Into the Clouds, part 1

I am currently in Gorham, NH 1,878 miles from Springer and only 297 to Katahdin. This leaves me with 19 days to do the 292 miles to Baxter State Park and summit on the 30th. So I need to average 15.5 miles a day for the next three weeks. Hopefully it should not be too hard, but the weather recently has been awful. I have been rained on everyday since I got into Vermont. Through the White Mountains we were either getting rained or, or walking in a cloud or both. Very few mountains gave us any kind of view. It also looks like the rain will not be stoppping any time soon. So I am ready to get wet and stay wet.
Update on Shadow Cast. He ended up spending two full nights in the hospital in Plymouth, and then we spent the next night in town to rest up a little more (John and Cathy, thank you very much). He left with a presciption for an anti-biotic which is messing with his stomach, and a steroid, which is messing with his mood. He has been able to make the miles we need to do, but is slower than his normal self. He is almost finished with the medications, and he hopes to be back to full speed in a day or two.
When we left Plymouth we took an easy day to the base of Mt. Moosilauke. This was our first big climb since Virginia. The next day we went up the easy side and had some views, but we also saw a big rain cloud moving in and did not stay too long. Coming down we had our first taste of wooden steps attached to the rock face. This was the first of many horrible descents in the Whites. We then puched on through Kinsman Notch and over the never ending Mt. Wolf before stopping at Eliza Brook Shelter. It had been raining the last two hours of the hike. After we arrived several more Southbounders showed up and we had 7 in a six person shelter. Then the heavens opened up.
The next morning Eliza Brook was a hip deep ford. The night before it had been a rock hop. We hiked over the log bridges that take you over mud pits where our ankles were under water. We then continued over the Kinsmans and past Lonesome Lake Hut (great pancakes) and into Lincoln for a night at Chet's Place. Chet hosts through hikers in his garage and is one of the nicest people around. He was injured in a stove explosion the day before he was going to start his thru hike, and has made an amazing recovery. At Chet's we met back up with Rocko who had been instrumental in convincing Shadow to get medical help.
From Franconia Notch we started our hut to hut trip. The huts in the White Mountains are run by the Appalchian Mountain Club (AMC), and offer food and lodging. They will also let two or more thru hikers to "work for stay." We then get leftovers from dinner and breakfast and sleep in the common room. Our first stay was at Greenleaf Hut. We went up and over the Franconia Ridge in a cold, windy cloud and then went the mile off the trail after Lafayette down to the hut. Although we were too early, they kindly let us stay. Normally they want you to arrive after 3, we were there at 1:40. We did not know what to expect, but the food was good and plentiful, and they kept looking for more work for us to do. In the morning we finally had to say that we needed to hike and had to leave.
That day we decided to skip Galehead and go on to Zealand Falls. The first 7.7 to Galehead was very tough and cold and wet and we were behind schedule when we arrived at Galehead for lunch. Their soup was not hot, so I passed and just had my own snacks. From there we cruised to Zealand and arrived at 5:55, when dinner is served at 6. They said their bosss was there that night and they are only technically allowed to have 2 thru hikers, and we were numbers 6 and 7, but they don't want to turn anyone away, so they let up stay
To be continued when I have more time.