Lincoln, NH to Mt Washington

Mile 1851

Random note. Casualties of our thru hike so far:
- My phone
- My kindle (under warranty, thankfully)
- Beau's glasses
- Our guidebook, which I left in Lincoln

Anyway...

It was great to leave Lincoln with a group of friends. As we trudged up the mountain (the Whites are all about super steep climbs and descents), Beau and Willie gave me a play by play of the Batman movie. Surprisingly, it held my interest and the next thing you know it is an hour and a half later and we are almost done with a big climb! The weather forecast had sketchy thunderstorms, but it didn't appear to be too bad and we went up Franconia anyway. It was super windy and low visibility- I kept thinking, "WHO thought it was a good idea to put the AT through the White Mountains??" Even though I was sweating bullets climbing, I had to do a wardrobe change once on the ridge because it was so cold.

The new shelter we stayed in was perfect for shielding us from the rain and wind. It was the first really cold night since the south and it was nice to be in cozy clothes again.

The next day was more pleasant and after 17.5 miles, we were welcomed with AWESOME trail magic. A former thru hiker had a tent set up with hummus, pita bread, cherries, grapes, soda, cookies, etc just in time for our dinner. He also showed us a good stealth camping spot for the five of us that were there.

The next day, yesterday, we made it to the Lakes of the Clouds hut to stay. This is where things started going south. The caretaker if the previous shelter mentioned he had been sick for a few days but we didn't think anything of it. That night, Will got up several times to throw up. Shortly after arriving at the hut, Beau and another guy we were with got sick. I felt fine until the evening and it hit me hard this morning. We hiked the mile and a half to the summit of Mt Wash where we got a ride to town. Beau had to ask our ride to pull over at one point so he could throw up on the side of the road. I don't know if we'll be well enough to be hiking tomorrow.

I can't describe how incredibly frustrating it is to have to take days off at this point. I know we are lucky that we fell ill so close to town and can hang out until we get better... But I just want to hike and finish! Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon and finish off these White Mountains once and for all.