It was so nice to get some extra sleep and sleep through the night. I did however wake up to horrible wind, rain, and lightning. My back tent fly stake had come undone and was flapping against my back. I got out to recover it, and then it was free again. Lynn asked if I was in any rush, and though I wasn't I knew we had 12.9 miles to hike today. I lounged around while she made something got to drink and then we packed up our wet tents to leave. The morning hike was overcast but nothing terrible, though the rocks were all wet. I came across some gorgeous fall leaves, yes; fall leaves. I can't believe they are already changing! On the way to the Zealand hut we saw a helicopter quite close, I picked up my speed to see if someone had gotten hurt. We then learned they were getting their re-supply; Mom, what a great idea! In the hut, I ate a chocolate peanut butter oat bar which was amazing. After, I got a bowl of potato dill soup. It was basically instant mashed potatoes with dill but it did the trick. I haven't had much of an appetite these last few days so I'll take what I can get. We hung out at the hut for a bit talking with a woman and her daughter and then we decided we best be on our way. The hike away from the hut was a little steep and rocky for a bit, and then it was flat; yes a flat path. Occasionally there was a dip down and up or a couple rocks, but mostly a flat path for 2 miles. My stomach started to tumble and churn which was not good. How am I not over this yet? Battling with that, some muddy, rocky, rooted sections, and then finally a really long, steep downhill; I was almost kissing the pavement. My knees and ankles haven't hurt like this in days! Once on the pavement however, we still had a little downhill road walk. We crossed the main road and sat to try and hitch into the AMC Highland Center for the night. We sat, and we sat, and we sat. No one was picking us up, well we had made good time prior. Then, a couple across the way in the trailhead parking lot asked where we were headed. We explained the AMC Center was just 3 miles up the road, they were familiar and agreed to bring us! We hopped in with their puppy, who jumped in the front seat probably from our stench. Big thanks to the Rose family for helping us out. At the AMC center, there was a bit of confusion with room selection. We thought they were like a hotel, when in fact they are more like a giant hostel. I didn't want to share a room with 15 other people for almost $70 so we got a private room which turned out to be my first college dorm. Seems lately we haven't had the best luck with lodging and this was up there in the ranks. For practically a 10x10 room with two bunk beds, no AC and seperate bathroom; we each paid around $90. Yes, each. This did however include dinner that evening, and breakfast buffet in the morning. We settled into our room, I took a quick shower and put back on dirty clothes for dinner. Ivan the Great sat with us and we feasted on bread, salad, sweet potato soup, beef, kale and mushroom pasta, cauliflower and butternut squash mix, mashed potatoes, and coffee cake for dessert. After dinner I set up my tent in the hallway to dry out while I sat on the top bunk with the door propped open I imagined I was in college and this was my dorm. I guess I should rephrase that; I didn't have to imagine I was in college because I went to college, but I never got to experience the dormlife. We talked about slacking Mt. Washington, but the plans weren't working out perfectly, I certainly did not want to hike the whole thing with my full pack. I've hiked Washington before with a daypack and it was rough, I couldn't imagine it with my 35 pound pack. If I were solo I would take the cog up since I haven't done that since I was a kid, but I was with Lynn and we had to figure something out. I even debated renting a car as an option. After cleaning out filters, hand washing my clothes in the bathroom sink, and organizing everything for the morning ; we fell asleep not having a solid plan.
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