Irene can't beat us!

Boy, do I have a ton to write about.

I have a trail name for starters! It's Carnegie. Named after Andrew Carnegie, the robber baron. Toast and I were in Gorham, NH at a hostel and we were playing Monopoly with a couple of other thru-hikers and I came into possession of all of the railroads, then DOMINATED. With all the dough I was making off my railroads, I began to bribe other players to stay in the game, giving it away to keep them from becoming bankrupt. And they began to call me Carnegie. Needless to say, it stuck. :)

In case you hadn't heard, there was a hurricane on the East Coast. The entire White Mountain National Forest was closed for 3 days, so we called home and left the trail for a week. For the most part, I stayed in Newport, NH at Emily's house with her family, but got to spend the storm with my mom, gramma, and little sis. Lots of chill time, relaxing and eating, mostly. Best of all, it was wonderful sleeping in a bed and wearing cotton clothes (everything we have is synthetic for warmth and fast drying). We went to the Apple Pie Craft Fair, where there were lots of local vendors and the library had a book sale. We bought 20 paperback books!! Mostly classics to be mailed to us later on. :)
We started The Fellowship of the Ring a couple weeks ago and decided to pick out The Complete Plays of Sophocles as a second book.

After the hurricane, we hopped back on the trail where we left off in Lincoln, NH and headed on our way. We hiked for a couple days before meeting up with my Aunt Julie and Uncle Bill and their puppy, Meli. We hiked from Kinsman Notch up the beautiful, but strenuous Mt. Moosilauke and stayed the night at Beaver Brook Shelter last night. Toast and myself were pretty excited about the shelter because we spent so long stealth camping through the AMC ( NH's evil money-making club where they charge money to stay at mediocre shelters) because we refused to pay. So, our first shelter experience in roughly a month was great. We shared the space with a north-bounder named Musher and a Dartmouth group of freshmen who shared their dinner and some apple crisp! Today was a long day, up and over the rest of Moosilauke and down to Glencliff. It started raining about midday, but the descent evened out after a couple of very long miles. But we all had a great time, hiking and learning/teaching about the AT and thru-hiking life. 

Anyway, we're at a hostel this evening, and will pick up a maildrop tomorrow from the post office before continuing to Hanover, NH. I'm a bit chilly, so a shower seems to be the smart choice for right now. Peace out.