Moosilauke with our skin intack, only our nerves a bit frayed... Reaching the bottom we crossed Kinsman Notch and NH112 and began our trek up 2600" to Mt. Wolf.... We had decided that our original plan of staying at Kinsman Pond shelter was not possible and we focused our attentions at the Eliza Brook shelter instead... After 17mi and 3 3000"+ climbs in one day we had both had all we could take... We arrived at the Eliza Brook Shelter around 1730, Protozoa filing into the shelter while I chose to pitch my tent in one of the nearby campsites... There was a group of AMC volunteer trail maintainers there having dinner and we all chatted about their work. A few minutes after our arrival Sweettea popped in for the night... We were all exhausted and ready for sleep... By 2030 we all had retired...