Mountains Under Foot

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 111: August 28, 2009
Travel:
From: Poplar Ridge Lean-to, ME
To: Stratton, ME
Beginning: 5:50am
Ending: 3:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 21.5
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 1990.4 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Really, really cold when I woke up. Just wanted to get hiking to warm up.
PM: Sunny and got to low 70s I think by mid-afternoon.
People: College orientation group (Bowden College), our hitch to town, Gail from White Wolf Inn. Crocstar & UCOC.
Animals: South Crocker Toad
Money: $30 room for two nights ($117/4), $10 snacks and ice cream from grocery, $10 for fish fry special. $1964 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Spoon and I woke up to the coldest morning on the trail thus far and immediately layered ourselves with as much clothing we could get our hands on. It had to be close to the freezing mark because everything I touched felt like ice and my fingers were getting numb. We packed up the tent and our stuff as quickly as possible so we could get moving on the trail to try and get warm. We left camp with UCOC just stirring and Crocstar fast asleep under Spoon’s Dry Fly. Only a few minutes into the hike I came to the sign for Poplar Ridge and a spectacular burst of red, orange, pink, and yellow as the sun crept over the mountains in the distance. It was a really amazing way to start off the day. I also took off my Marmot because I was getting too hot and I realized that this morning was one of the only times on the trail I actually used my rain shell. The trail dropped down to Orbeton Stream where I forded and then followed its banks upstream before making a slight turn to head up the steep Lone Mtn. At the top, Spoon was waiting and eating a snack. I pulled out something in bar form and joined him. A few minutes later Nick came huffing up the trail and stopped for a minute to hydrate. He was surprised that we had booked it out of camp so early and the only way he was able to catch up so fast was because he still couldn’t eat breakfast in the morning due to the Lyme medication. I asked about Croc and Nick said he was still asleep when he left and we all laughed wondering when he would wake up and realize everyone was gone. The trail from Lone Mtn to Spaulding and then Sugarloaf seemed all too easy and Spoon and I had an early lunch at the trailhead to Sugarloaf summit around 10:30 am with only 10 miles to go. We ate peanut butter and crackers while Nick, who really wanted to get into town, moved on by snacking while he walked to make the best time. He ended up getting to the road around 2:30 in the afternoon beating us by an hour. After lunch, I called my Dad to discuss our final arrangements for pickup at Katahdin while I headed down to the Carrabassett River. Before it got too steep I hung up and concentrated on not tumbling down some jagged rocks. Spoon was waiting on the other side of the river. I forded the river over some planks thrown between a few of the larger rocks to make it across without getting my feet wet. We filled up on water in the swift moving river. I later learned from Croc that the Carrabassett swept away the pop-top to his 1-liter Platypus which means he had to rethink how he managed his water supply.

PM: From the river we had to gain roughly 2000 feet in just over two miles to the top of South Crocker Mtn. which resulted in some pretty steep sections to get to the top. On my way up I stopped for a moment on a rocky stair climb and looked over to see a toad staring at me from under a rock. He sat, unmoving, judging me for being so slow and out of breath. The top of South Crocker was not the end by any means and I had to hike over the mile long saddle to reach the slightly higher peak of North Crocker where Spoon had taken a break. All that was left was a long and steep descent down the mountain to Maine 27 where we got picked up in a matter of minutes. This road had a great reputation for being a great spot to hitch a ride. UCOC got picked up by Susan who runs the hiker hostel in Stratton when some other hikers he met at the road had called her and he was in the right place at the right time. Crocstar later told us that he got a ride without even putting his thumb out by a guy going the opposite direction. He’s got a gift. Our hitch offered Spoon a beer which he gladly accepted, while she knocked one back and they both sang Space Oddity at full volume as we rolled into town. The song wasn’t over when we got to the White Wolf Inn parking lot so Spoon and our hitch belted out the final verses as UCOC wandered over and stared in amazement. He wasn’t sure if we were going to have a hard time meeting back up in town since he didn’t have a phone, but he said there was no way anyone could have missed hearing us coming. I went into the Inn and booked us a room for two nights since we had all unanimously agreed to take a zero day in Stratton for a few reasons:

1. Spoon, Crocstar, and I had not taken a zero day since our break in New York City.
2. Tropical Storm Danny was forcasted to hit the Maine coast tomorrow along with a cold front bringing rain from the west. We did not want to be hiking in that.
