I started section hiking in Grafton Notch on Saturday, headed towards Stratton for an 8-day hike. Got a late start and wound up spending the night at the Bladplate Lean-To (elev-2,645). Weather said rain (for the next 10 days straight!), which we’ve been having a lot of this year, so I was prepared for it. However, I had no idea of just how much rain. All night it sounded like a thousand gypsies dancing on the top of the lean-to, and the next morning I awoke to sleet. Then, after about half an hour, the sleet changed to a sleet/snow combination. Since my 0° bag was partially wet from the howling wind and rain during the night, and the trail had become a riverbed with exposed ice covered rock, I decided to head back down the way I’d come, and not risk heading over the mountains and above treeline (elev. 3,662, 3,812, and 3,450). I ice climb and winter hike, as a result I know how dangerous it can be with a pack, so my decision to come back down was a prudent one, despite wanting desperately to continue.
By the way, SoBo Bear passed through the shelter last weekend, he’s doing well and shared the Lean-To with a couple of people weekending, one of which forgot his stove pump. There was also still residual snow and ice at that elevation (even on the trail), the trees are not budding, and the bugs are not out yet. The temperature never got above 45° the whole time and dipped to below freezing when I got up that morning. The Baldplate shelter is awesome, and someone was kind enough to leave a bottle of Bacardi!
Lawn Sale