Month: July 2013

Miles today: 6.9

Total miles: 298.3

TOWN TODAY! The thought of getting to town is always a huge motivator. As I hike towards town, I begin fantasizing about the burger I will devour, the soft bed I’ll sleep in, the hot shower I will take, and the clean clothes I’ll have after doing laundry. I wasn’t feeling well this morning, but these thoughts helped occupy my mind as I climbed the two mountains on the way into Gorham. An added bonus was that my wonderful parents would be meeting me in Gorham, so that helped the miles fly by.

I got to town by about 10 am after leaving around 630. It was a weird entry into town–usually the trail crosses a road and if you want to go into town you stop at that road and hitchhike into town. But Gorham was different. The trail actually followed a few roads, so I followed white blazes that were on the backs of street signs, walking by houses with cars passing me. I was very confused and thought I was going the wrong way a couple times. I also must have looked very homeless, all dirty walking with my backpack along the roadside. 

I got to town and waited for my parents to arrive. It’d been a month since they dropped me off at Katahdin and in some ways it seems like just yesterday. But when I think of all that has happened and how far I’ve walked it seems like ages ago. Also, now, to trace my progress on a map you actually have to move your finger a little bit, rather than just place your finger and the distance I’ve walked be entirely covered by your fingertip. I was so excited to see my mom and dad and give them big smelly hugs. It was also nice to introduce my hiking family to them.

I’ve spent the past day and a half catching up with my parents, relaxing, and eating a lot (obviously). It’s been so nice and refreshing. I’m very content here and somewhat don’t want to get hiking again–mainly because the next section is going to be very difficult. We have the White Mountains of New Hampshire ahead of us. It’ll be miles and miles up huuuuge ups and downs day after day.

Also, there aren’t shelters in the Whites as there have been along the entire trail. There are some limited campsites and then there are huts. The huts are intended more for families and weekend hikers, who dish out big bucks (in the range of nearly $100) to stay in these huts in the mountains with no frills. Thru-hikers have the option of trying to do a work for stay in these huts. A work for stay is when you do chores, like washing the dishes, in exchange for getting a spot to sleep on the floor in the hut. However, these work for stay spots are super competitive–there are far more thru-hikers than work for stay availability. You can’t count on getting to a hut and getting to stay there, so you may get there and be told it’s full and you’ll have to hike on. I’m nervous about this uncertainty in addition to the tough terrain. At the same time, I’m excited for the beautiful views and to be in a place where I’ve hiked before. It’s comforting to be in the Whites, a place where I’ve hiked a bit and it feels familiar. It’ll be a tough week or week and a half, perhaps the toughest of the trip, so I’m both excited and nervous. Wish me luck!

Miles today: 10.1

Total miles: 291.4

I was excited to get going this morning because only 0.5 miles from the shelter was the Maine-New Hampshire border. I feel like I’ve been hiking forever but am still in Maine, so crossing the border is evidence that I actually have been making progress. I set off a little before everyone else and had some time at the border by myself. I got a chance to reflect and recognize how far I’ve come. I waited for Blue and Google and we had a little celebration and took photos when they got there.

I was still tired from the Notch and Arm and overall long day the day before so hiking was tougher than usual. It was a rare day of low morale for me. I was just tired, physically and mentally, and hiking felt much more difficult than usual. We haven’t been doing big miles at all lately, but for some reason it’s worn me out quite a bit nonetheless. I pushed through it as best I could. Blue and Google wanted to go past the campsite where I wanted to stay because they wanted to get closer to town (Gorham, NH) where we were going to stay. I was so beat though that I really didn’t want to go anymore than the ten miles to the campsite, but I also didn’t want to stay at the campsite by myself so I just silently hoped they’d later decide not to push on.

