Leaving Zealand, the air was much, much colder - I donned a thick shirt, hat and gloves for the initial section of the A-Z, but was soon back up in the warm air at the Tom Spur. At the summit of Tom, the first light of the day was painting the sky a glowing orange. I was really happy with how the night section had gone so well, and was very much looking forward to my food stash at Crawford Notch. Field was another easy catch, although it was a drag to not have a camera support for the dawn light. Down the Avalon trail to Crawford, where I arrived at little after 6:30 am, a bit under my projected pace. 13 down, 8 to go, and 9 hours left.

Cath called just as I had spread all my wordly goodies out of an ammo box hidden under some ferns - chilled drinks! delicious eggs! potato tubes galore! GOOD GOD! I feasted and refilled, and washed and dried my feet, and applied a thick layer of vaseline and some new socks.

And onwards! My good friends, the Presidentials, on such a fine day. A very busy day, at that, particularly for a weekday. All manner of hikers dotted the hills, headed every which a way with a variety of gear, or lack thereof. Going South to North has never been my direction of choice, but I didn't really have a choice today. What I did have was plenty of daylight to play with, and so far, plenty of energy.

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