3. Our bodies were just plain worn out. I for one felt like my body was falling apart.

Crocstar finally called me around 5:00 pm letting me know he was in town. I directed him to our room and he told us that he ended up sleeping pretty late into the morning and that his ribs were hurting him pretty bad today slowing him down. The Inn was pretty small, only having 10 rooms available, but on the first floor was their restaurant which served daily dinner specials. Tonight’s special was a fish fry of fried halibut with french fries and cole slaw for around nine bucks, but the real kicker was that an entire second plate of food was on the house! Crocstar and I killed off two plates each of food while Spoon ordered the Wolf Burger which featured a sausage patty in addition to the beef. After dinner we went to Fotter’s Market to pick up beer and I bought some Ben & Jerry’s that ended up being a huge mistake because I went to bed with a nasty stomach ache. That really didn’t bother me too much because I knew when I woke up tomorrow I didn’t have to move if I didn’t want to or hike 20 miles in the rain.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 110: August 27, 2009
Travel:
From: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to, ME
To: Poplar Ridge Lean-to, ME
Beginning: 8:00am
Ending: 5:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 20.1
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 1968.9
Weather:
AM & PM: Sunny and beautiful. Really windy from Saddleback to Saddleback Jr.
People: Ridge Runner, Houdini, Braid, packed shelter.
Animals:
Money: $0
Notes of the day:
AM: There was no rush getting up this morning since we had gotten up so early the previous morning. The other hikers were talking last night about the four or so miles of alpine hiking we would encounter today so the anticipation was high. The weather was also looking really great early on so I was feeling good about being on the trail. The first five miles of the morning were cake as we meandered around various ponds not gaining or losing much elevation and walking on soft pine straw covered trail. It wasn’t long before we were able to spot the bald mountain top of Saddleback in the distance. When we popped out of the woods onto Maine 4 (to Rangeley) a huge road construction project was underway making a big mess. It was a good thing we didn’t need to get into town here because it looked like a hitch would be pretty tough. Just on the other side of the road an ATTENTION sign warns hikers of the tough miles ahead, to be prepared for sudden weather and temperature changes in the alpine zone, and to make sure you start your hike early enough to get off the mountain in time. I crossed over the Sandy River and switchbacked up the mountain towards Piazza Rock Lean-to thinking I only had a mile to go from the road. When you’ve hiked as long as we have, you get a good sense of what a mile feels like and after 30 minutes I was wondering what I did wrong to not be at the shelter by then. I pulled out my camera and checked the picture I took of the sign back at the road and found out I misread 1.8 to be 1.0. The Piazza Rock camping area was really confusing. I read the information board and looked at the trail signs and couldn’t readily decipher which way the lean-to was located so I took a chance on a side trail that I heard voices coming from. An interesting note about this shelter is that it was constructed by MATC’s team of maintainers from L.L. Bean and has a caretaker on site. I pulled myself up a steep hill looking for this shelter and ended up looking up at Piazza Rock and the small group of people taking pictures with it. I rushed back down the hill a little frustrated and picked another trail that looked like a better bet and finally walked up on the rest of the guys taking a break in the shelter.

