25 Aug. Day Hike, Falls, Trail Magic

Saturday, 25 Aug, Day 46 AT v2.0, 5 miles, Crawford Notch Stealth Camp, US 302 near Bartlett, NH. By Papa Wolf - Yesterday we yellow blazed to our next rendezvous point where we will meet Rampage.  We were aware that the rules are more stringent in NH as far as stealth camping goes, so we wanted to make sure we were well off the trail, but near the road. So Crocadilly and I went searching for our new temporary home and found a closed blue blazed trail. We walked a few hundred yards down that trail and found a very suitable tent site for us. The NH law states that you must be 200 feet from the trail, but we figured that as this trail was officially closed, we were sufficiently away from the "open" AT….the ole "better to beg forgivness than ask permission". J  As it turned out, nobody really came down the trail, let alone a ranger so it was great. As we drove yesterday, We all decided we would hike today, southbound, and see if we ran into anybody. We had no agenda so it was a very pleasant walk…albeit uphill most of the way.  It did start to rain a bit so we turned around at about the 2.5 mile mark and headed back. The rain stopped near the bottom and we decided to take a side trail to a beautiful falls which was great. Mango, Tailbone and Crocadilliy decided to hang out abit as I walked back to get a nap. J I popped out of the trail to find three lovely ladies doing trail magic. I told them that I had become more of a section hiker as of late and did not deserve the food, but they insisted and said they had not seen anyone else…so I had an excellent sandwich and hung out with them. A bit later "my" three ladies came out of the woods and enjoyed the magic, followed shortly by Rampage, Riff Ralph (ze german), and Tarzan and Jane. We ended up spending a few hours with them and devoured ALL of their food. Their husbands were doing a very long day hike so we managed to save them one a few sandwhichs and soda's…but we ate everything else…oops. The ladies were great and it was an excellent afternoon. We then took everyone back to our stealth tent site for dinner and a great night sleep.

                                                                       Ripley Falls

                                         The lovely Mango and there awesome dog Sammy

                                             Tailbone looking cool and wonderful as ever

                                                            A nap spunded like a good idea. :)