It rained most of the night but started to lift by the time I got going at 6am. Most of the day I was in the clouds or it was a light rain.

The climbing continued its relentless onslaught. Pulling my way up by any means available: trees, roots or cracks in the rocks.

The wind wasn’t blowing above tree line like it was yesterday, but still no views.

It took me 3hours to go 4 miles to the Kinsman Pond hut for a well deserved break. (normally I could cover 7-8 miles in his amount of time).

Filling up water at Kinsman Pond.

This pic is for Eliza Wein…you have a shelter named after you 🙂 I will also try to get a pic of the Tuckerman’s Ravine sign for Tucker Wein.

Lonesome Lake

If you zoom in on the spindly tree in the middle of the river you will see a white blaze. I’m not sure what they were thinking crossing here! I crossed just up stream and managed to stay upright. My feet were already soaked from all the puddles and muck I’d hiked through earlier so this was a good chance to clean the boots off.

An old farmhouse lodge was a welcome respite from all the cold and wet, plus I resupplied in town. The other reason for calling it quits early is the weather is supposed to be improving significantly tomorrow. There is a 4000′ climb to the Franconia Ridge with spectacular views…hopefully I will get tinsel them (I definitely would not have today).

The good news is my shin splint is 98% healed. There’s no way I could have hiked this terrain 3 weeks ago in that state. Unfortunately, my left side has been seeing a lot of additional abuse: I hip checked the rock slab yesterday (can’t sleep on that side), I slammed my quad into downed tree trunk that was camouflaged in brush sticking out from the side of trail (still very sore), and a couple times a day my knee kind of buckles in a shooting pain (no idea why). Hoping I can hold it all together for another 3 weeks.