With just one mile left until the campsite, and still struggling to motivate myself, I got a little lost. At a pond, it was unclear which way the trail went. There was some weird side trail that made a loop right along the edge of the pond. I took this trail, thinking it was the AT and was walking on the roots of plants by the side of the pond to avoid the huge pits of mud the edged the water. Well, I took one wrong step and my foot slid into the mud, followed by the rest of my leg and body. I basically ended up sitting in the edge of the mud pit that seemed to be endlessly deep. If I hadn’t caught myself, I think the mud would have been above my waist.

I was so frustrated. At this point I had realized I was off the trail going the wrong way so I was already confused and annoyed (plus my exhaustion and low morale) and then to top it off I was now covered in mud. I just sat there for a second and laughed at how pathetic this situation was. I couldn’t do anything about it so I got up, shoes and socks completely brown and gooey, my legs totally covered in mud, and turned back to the last place where I knew I was on the trail. Once I got back to the last white blaze I ran into a new hiker friend, Curly, I’d met the previous night. He was sitting on a rock and I was so sad and pathetic looking and just said to him, “I fell in a mud pit.” He extended his hand, revealing a pile of juicy blueberries, and asked, “want one?” Well that sure made me feel better. He was sitting on the rock right by a blueberry bush with hundreds of ripe blueberries. We sat and picked them in silence and I felt a lot better and happier. 

The next mile to the campsite wasn’t bad and I’d decided I’d stay there regardless of what Blue and Google were doing. Well, much to my surprise and delight, when I arrived, they were setting up their tents. They’d decided they were tired and it wasn’t worth going any further today. I was so happy I would have company at the campsite and that I didn’t have to walk anymore. Also, it was early in the day still so I had the afternoon to rest, snack, and read, which helped make a tough day better. 

As we ate dinner, we were discussing how we missed Wolf Bird and Shuffle and were wondering when they’d catch up to us (it’d been three days since we’d seen them). Just as we were talking about it, they strolled into camp! It was a great reunion as we all sat and caught about what happened in the past couple days, poking fun at each other and reviving that great group dynamic we have. 

Miles today: 10.6

Total miles: 281.3

Today was a big day. We had Mahoosuc Arm and Mahoosuc Notch to complete. In our guide book under Mahoosuc Notch, the text reads, “Most difficult or fun mile of the AT. Make way through jumbled pit of boulders.” Northbounders since Katahdin have been hyping up the Notch and Arm to be fun but really tough. People really build up this part of the trail so it was like we were finally about to encounter this legendary and impossibly tough part of the AT. I was nervous and excited.

On the way down from Old Speck Mountain we stopped at the first shelter to get water. This shelter was unique in that it had a caretaker who lives at the shelter for the summer helping to maintain it. I talked to the caretaker, a guy in his 20s, and after chatting for a bit discovered he lived just a couple streets away from me in Jamaica Plain this past year. He knew my street and said it was part of his running route. It was a crazy coincidence especially in meeting literally in the middle of the woods miles to the nearest road. 

After that first shelter, we got to Mahoosuc Arm. For us Southbounders, the Arm is a steep and long downhill mostly consisting of slick slabs of granite (for northbounders it is a tough uphill…obviously). What makes it so difficult is that the rock offers little in the way of footholds and the rock is often wet making it even more dangerous and slippery. Some hikers we passed right before it said we should just take out our sleeping pads and sled down it. Ha. It actually wasn’t as scary or difficult as I’d imagined, which was a relief. I took my time going very slowly and did a lot of butt-sliding down the parts that were steeper. It took a lot of concentration, but finally after an hour or two of descent, I successfully made it to the bottom. Onto the Notch!

I’d been nervous for Mahoosuc Notch since even before I fully committed to hiking the AT. The fact that it’s the most difficult mile out of 2000+ miles made me imagine the worst. How do you declare a single mile the most difficult? And what sick people would argue it’s the most fun mile?! My worries turned out to be unfounded as upon completing the notch I found myself allied with the latter group–finding it far more fun than difficult.