PM: While we ate lunch I read an article from a MATC newsletter left in the shelter about the new sign that replaced the existing one on top of Katahdin. Crocstar wondered what the temperature was considering that it still felt chilly for midday. So I pulled out my camera and zoomed in on my picture of the information board which had a thermometer to give him a reading of upper 50s. He told me I take too many pictures and everyone had a good laugh. From the shelter we had 2000′ of vertical to cover in four miles to get up to Saddleback Mtn. The trail was still riddled with pools of water and mud but naturally the closer to the top we got the drier and rocker the trail became. Once I broke treeline, the wind really picked up, blowing so hard I had to pull my hat off and carry it in my hand so it wouldn’t get blown off the mountain. On my way up I ran into a Ridge Runner who gave me the scoop on what to expect ahead on the trail. From there, I followed the rock cairns slowly building my way to the top of Saddleback – the first of three peaks on the same ridge. At the bottom of the ridge I could see a ski resort and looking ahead The Horn. I kept hiking onward trying to catch the guys in front of me. The trail was pretty demanding as the cold wind cut through my sweaty clothes and rocky terrain required you to be aware of every step. Spoon was waiting for me at The Horn and encouraged me to pick things up because it was starting to get late and the other guys were well ahead. I kept pace with him up Saddleback Junior and then down a treacherous descent out of the alpine zone where I could finally put on my hat. A short time later I knew we were getting close to the shelter because I caught the smell of the privy in the air. The shelter was already full of hikers and many more had set up their tents in the few flat parcels of ground including Crocstar and Nick. Spoon and I found a relatively flat piece of ground right up against the rear of the shelter but I ended up sleeping on a root anyway. We sat around the campfire cooking dinner and conversing with the other hikers and found out two people were from North Carolina. Houdini works at the Cary REI and a guy named Braid said he lived in Durham. I would later realize that Braid was Joe Liles who’s blog was passed on to me by my friend Lauren a former students from the School of Science and Math. Here is a snippet from his blog:

“More hikers kept piling in including Spoon and Hazard, two young “maniac” hikers from Raleigh, NC. We hit it off just great. The lean-to was surrounded by tents for the overflow crowd. We had a campfire that night. Just as everyone was turning in for the night, I pulled out my harmonica and entertained everyone with the “I am a Hiker” song.”

Spoon joined in on the chorus and we all jammed out to Braid’s original song and then went to bed. It was already starting to get really cold so I had a feeling tomorrow morning was going to be a frigid one.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 109: August 26, 2009
Travel:
From: Hall Mtn Lean-to, ME
To: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to, ME
Beginning: 5:30am
Ending: 4:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 21.1
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 1948.8 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Overcast in the early morning. Started to drizzle once I got over Old Blue Mtn.
PM: Sun finally came out in the late afternoon.
People: Girl at Bemis Shelter, Trampoline, Another Harvard freshman orientation group, Phoenix, old dudes.
Animals: A vole/weasel/rodent type creature.
Money: $0
Notes of the day:
AM: I think we were all awake shortly after 5:00 am because it was still dark and cold. Once again we were the first group on the trail after a quick breakfast. It was still a little dark by the time we made our way down the mountain, following Sawyer Brook. I made a stop to fill up my Camelbak from the fast moving, crisp stream in preparation for Moody Mtn. Moody was surprisingly difficult in that the trail had been washed out by heavy erosion and a new temporary trail marked by orange flags navigated us around the damaged trail. Since this was a new reroute we had to do a lot of bushwhacking up the mountain before finally rejoining the AT. By the time we got to the top, the sun was still reluctant to come out, which didn’t look good for us. Spoon was waiting for me at South Arm Rd at the bottom of Moody Mtn. I crossed Black Brook and asked him what was going on. Crocstar and Nick had just left from taking a break and Spoon wanted someone to chat with while going up Old Blue Mtn. It didn’t take too long before he was speeding up the mountain, leaving me in the dust. At the summit, it started to rain, so with great dismay I put my camera in my dry bag inside my pack. No more pictures today. At the bottom of the mountain I ran into Spoon stopped at the Bemis Stream Trail junction. I joined him in a snack and he told me that he wasn’t feeling very motivated to hike today and needed someone to help pick him up. We cruised up the Bemis Range and towards the top we both jumped out of our skins when a large rodent-like creature tore off into the woods. The misty rain continued even as we stopped at Bemis Mtn Lean-to for lunch. A girl heading south was slackpacking today but her pack looked really full. She told us that since she had an empty backpack that she had no excuse not to pack out the huge garbage bag left at the shelter. Pretty awesome in my book.

