Another Sunday view
Fortunately, for me the conditions within ten miles of you but at much lower elevation was tolerable. Damp, wet but calm. I was determined to do a tough section of the AT from Dream Lake around to Hogan/North Road. (See my AT trip report.) It is a very tough decision sometimes to throw in the towel and also to tell someone what you are really experiencing. (See Personal health in my trip report #5.) I don't know if there is a right decision. You make it and live with it. Many hikes I have cancelled and regretted not going on and others I wondered why I did what I didand thinking I must be losing my marbles. I never question motives of people or criticize hikers or anyone for that matter when I read about a tragic loss. My heart goes out. Sometimes you are in the wrong place at the wrong time and sometimes it could be a bad decision but at the time it seemed so right. I have made wrong decisions and got away with them (non-hiking ones). But haven't we all drove when we shouldn't have! I drove home from work tired one night and thank God there are rumble strips on the roads these days! I am not getting any younger. So it becomes more difficult to say there is always tomorrow. Sunday morning I lied in my bunk in Hikers Paradise in Gorham at 5 AM and listened to my weather radio and they called for 70% chance of rain in the mountains of NH. I slowly and half-enthusiastically got my act together and part of me said why doesn't the rains come pouring and make my decision easy. But since I took all day Saturday off, if I really did not want to do this hike then why didn't I just go home Saturday morning (I knew Sunday was not going to be pretty). Plus I had a friend relying on me to do the hike. So as gloomy as it was and as congested as I was we got in the car and drove the few miles off to North Road. Sunday, was overcast and the rains held off and I did have a few glimpses of Berlin from Cascade Mt. @2631 feet, highest point on the hike. The wind was relatively calm. I believe I might have developed a slight fever on the hike as I took decongestant tylenol Sunday night and woke up Monday morning in a cold sweat. But I can imagine up over a mile high, the winds must have been whipping the near frozen fog and anybody in its path like bowling pins waiting to go down. Decisions, decisions, I guess that is what makes life so exciting. but whatever decisions you make don't look back. Live with them.
