From the Journals: DAY 106, June 9

Coach
Ore Hill Shelter - Hostel in Glencliff: 7.6 mi
Due to a logistical error and a thunderstorm in the afternoon, we ended up staying at the hostel. The guys running the place were awesome. They basically did what Kentucky Greybeard did for us in the Smokies, proving my theory that you always listen to a guy with a big grey beard. They suggested to make up miles we should slack pack 26 miles southbound. Apparently they didn't normally suggest this idea because the terrain is very rugged, but I guess our resume passed the litmus test. So, big day tomorrow. We also passed out at 4pm for a 3 hour nap only to wake up, eat dinner, and go back to sleep. I am pretty sure we were extremely fatigued. Tomorrow will put us back on track.

Professor
Coach's dad said "Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast." This has calmed my anxiety a little about our progress. Between injuries (mine and Coach) and logistic nightmares, our plans seem to change daily. I mean, when you think about it, we are trying to tackle something with so many impossible to predict variables that our "plan" is really an ever changing daily guideline...almost an hourly changing guideline. The further we hike North, the more impossible is the "plan."

Right now I am laying in a bunk in the middle of nowhere, New Hampshire that we were forced to stay in because we were waiting for the Post Office (I say Post Office loosely because it was really an old ladies home with a flag out front) to open so we could bring back some winter gear for the Whites, which we are entering tomorrow. As we waited in 90 degree weather for our winter gear (which felt absurd), dirty, bug bitten, or should I say bug ravaged, deet covered sweat mixed in with mud and last night's thunderstorm, another thunderstorm hit and forced us into the Hostel. This was not a part of the "plan."

In the hostel, we met Mud Elephant and Fat Chap. Thru-hikers from the past and apparently very experienced hikers of the Whites. Fat Chap stroked his long grey beard and helped us formulate a new "plan."

At 4:45am I am supposed to wake him up out of his Winnebago, after which he insists on taking us to a breakfast joint because they open at 5am, then to the Franconia Notch, from where we will be hopefully slackpacking southbound (over the Whites) 25 miles back to this hostel. So it appears our Northbound Thru-Hike will include a 26 mile southbound section.