PM: All through lunch Spoon was talking about how he didn’t think he could keep going and just general un-motivating negativity. The weather report when we were last in town had indicated that thunderstorms where coming in later this afternoon and the motivation for getting up crazy early was to get all of the hiking done before they came through. Even though it was already misting, I didn’t want to be on the trail when things got worse, so I told him as soon as my bag was packed I was headed out. Sometimes the situation requires that you hike regardless of how you feel and you have to suck it up. After I left the shelter, I didn’t see him the rest of the day until he walked into camp later that afternoon. I walked through the misty mountain tops where the trail ran across a long section of flat rock, down some tricky downhill, until I hit Bemis Stream. I little rock hopping got me across the stream and I made my way back up to Maine 17. Before I made it to the road I ran into another hiker that I knew I had seen before but he was going the opposite direction. It was Trampoline who we met way back around Boiling Springs and he was finishing his thru-hike on a flip-flop. I wished him luck and trucked it up the hill to the road. The sun was surprisingly starting to come out and by the time I got to the road, I was soaking up big rays and blue skies. Sitting on top of some rocks next to the road was another group of 10-12 college age students so at this point I could safely assume it was another freshman orientation group and I asked them from what school were they from. The guy who was apparently running the show turned to me and said in a drawn out pompous tone, “Haaarvaaard” and before I could engage in any kind of small talk he dismissed me, “Have a nice hike”. I shut my mouth and hiked on. I wouldn’t want to ruin his group’s wilderness experience with my funny clothes and funky smell. I had an easy 3.7 mile hike around Moxie and Long Pond over flat terrain, only having to high step through some deep mud pits running up the middle of the trail. After nearly losing my foot to a particularly deep mud pit, I finally arrived to Sabbath Day Pond and the shelter that was a couple hundred feet back into the woods. Crocstar and Nick were relaxing in the shelter and starting to cook dinner. Spoon arrived shortly afterwords and he was sour for a few minutes before lightening up and smiling and joking around again. I think the sunny afternoon and evening really made a difference in the mood. Later on, a guy named Phoenix came into camp wearing a Carolina Panthers jersey and muddy Crocs. He told us that he had been hiking just about the entire trail in his Crocs and it showed. His feet were stained with dirt. He said after days of washing over a series of zero days he still couldn’t get his feet clean. He was also chock full of trail knowledge and the type of hiker that made sure you knew it. Some middle-aged gentleman came into camp who knew Phoenix and later some other hikers came in and had trouble finding a place for their tent so we squeezed them into the shelter. It got rather cold overnight, which I guess we can start to expect in the nights to come in Maine. The cold front that was supposed to bring the rain probably helped a bit.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 108: August 25, 2009
Travel:
From: ME 26; Grafton Notch, ME
To: Hall Mtn Lean-to, ME
Beginning: 7:20am
Ending: 3:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 16.3
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 1927.7 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Cool morning.
PM: Sunny and beautiful.
People: Peter, Harvard freshman orientation group.
Animals: Moose scat.
Money: $5 breakfast, $1914 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: We had to get moving pretty fast this morning. We cleaned up all the mess we made, tidied up, and consolidated all of the trash we inevitably create from repackaging food and stuffing our boots full of newspaper. Peter went to retrieve our clothes left in the dryer overnight. We were having trouble getting them dry last night and they ended up staying a little moist which Peter apologized for, but was really unnecessary since it wasn’t a problem at all. I put on my moist clothes and they were dry by the time I got to the trailhead where I would end up soaking them with sweat anyhow. We piled into the truck and headed back towards Grafton Notch. We stopped at a gas station to grab some quick breakfast food. I picked up a breakfast biscuit and a Gatorade to scarf back in the truck. At the parking lot at Grafton Notch we thanked Peter for taking care of us and all of his hospitality. Seriously, thank you Peter for rescuing us out of our funk. The previous four days really drained our spirits and this was exactly what we needed to keep moving through Maine. We threw our packs on and made our way up the trail which would take us straight up to Baldpate Mtn. Just like many mountains before this one, the beginning of the climb was really gradual and then turned into a super steep climb up what felt like a vertical river bed. The ground and rocks still soaked from the day before and the sun breaking through the trees helped it get really humid on our climb up to the top. Once on Baldpate’s west peak we could clearly see across the saddle to the higher east peak. I could see the trail snaking across the saddle but couldn’t figure out where it went once it passed tree line on the east peak. Spoon, Nick, and I cruised over the saddle and spotted Crocstar beginning his climb up the treeless mountainside. The trail traversed diagonally across the side of the mountain but it still felt like we were going straight up. At the top we made up some drink mix (really cool crystal light stuff) and had a snack while taking in the beautiful views and soaking up the best weather we had seen in a really long time. We all left at slightly different times from the top and as I came down the backside of Baldpate a bunch of hikers were headed up. I smiled and said “Hi” to them as we passed and then a guy stops me and says, “You must be Hazard.” He said his name was The Rabbit who we had been following for months and enjoying his drawings in the trail registers at the start of our trek. He had come off the trail and was now flip-flopping, intent on finishing the trail. After chatting with him for a bit, I continued down the steep, wet rock, descent to Frye Notch Lean-to. We had an early lunch while lounging around the shelter. The privy had an interesting anomaly where the bottom was covered with chicken wire but after reading the sign posted on the door, “Latch the door when leaving or porcupines will eat this building”, it all made sense. Nick went down to the spring to fill his water and didn’t bother to take any bleach with him. I asked him if he wanted to treat his water with anything and he figured that with all the antibiotics he was taking to kill his Lyme that he was immune to Giardia. All of us joked around at the fact that Nick was saying that anything entering his stomach would die on contact. After leaving the shelter we hiked over a small hill to end up at the top of Dunn Falls where we took another short break before moving on to East B Hill Rd, which most hikers hitch into Andover.