The trail through the Notch cannot even be called a trail. Imagine a plane came and just dumped hundreds of HUGE boulders for a mile straight, letting them stack on top of each other every which way. Then, imagine someone just drew a line zigzagging through this maze of boulders, under some, over some, through caves, etc. This is the trail. I didn’t take any pictures unfortunately… because I was doing so much climbing and descending, but I’ll post photos from online. It took a lot of hoisting myself up over huge rocks, then butt sliding down others, then crawling through narrow caves where I had to take my pack off to fit through. The caves were deep, dark, and freezing cold sheltered from the sun. There was still ice from winter in some of them. IN JULY! What?! Some of the crevices between the boulders looked like they descended into darkness forever so I mostly did not look down.

Google and Cool Blue stuck with me throughout the Notch, which I was so grateful for. They helped me navigate over tougher parts and offered me their hand if I needed it. It was also more fun doing it together in a group. It was like a giant jungle gym and gave me an upper body workout for a change. We made it through in an hour and a half, beating a northbounder’s 2 hour time.. HA! We high fived at the end and continued onto the next shelter. 

We had to climb the Goose Eyes, two big mountain peaks. It was a tough follow up to the physically demanding Notch and Arm. It took a lot of determination and forcing myself to go on when I thought I couldn’t to get through those last two mountains. Finally we got to the shelter and I could not wait to get to bed. I went to bed feeling happy and accomplished at having completed the ‘hardest mile’ and then some.

Miles today: 13.8

Total miles: 270.7

It was just me, Cool Blue, and Google hiking together all day today. Shuffle and Wolf Bird had to wait for the post office to open back in town so they got a later start than us. 

We climbed the Baldpate Mountains, which were beautiful. It was cold and windy on top and as I got to the summit I had a great view of a cloud drifting across other mountains toward Baldpate, covering the trees below me. It was surreal. After Baldpate we had a nice smooth downhill to Grafton Notch.

The boys always want to hike further and without Shuffle there to back me up in being lazy, they convinced me to push onto the top of Old Speck Mountain. A northbounder had told us he hiked to the top of Speck (about 0.3 up another trail not on the AT) and had the summit to himself. He said there was an observation tower with outstanding views and he stayed the night and highly recommended it. We decided to do the same. 

I hated that climb up Old Speck Mountain. From Grafton Notch, it was 3.8 miles to the top, which isn’t all that far. But the trail was at juuust enough of an incline to make you tired and out of breath, but not enough of an incline to make the trail steeper and thus shorter. So it was a prolonged, tiring uphill climb. It was also cold and rainy and by the time we got to the top I was exhausted. 

We hiked up to the summit for the fantastic views and were met with…. grey mist. We were basically in a cloud and could not see anything except for the trees directly around us. It was also freezing and windy. Soo we quickly set up camp among some trees for shelter, made dinner, and went to bed. Even though it didn’t rain at all, it was one of our wettest nights with the wind blowing the condensation off the trees onto our tents all night long. In the morning there was still no view. Oh well, at least the thought of potential views pushed us to go further than we otherwise would have.

Miles today: 10.1

Total Miles: 256.9

Yesterday ended with a relentless and steep downhill so of course this morning began with a steep uphill. Luckily it wasn’t as long, but we went right back down and then right back up again. These mountains aren’t kidding around. 

The day went by quickly. Our goal was to get to the road that goes into Andover, Maine so we could go into town to resupply at the store and go to the post office and then hitch back to the trail where we’d find a place to camp. 

I was behind the boys all day today, as usual, but luckily I wasn’t too far behind. As I saw the road into town through the trees I noticed a car stop and the boys begin loading their stuff in. They’d successfully secured a ride 9 miles into town! I screamed at them through the woods and ran downhill to catch them. I asked if there was room and my friendly hiking companions all said no. The driver was confused as there was clearly definitely extra room and I explained that they are just cruel people. Ha. We packed into the car as I yelled at them for being rude. The driver was actually a guy who’d started thru-hiking in Georgia earlier this year but hurt his foot so had to stop. But now it is healed and he is on a mission to hike the tallest peak in every state–he was doing Katahdin on this leg.  He said after hiking and having to hitchhike into towns he’s now vowed to always pick up hitchhikers. I’ve always been creeped out by the thought of picking up hitchhikers but now after having done it myself, I feel the same way.

