A chilly air enveloped us overnight at the shelter. My 25 degree sleeping bag and down jacket kept me comfortable though; I slept well enough to wake up excited and ready to climb Moosilauke. The climb was easier than I’d expected, I think it was mostly because of the weather actually – it was cold enough that even though I was going straight up a mountain I kept on my fleece and my hat and still didn’t sweat much. The incline only got steeper the higher we went; there was a stretch of probably a half mile with boulder steps several feet high. There were several places with streams running down the mountain but mostly the climb itself was visually uneventful.
Near the top we first arrived at the South Summit. We took a short rocky side trail to get there, and later found out it wasn’t really worth it when compared to the main peak. We continued another 0.8 miles, now only very gradually uphill, to the true summit. We passed above the tree line on the way and felt the wind blowing fiercely. There was quite a crowd at the top; a couple other thru-hikers that came from Jeffers Brook like us, and several day hikers that had come up the other trails. The view was amazing. We weren’t quite sure which mountains were which in the distance but the rest of the Whites loomed large in front of us. We spent quite a bit of time up top considering how cool the air was and the wind chill. Full on sun made it comfortable though when hiding behind a rock to block the wind.
Finally we started our descent down the North side. The first couple miles were actually kind of flat as we worked along a small ridge, but then just past another shelter we began a 1.4 mile stretch of the steepest downhill so far on the AT, possibly of the whole northbound trail. We were right beside a stream coming off the mountain and most of the trail was big rocky steps. In some places without boulders to go down there were simply wooden blocks somehow drilled into the rockface to use as steps. I think it took us at least two hours to cover the mile and a half downhill because we were going so carefully.
We made it down though and found a ride into town rather quickly. We’re staying at the Woodstock Inn, and pretty much everything we need is right nearby. I had a gyro for dinner and got food at the gas station / general store, did laundry just up the street, and got to watch some TV in the room. Back at it tomorrow.