PM: Since we took the stop at Grafton Notch we no longer needed to go into Andover. The rest of the day was fairly easy, walking around Surplus Pond, and then gradually making our way over Wyman Mtn. then crossing over to Hall Mtn. where we would stay at the shelter sitting on the side of the mountain. We got to the shelter relatively early in the afternoon because we usually don’t want to do heavy miles coming out of town. This gave us plenty of time to rest, cook dinner whenever we wanted, and build a fire. A few other groups of thru-hikers dotted the camping area around us leaving the shelter entirely to us for the night. That evening a freshman orientation group from Harvard came wandering into camp from the north and made a bunch of noise setting up their gear behind the shelter. Crocstar poked fun at them for wasting their time doing their undergraduate degree at an Ivy League school. We joked that they certainly didn’t get into Harvard for their wilderness skills. It was a relaxing evening where it felt good to be back on the trail, not having to hide and suffer from the elements.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 107: August 24, 2009
Travel:
From: Carlo Col Shelter, ME
To: ME 26; Grafton Notch, ME
Beginning: 6:30am
Ending: 4:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 14.1
b) other – .3 back to trail
c) AT Mile Marker – 1911.4 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Rainy all morning. It rained three separate times during the day.
PM: Sun finally came out late in the afternoon.
People: Peter Bingham (Crocstar’s second cousin)
Animals:
Money: $0, $1909 cumulative
Notes of the day:
AM: Another dreary day was in the making as the sun came up and revealed the gray clouds still hanging over us. For a minute during breakfast someone thought they caught a hint of blue sky, but it quickly disappeared. I always dread the moment in the morning when I have to put back on my wet clothes from the previous day. You really can’t expect anything to dry on the east coast no matter what the conditions are. Our stuff was so wet that for the first time Spoon decided to just wear his board shorts and stuff his soaking long pants into his pack. Our crew was the first group out of camp, leaving the rest of the hikers still asleep in their warm sleeping bags. We still had a few mountain tops to clear before we faced the infamous Mahoosuc Notch and Arm. The rain started to come down as we made our way over Mt. Carlo and continued on through Goose Eye Mtn east and north peak. All of the rain turned the trail into a string of deep puddles and soaked the many wooden platforms, stairs, and ladders making them slippery and dangerous. By the time we got to Full Goose Shelter the rain had almost come to a stop, but the damage had already been done. Nothing on us was even remotely dry and while I was taking care of business in the privy I wrung out my shirt and even my underwear to try and make a small difference in my comfort situation. I almost didn’t want to leave the funky privy just because it had four walls and kept the wind from cutting through me. The rest of the guys were sitting under the roof of the shelter while 6-7 hikers from the night before had hardly moved from their sleeping bags and were really reluctant to get started hiking that day, many of them joking about taking a zero day in the shelter. Before falling into the trap that a warm and dry shelter becomes we continued down the trail, descending into the Notch. The Mahoosuc Notch is widely considered the hardest mile on the entire AT because it sends hikers under, around, and through car and house sized boulders that had fallen into the notch from the steep walls on either side. It is famous for having ice throughout the year hidden in deep crevices and for moose falling down into the notch and getting stuck, eventually dying and decaying, leaving a nice pile of bones and hair. While you are traversing the notch, you have to follow the white blazes painted on the rocks to find the best/safest route from boulder to boulder. Trekking poles were pretty much useless in this section of the trail where it was really important to stay low and use your hands to stabilize yourself on the wet rock. So I guess it was a good thing I slipped earlier this morning, coming down on my left knee and breaking my only pole left. We saw some ice hidden under some rocks and a pile of moose bones that hikers seemed to have picked through for the coolest bones. The temperature changes through the notch were really out of control. It would be freezing cold one second and then you lift yourself over a rock and it would be unusually hot and humid the next. Spoon was having difficulty maneuvering over the rocks without his pole getting in the way so he collapsed them down and stuffed them in his pack. The problem with these poles was that they only had one section that was collapsible and fully retracted were still taller than his pack and continued to make his life difficult. He came to the decision that he would rather snap his poles into pieces and buy a new set of Leki poles while in town than deal with the ones he had any longer. He found