I was also able to admire the work of the trail crews years ago, who were able to blast sections of rock out to make stairs, embed wooden steps into the side of rock faces, and provide rebar "handrails" to go along with them. Trail maintenance these days is definitely less destructive, but also less helpful in many cases.
I made it to the shelter around six thirty, plenty of time to cook dinner and relax a bit. "Multi" rolled in about a half hour after me, and we chatted about the day. Favorite quote from that conversation:
Multi: "Yeah, I saw two bear in the hundred mile wilderness."
Me: "Oh yeah?! How far away were they?"
Multi: "About a hundred fifty miles apart."
Ummmm.... Not what I meant. :)
We met an older couple that were out for just a single night, and chatted with them until dark. AT hikers go to sleep with the sun generally. 8:00pm is jovially considered "hiker midnight." Normally in the shelter as everyone settles in for the evening, there is a certain amount of fidgeting. People stuff their clothes sacks for pillows, roll over multiple times in their sleeping bags, blow up air mattresses, etc. However, this typically dies down after a bit and everyone goes to sleep. Not this night. The older gentleman, introduced to us as, "Horace," was attempting to use his external frame pack as a pseudo-lay-z-boy recliner. It didn't seem to be going well. Clank. Clank. With each adjustment, the shelter rattled. I could feel the vibrations through the floor. Clank. Clank. Horace became more and more frustrated. Clankety clank Clank. I could hear him mumbling as he wrestled with the pack.
I fell briefly asleep but was quickly awakened by snoring. Our friend Horace apparently has sleep apnea. As he would fall deeper asleep, the snoring would become more and more irregular, almost stop entirely, then Horace would gasp startlingly.......zzzzz....zzzzzz.....zzz...... . z.......ZZZZ CLANK CLANK CLANK!
This went on for hours. Next to me, Multi tossed and turned in his sleep, whispering four letter words with each round of snore-clanking. I giggled at the insanity of it all and checked my watch. 1 AM. I gave up and pulled out my e reader, planning to read at least until dawn. I finally fell asleep, e reader in hand, and slept until about 4:00. ZZZ CLANK! Multi woke up and said things I'm still not old enough to hear. Knowing that everyone was already awake, I called it. I got dressed, packed my pack and headed up there mountain in the dark. 4:30.
End result: gorgeous sunrise on Moosilauke. Beautiful views and frozen fingers, followed by an exhilarating run down the much less steep south side of the mountain. Pretty sure Horace was sent to make sure I got the sunrise pictures I missed in the rest of the Whites. My guardian angels always come in the oddest packages!