September 22 -- Day 175
Destination: Hurd Brook Lean-To
Today’s miles: 15.1
Trip miles: 2148.5

I've never had as much fun in my tent as I did this morning. What I mean is, I figured out that I can take down the tent while leaving the rain fly up on the poles. That way, see, if it's raining or even just windy and cold, like it was this morning, I can stay under there, stay warmer and dry, pack up my stuff, sit on the dry ground and eat breakfast, and basically be all ready to roll except for scrunching up the rain fly and strapping it and the poles to my pack. With just the rain fly up, I can even invite a few friends to sit under there with me, and we could all hang out and eat. Some things take a couple thousand miles to learn.

Oh, I almost forgot: moooose! This time it was a big cow moose just past Rainbow Stream Lean-To. She heard Turbo, Split P, and I coming around the bend, babbling, but she walked off rather slowly, so we got a good look. Let's see, that makes five moose that I've seen, two I've heard but not seen (and maybe a third), too many deer to count, and zero bears. Ooo! There's my first owl in a long time! Just as I was writing about critters, too. That was a screech owl, not far from the shelter. How neat! So let's see, what other critters have I personally seen on the hike? Ummm ... spruce grouse, ruffed grouse, loons ( I love the sounds they make), wild turkey, box turtles, beaver, plenty of snakes but only one of them a rattler, those mountain goats in Virginia, bats, heard coyotes maybe 20 feet from my tent one night, lots of bunnies, the raccoon at RPH shelter, the red fox on Mt Washington, a very big woodchuck, mice, and a myriad of other little critters, bugs, and birds.

As I near the end of my hike, I've been doing a lot of mental reviewing, thinking back on many aspects of the trail, including animals, plants, people, special places and events. There's been so much packed into nearly six months, and I'll have many wonderful memories to take with me.

Crud. There was something in particular I wanted to write about, but my flashlight is almost dead and I have no more batteries. I'll do that sometime tomorrow instead. So goodnight for now.

--Ramkitten