Trail Journal 08.25.02

First night in the White Mountains.  Camped at Gordon Pond.  Originally planned to camp at Beaver Brook Shelter but we were there for lunch and did not want to sit around all afternoon so we pushed on and ended up with a 14.8 mile day.  We climbed Mount Moosilauke this morning out of Glencliff, a long steady climb that took us into a thick fog.  Made the summit in 2.5 hours.  Windy, foggy and cold.  We headed down quickly.  Descent was through a jumble of rocks down a steep slope.  Very hard.  Several places had 8x8" timbers sunk ito the rock.  A few places had rebar hand holds.  Got to Kinsman Notch around 2:30 and found trial angels handing out cokes and donuts.  Climbed on to Kinsman Ridge for the last 3.4 miles.  Steep climb with lots of up and down up top.  Pleased to make good mileage in these rugged mountains.