We were blissfully ignorant of the hike ahead of us today.

The first .2 miles was downright delightful.

Then we were introduced to the Madison Gulf Trail.

It started with a steep downward slope of boulders. Then add a stream to the trail. Then add a touch of moss. Finally, a good dose of exhaustion. We motivated ourselves by visualizing the holy trinity of Shower, Pizza, and Beer.

Oh, that explains it. This was the DIRECT route.

We all learned about Harrison’s fear of collapsing structures. This one surprised me more than his fear of stolen carabiners. However, we all crossed without incident.

Originally I thought there would be an “after” photo to go with our “before” photo. But as we trickled into Pinkham Notch, each of us bolted to the showers. Dibble spent a few extra minutes “cherishing the trail” before joining the rest of us inside Joe Dodge Lodge.

We concluded the evening with a drive up to Cascade for Mary’s Pizza (epic!) and beer, back to Zealand trailhead to pick up Moe and Emily’s car, and to the trading post for gelato. Then lights out at the usual 9:30ish.