For the Whites, today was a huge day. But I needed to make it to Lincoln to meet one of my dearest friends, Esther. So off Hard Hat and I went at the break of dawn.
Before 7 am, I had already descended 2000 ft in 1.5 miles down a cascading waterfall. Treachery in the morning? Bring it on!
After running into Ms. Janet and Half Slow in the parking lot at the bottom of the waterfall, it was off for 16 more miles of slow-going White Mtn terrain. For the second day in a row, I stepped knee deep in a bog before 9 am. It’s becoming a tradition.
After a crazy steep climb up and over the two Kinsman’s, I can safely say I’ve checked off my 4th 4K peak in New England.
The final attraction of the day when my body was already quite weary was Lonesome Lake Hut where I almost crashed. 
However, there were both friends and tacos waiting in Lincoln, so off I went down the mountain once more. That ridge in the background is where we’re headed tomorrow–gonna be a blast!
Finally, enjoy this picture of the tree line on Moosilauke provided by Hard Hat.
Around lunchtime, Hard Hat and I started up the first climb of the Whites-a healthy 3800 ft climb in about 3 miles. While the rain had mainly stopped, it was still pretty cloudy. Amazingly, right as we summited, it cleared off for a few minutes and we got good views! These two pictures were taken about 1 minute apart to show how quickly things change up here:
This is my obligatory summit picture:
After hanging out for a little bit (it was cold!), we ventured on down to a shelter and called it a night early with a great view of the peaks to come.
It was also lunch time so we decided to eat on the summit. When it started raining during lunch, I didn’t want soggy bagels and I also didn’t want to keep walking. With that, up went my tarp and Hard Hat and I escaped the rain and continued our eating. 
No pictures from the rest of the day because of bad phone weather, but I can tell you it was 13 miles of constant rain and some mountains. Tonight I’m back at an AT classic-Hikers Welcome Hostel. For those of you who have hiked before, they built a new bunk house and have sheets now! What an amazing upgrade!
The rough part of my day came when it was time to climb a massive mountain right around dinner time. My body staged a rebellion when I was pushing it up a hill instead of feeding it, so I had my dinner on the way up.
I made it just in time to catch the last of the sunset at the Smarts Mtn fire tower. The stars are out now, but more rain and storms are headed our way tomorrow!
Not even 10 miles later, we crossed the border and entered the great state of New Hampshire-famous for the hardest and most beautiful stretch of mountains on the whole trail.
But first, it was time to experience Hanover like a college student! I was blessed by another UMC connection that led to an all you can eat buffet at the Dartmouth dining hall. I just graduated a few months ago, and had an absolute blast destroying a dining hall with zero inhibitions this time. Thank you to Don for the meal and the company! 
This afternoon we resupplied and explored Hanover. Jack has also scored some unique housing-the couch at his old fraternity house. With that, I bid thee goodnight from academia.
The hiking today was deceivingly challenging with a roller coaster worth of abrupt ups and downs. This was kind of rough on both body and spirit, but there were plenty of wildflowers to see in the fields.
I ate my body weight in both raspberries and blackberries!
Tonight we’re crashing in a lady’s back yard who also cares for hikers. New Hampshire tomorrow!
A few miles later, I passed the first big waterfall of my hike so far. There are a plenty of these in the South, but this was my first glimpse of one that wasn’t bone dry.
Today we left the Long Trail behind and started heading east to New Hampshire. The split is called Maine Junction for obvious reasons.
At Maine Junction, one of my hiking friends who is walking the Long Trail decided to continue on with me and my friend Crush to revisit Dartmouth, his alma mater. Here is Jack climbing down a ladder on a steep rock:
Looking forward to hanging out with Jack and Crush for the next few days!
I also climbed over Vermont’s biggest peak and a popular ski area, Killington Peak.
For the evening, I stayed at a famous hostel in Rutland, VT. It’s run by the Twelve Tribes spiritual community, a Christian spin-off that believes in living in total community with one another. Their hostel, the Yellow Deli, has been taking in hikers for years. While the organization is considered by many to be a cult, I sure did enjoy getting to meet their members and learn about their way of life.
Notice we could definitely use some more chicks out here–ladies, apply for the 2019 chaplaincy!
Lunch was spent with yet another group of hikers at White Rocks Junction where rumor has it that forest gnomes have built all of these cairns (piles of rocks).
My feed did finally stage a blister rebellion today after 7 days in wet socks, but I’m hoping drying them out and some more sunshine will help them recover. More adventures to come!
Ps-passed the Rutland Airport, an interesting sight for sure.
After Bromley, it was time to start cranking miles to get ahead of the hail. Check out this thunder cell building while I ate lunch: 
The severe weather did show up and I just made it into a shelter before it got really bad. I put down my bag and took a nap while a dozen other hikers rolled in who had gotten caught in the weather.
Even though I was under my mileage goal for the day, I decided to duck into a shelter just in time to avoid the second storm. It kept going all night long, but all is well.