7/15/06 Saturday: Liberty springs tentsite to AMC Highland Center, Crawford Notch, NH (23.0mi)

PICTURES:
1. 0711: View S of Franconia Notch and Kinsman Mtn while ascending Mt Lincoln.
2. 0716: View N of Mt Lafayette from Mt. Lincoln.
3. 0826: Dan and I with the Presidential Range in the background from atop Mt. Lafayette
4. 1054: We took a short break here while ascending Mt Garfield..
5. 1333: Preparing to depart Galehead Hut.. Had a nice lunch...
6. 1411: View of Galehead hut during ascent of South Twin Mtn...
7. 1742: A short break N of Zealand Falls Hut... Dan had a fall and was cleaning up a bit...

Well, the short day yesterday paid off... We both rose by 0530 and were out by 0610. We had reservations at the AMC center tonight and were both intent with keeping them as well as our dinner engagement there... We finished the last 1000" of Haystack set our sites on Lincoln, the first of the Presidential Mtns we would traverse on our trip through the White Mtns. It was a perfect day for hiking with little cloud cover, I took lots of pictures.. We stopped for lunch about 1250, at the Galehead Hut, where they have AYCE soup for $2 and baked goods for a buck... Well, after relaxing for a bit and getting our fill of soup and brownies, we were both ready to continue... We had a number of peaks to climb before our day would end and we both wanted it to end with a bed ;).. At 1730, we stopped into the Zealand Falls Hut to get them to radio ahead to the Crawford Notch Hut that we would be late for their 1800 family style sit down dinner which we had already paid for. We had not had cell phone signals all afternoon and with notice the Crawford Notch Hut promised to keep something for us... From Zealand falls Hut we still had nearly 8mi to go with a 3.5hr ETA. We continued on our way and found the terrain to our liking most of the way down, not counting the "bonus" miles endured due to a misinterpreted sign at a crossing... We finally arrived at Crawford Notch just as a vehicle was leaving. We negotiated a ride the 3.5mi to the center and by 2030 we were finally there... I was amazed at the grandeaur of the place... The bunkhouse was comfortable, and had only one bed open out of 20. There were a combination of bicyclist and hikers there sharing one thing...the love of the outdoors... We negotiated with the kitchen staff for our meal, the message was received by the front desk but never forwarded to the kitchen... They eventually prepared us awonderful sandwitch and fruit platter fit for a king... We devoured our meal, finished our check-in, showered, and hit the rack by about 2200. I was anxiously awaiting my brother and sister-in-laws visit in the morning and would be able to relax at least until then...