Andover was a tiny town with just a general store, a few shops, and a post office. We resupplied, ate some real food and ice cream and relaxed for a little bit. Wolf Bird and Shuffle decided to stay the night for various reasons so Cool Blue, Google, and I hitched back to the trail.

We only had to wait about 1 minute and this guy in a pickup stopped for us. His dog was in the front seat so we loaded all of our bags into his already somewhat full bed of the truck. Then we had to also get into the bed of the truck. We were basically sitting on the tailgate… and he had this cover for the back of his truck that goes over his stuff that we had to hold up over our heads as he drove us the 9 miles. It was a funny sight and all the more comforting once we realized we were sitting on the obituary page of the newspaper. Once back at the trailhead we found a campsite right near the road and went to bed for another day of hiking tomorrow.

Day 23: Rangeley to Sabbath Day Pond Lean To
Miles today: 9.4
Total miles: 229.8
It sure was tough to get started hiking again after our relaxing lazy days in Rangeley. What made it even more difficult was the steady rain we woke up to. We’d considered getting an early start to do an 18 mile day but that plan was dropped pretty quickly once we saw the rain.

Our group tends to take long breaks and I think each of our lack of motivation and laziness is amplified when we are in a group. We lazed around in the hotel all morningjust watching tv and laying in bed, only venturing out in the rain to get food. Finally by 1 pm we worked up enough motivation and called a shuttle to take us to the trailhead by 130.

This was our first day hiking in the rain. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t exactly fun. Raincoats trap in your sweat so you’re hot yet also cold from the rain at the same time. And the mud was terrible. Luckily we only went a measly 9 miles to the first lean to. And the rain stopped by late afternoon. I walked by the lean to because the trail wasn’t well marked but luckily turned around and found it. But, me being the idiot that I am, walked right by the trail to it again when I went to get water. Goodness!

Day 24: sabbath day pond lean to to South Arm Road
Miles today: 17.0
Total miles: 246.8

It was cold this morning and started to rain again as we packed up and our laziness set in once again. We were pretty much ready to go but once the first raindrops fell we huddled up in the lean to, me in my sleeping bag and wolf bird and two older ladies queenie and dot com doing yoga. We lounged around for an hour or so until it cleared up a bit.

We climbed up Bemis Mountain for much for the morning which had three peaks. The trail was so wet and muddy from all the rain. It was a six to ten inch deep stream in some places. It took a significant amount of additional energy to hop from rock to root to whatever other footholds we could find to avoid our feet getting completely submerged. Of course my feet ended up soaked anyway. The trail was oddly windy (not wind as In a breeze but as in it looped back and forth). Wolf bird put it best when he said it was as if someone just threw out a piece of spaghetti and declared that the trail with all the twists and turns. Or as if a little kid drew a squiggle on a map. At times I felt like I was walking in a circle. However a highlight of my day was passing a family out on a day hike. They asked if I was hiking the whole trail and I told them yes. The mother looked so awed and then declared “wow you look great!” I most definitely did not as it was as I was sweatily trekking uphill however her sentiment put me in a good mood for a while. Everyday I stop and chat with passing hikers, both northbound thru hikers and day hikers like this family, and the short conversations never fail to brighten my day. The nobos always provide advice on the trail ahead or where to stay in towns and day hikers are usually so supportive and genuinely interested. Sometimes it makes me sad to meet the nobos because some, if not most, of them seem like such great people yet our relationship will never amount to more than a few minute conversation in the wilderness of Maine. It’s a bittersweet reality.

Anyway, after Bemis mountain the trail was flatter for a while. We took a very long and, yep you guessed it, lazy lunch break at a lean to. I’ve resorted to pullin out my sleeping bag on long breaks as I get cold when I stop moving.

