Last night while going to sleep, Hot Feet was next to me, watching ‘The Fugitive’ on his phone. The Fugitive, starring Harrison Ford, is one of my favorite movies. As a child, it would always come on TV around 8PM and I would get to watch the first hour before my parents said, “OK, time for bed”. This happened on at least 4 different occasions before my parents eventually, one weekend rented me the movie so I could watch it all the way through.
The next morning I wrote in the logbook “Hot Feet kind of looks like Tommy Lee Jones if you squint really hard. I think I’m going to try to run away from him all day.” To which Hot Feet replied in the logbook “I think I look more like Harrison Ford’s wife.“ Now I’m not sure which version of Hot Feet I would run away from more, him as Tomm Lee Jones, or him is Harrison Ford’s wife. Perhaps this story is different? Maybe Richard Kimball did kill his wife? Either way today is going to be interesting.
It was shortly after 6AM and people were up and talking in the shelter. My ear plugs helped but they could only do so much. 30 minutes later I was up for good. Breakfast was instant coffee, protein oatmeal, and Protein powder (it’s been a month since I had all 3).
I was one of the early ones to leave camp, probably the 4th out of 10 at our site. The day started easy enough with a downhill and easy flat section for 3 miles. The next 3 miles had a steep 2k climb up to Smarts Mountain. Rain fell complicating the climb over slick rocks with sheer faces. Once at the top I climbed the Firetower and the views got a little better as the clouds retreated.
My phone was on airplane mode to preserve battery all day, so no books or music were listened to. The trail was much more mellow on the way down the mountain. Once down, there was another 1500 foot climb over 1.5 miles to the top of Cube Mountain. I took a 0.2 side trail throw my scent off the fugitive tracking dogs (and to check out a hexagonal shaped shelter). I met a new rabbit there, The White Rabbit (there’s at least 3 rabbits on trail this year that I’ve met now).
I trudged through more mud today (Vermont memories linger) in my dirty, smelly hikers jumpsuit, which is starting to feel very much like a prison uniform at this point. Near the top of Cube Mountain, I took another side trail that lead to spectacular views of Mt Moosalakee. But that’s a summit for another day (perhaps tomorrow).
The plan was to meet at a road crossing, one that had good stealth tent locations. I arrived around the same time as Groundhog and we couldn’t locate anyone else in our bubble. Mosquitoes were swarming us at the low elevation. Not wanting to hike on we set up tents and made a fire to keep the bugs at bay.
Groundhog and I had a chance to get to know each other better. We talked about our previous jobs, skydiving, and hiking obviously. We went to bed after the fire died down around 10.
All told, I successfully evaded Hot Feet as the fugitive for the day. Maybe tomorrow he’ll have better luck, in the reboot sequel titled ‘US Marshals.’ In that sequel, I will be Wesley Snipes.
It’s 10 miles tomorrow to the base of Mt Moosilauke. Depending on what time I arrive, I may try to summit the 4k foot peak.
Until then, Stow away in my pack for day 134 on the Appalachian Trail
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