a sturdy tree and broke the poles down into jagged pieces he could stuff in the side pockets of his pack. As we continued through the notch, crawling through gaps in between and under the rocks, the jagged bits started to tear holes in his pack cover just to make matters worse. It took us an hour and fifteen minutes to make it the one mile across the notch. As we were leaving a guy and his dog were just starting and it concerned me that this guy expected his dog to make it over such rough terrain. There are a few places that he would have to lift or lower his dog himself just for it to have a chance to make it over an obstacle. As we started to make our way up the Mahoosuc Arm we ran into another large group like the one we met last night and could only wish them luck through the notch because it was starting to rain again and things would only get more hairy.

PM: The Mahoosuc Arm is the 1600′ climb straight out of the canyon that also doesn’t hold back the difficulty level. We had to use the exposed roots coming over the trail like stair steps to make it up the waterfall coming down the smooth rocks. As we approached Speck Pond and its shelter the rain really picked up and pounded us for a good couple of minutes before we could reach the shelter. The sun had come out for a little while coming up the Arm and I was closing in on a reasonable level of comfortableness before the rain came down and ruined that. Soaked once again, we sat in the shelter eating the last scraps of our food for the final push of the day which would take us up Old Speck. There was another hiker in the shelter who was going SOBO and told us that the section ahead was pretty easy and that we didn’t need to worry. Boy was he a liar. The rain backed off again and we left the shelter hoping it would stay away for good. Right about the time we broke treeline and started our steep climb up the exposed face of the mountain the wind and rain picked up, wrapping us in a dark shroud of suckitude. I could barely see where I was going and the wind cut through my clothes like there was nothing there. Spoon who had been moving pretty slow earlier was now behind me and out of my sight. Crocstar and Nick had sped up the mountain and I lost sight of them as they went over the peak. Thankfully, once I was off of the exposed mountainside, the trees blocked most of the freezing wind and it was only 3.5 miles downhill to Grafton Notch. I basically just let my mind wander while I hiked down the mountain and then I pulled out my iPod because I still had Crocstar’s earbuds from him letting me borrow them last night. A little bit of heavy metal really helped take the edge off of the day and make the last part of the hike go by much faster. I must have been really tired or a little disoriented because I miss-stepped multiple times, ending up on my back at one point, just before reaching Grafton Notch. When I popped out of the woods into the parking lot, Crocstar introduced me to his cousin Peter who would be putting us up for the night in his ski condo. Spoon arrived shortly afterwords and in the interest of time we piled into the truck and headed towards town. We got to the outfitter with just enough time to pick up some supplies; Croc got some fuel, Spoon bought his new poles, and I attempted to get my broken poles finally fixed. The guy at the outfitter had only non-shock bottom sections and he couldn’t get the broken piece of pole out of the middle section of the shaft in one of my poles so I ended up leaving with only one pole fixed and the piece to complete my other pole if I were to ever get the metal out of the middle section. We then made our way to the pharmacy so Nick could get a refill on his Lyme pills since what he had were water damaged coming off Mt. Madison. Next was to get resupplied at the grocery store. Spoon and I also bought Crocstar a wicked cake and ice cream to properly celebrate his birthday. We then made our way to Peter’s ski condo where we had some issues in finding a key to get us inside the building. But once that was all taken care of we split off to take showers and get laundry going so we could go out for dinner. Peter treated us to some food and spirits at a popular restaurant at the bottom of the mountain, which for being in the off season, wasn’t very crowded. I had some pretty excellent barbecue for being in Maine and Peter shared some of his ribs with us. It was really cool to hear some of Peter’s stories of his own personal travel as well as relating our own adventures. After dinner we smashed back into the pickup to eat cake and ice cream at the condo. We repackaged food and watched a little TV before retiring to our bunk beds. We would need to get up at dawn to make sure we were ready to go for Peter to give us a ride back to the trail in the morning.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 106: August 23, 2009
Travel:
From: US 2; Gorham, NH
To: Carlo Col Shelter, ME
Beginning: 7:30am
Ending: 4:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 16.9
b) other – .3 to shelter
c) AT Mile Marker – 1897.3 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Overcast with bursts of sunlight periodically.
