Friday night - up til 1 doing backups after computer crash.
Normally would do backups *before* computer crash ....
Sat up 6.30 ... must get to North Conway before noon to pick up a
part to fix a stove.
Pack up & get out by ... 8.15. Ugh.
Drive 2 hours
Get part , hit Grants for food, arrive camp.
Mow and weed whack a blackberry jungle, in tropical heat & humidity..
Scurry inside before thunderstorm.
Fix stove. Cook month-old pizza complete with freezer burn.
Eat pizza, watch movie, kill bottle of Sangria. Or vice versa ...
7.30 PM bed. Game over.
6 AM ... stumble around waking up. Visit river.
Pack up, head for Middle Mountain.
Slog almost non-stop up Middle Mountain, spurred by horde of mosquitoes.
I'm the only one foolish enough to be out feeding the bugs ...
After Middle, take cutoff to Peaked, enjoy that for a while, especially
trying to get pics of flying dragonflies.
Eventually a couple of ladies show up, one of whom has a terrific capacity
to carry on both sides of a conversation at once.
Followed shortly thereafter by the arrival of a man/woman/3 kids.
First thing out of their mouths (when the lady took a breath) : "got any
bug spray?"
You gotta be kidding ... it's not like the bugs suddenly got bad 2 miles
into the hike. Trust me, they were bad 2 feet into the hike. Duh.
Dad, mom, next time turn around, hit the nearest convenience store,
pop $5 for some bug dope, drive back to trailhead. 20 minutes.
So ... letting the aforementioned to their own devices, started descent.
Ran into another group headed up, 4 adults and maybe 6 kids.
These guys seemed to know what they were doing, though. Everyone seemed to
be having a great time, with the adults herding the kids along and the kids
doing kid things .