Usually wolf bird and google lead our group. They are so fast tht I imagine they just run the trail. Cool blue follows them at a closer to normal but still fast pace. Then comes me and then shuffle. I imagine us as slow little caterpillars compared to them. Anyway today was a miraculous day in my life. I left the lean to after lunch behind google with wolf bird and cool blue a little behind me as they were still packing up. I figured they’d pass me In a few minutes as usual. However TWO HOURS later they still hadn’t passed me. I actually got scared someone was hurt because they always pass me easily. When we got to the top f the next mountain, wolf bird had just caught up to me and cool blue was no where in sight. And google got to the top of the mountain obly minutes before me. This may sound inconsequential but I can’t emphasize what a crazy happening this was. I am usually like an hour behind wolf bird and google. And today I kept pace with them. I can only attribute it to this new crystal light energy mix that I started using today. I don’t know what’s in that stuff but I’m now assuming steroids and possibly drugs because there is no other explanation for my ability to walk that fast (and also not really realize I was doing so).

The day ended with a super steep downhill that eliminated any and all cartilage that existed in my knees. We hiked the latest we have yet, until after 7 (keep in mind my bedtime is usually 8:30-8). It would have been earlier if we weren’t such lazy bums. It was a good day.

Miles today: 10.2
Total miles: 183.1

The boys caught up to us today! They hiked 20 miles yesterday and caught up with us around noon today. It was nice to be all back together again. It’s crazy how much we’ve become like a little family. The day was consumed by huge climbs up and over the bigelows. These 4000 footers are the biggest mountains we’ve climbed since day one Katahdin and after a 17 mile day yesterday my legs were sure feeling it.

The views were amazing and rewarding. We could see the ski trails of sugarloaf in the distance and other mountains and lakes all around. Our weather has continued to spoil us. We haven’t had one day of rain. We had maybe an hour of light drizzly rain a week or so ago but besides that it has been warm and sunny. I’m so grateful for the fantastic weather (although the days in the 90s certainly doesn’t make hiking easy). I feel almost guilty because we have talked to so many northbounders who had to hike in record breaking rains in June. One group last night said they had 19 days straight of rain. I’m hoping this dry sunny stretch lasts for as long as possible though! As I write this shuffle and wolf bird are talking about clouds forming and how it may rain tonight so I may have just jinxed us. Oh well.

Yep. It stormed hard. 60 mph winds and pouring rain. We abandoned our tents and stayed in the shelter just to be safe.

Miles today: 17.7
Total miles: 172.9

We got up early today and skipped the option of having pancakes at 7 in order to do more miles today (and save money). It’s just shuffle and I. We had to split from the boys because they went rafting yesterday and weren’t back in time to catch the ferry by four. I’m not too worried about them being able to catch up. It does feel like something’s missing though without them around.

Hiking today was generally good. Some uphills but nothing too extreme. It was our longest day to date! And I’m tired but not dead at the end of it like I was after previous long days. I must be building endurance!

Highlights of the day included scaring a camper so that she fell off a big bridge onto her butt. We also passed a 2000 mile marker for the northbounders which now means we have under 2000 miles to hike!! Obviously that’s still a ton but its exciting to see that number slowly go down. I also found and ate a bunch of ripe blueberries today. Tasty.

Also after hiking ten miles we stopped at west carry pond lean to for lunch. There we ran into our first trail magic! Trail magic is done by trail angels. People will leave food and drinks on or by the trail for hikers to take for free as they pass and the trail angel will later come pick up the trash. Our trail magic included homemade cookies and brownies, chips and salsa, and tootsie rolls. Judging by the trash we unfortunately missed out on pasta salad and franzia. After eating we actually got to meet our trail angel. An older man came to pick up the trash and said he and his wife live across the lake and leave treats a couple times a week. What sweet selfless people! They sure made my day a whole lot better.

I saw a snake today and about 20 frogs hopping along the trail. ‘twas a good day but I’m already sore. We have a big climb tomorrow up the bigelows. It’s only ten miles but it will be a tough day for sure.