PM: Drizzle starting just before we entered Maine. Tapered off by the time we got to the shelter.
People: Hitch to trail (owner), trio of French Canadians, Old guys, large crew of newbies.
Animals: I think they were hiding from the rain.
Money: $0, $1909 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: The owner of the hostel told us last night that if we wanted a ride back to the trail we needed to be ready to go at 7:00 am. By 7:30 am, we were setting out from Hogan Rd to finish what was left of New Hampshire and enter our final state of Maine. Sadly, for the third day in a row, the weather had no sympathy for our milestones and we expected rain to fall at any time. It was really just a race in the morning to see how many miles we could do at a reasonable level of dryness before we got soaked and miserable again. It seemed to take forever to get to the top of Mt. Hayes and the start of the Mahoosuc Trail. The rest of the morning we snaked our way over Cascade Mtn. and around Dream Lake and past Moss Pond until all four of us ended up at the sign for the side trail to Gentian Pond Shelter. Crocstar was waiting there eating one of his hourly snacks with Nick when Spoon and I arrived. Just as we broke out the peanut butter and crackers it started to drizzle. Frustrated with the timing of the whole thing, I stuffed some crackers in my pocket and a spoon full of peanut butter in my mouth and got my pack cover on to continue hiking. The only thing worse than hiking in the rain is sitting in the rain.

PM: From there it was a long three miles to the exposed summit of Mt. Success. On a day like this, it was hard to feel successful while the cold rain fell. On the way down Mt. Success we passed a huge group of hikers that were lead by a guy that seemed to know very little about backpacking and the area around him. It was a classic case of the blind leading the blind. After we passed them, there were a few sections coming down that we had to just throw our poles over the edge of the rocky cliff and lower ourselves down with our arms. There just wasn’t a super safe way to negotiate the trail when it’s wet and slick. At the base was a small sign that marked our arrival to our last leg of the trail. It stated, “Maine – The way life should be”, which seemed like a big joke given the current conditions. Crocstar took a few blind pictures since the LCD on his camera was broken for the second time on the trip and my camera was still out of commission from the storm off of Mt. Madison a few days back. While we had intended to go another five miles to Full Goose Shelter, we all were just done with the day and decided to cut it short and stay at Carlo Col Shelter instead. When we arrived, the rain took a break because it knew we had shelter and there was no reason to keep raining when there are no hikers to get soaked. The shelter already had a trio of French Canadians cooking dinner and conversing in French. It became apparent that we were really close to the Canadian border at that point and that Canadians actually like to travel to the US for a week long vacation in the woods. A couple of old guys were also staying at the shelter tonight but were out on a trip that was a lot longer and more open ended. They were very vague about where they started and where they were headed. We peeled off our wet stuff and hung everything up the best we could inside the shelter. Spoon and I made about 6 people’s worth of food, completely filling our 1.5 liter pot with pasta left over from our resupply in Lincoln. Since we stayed in the huts two nights and made it through the Whites really fast and were set to resupply tomorrow night, we didn’t want to carry more food than we had to through Mahoosuc Notch and Arm. After about two hours the large group that we passed maybe two miles from the shelter finally came into camp looking really burnt out. Thankfully they chose to set up their tents on the tent pads behind the shelter rather than disturb the people in the shelter. That night I played around with my camera because I felt like I had nothing to lose since it wouldn’t turn on in the first place and monkeyed around with the lens cover such that the lens actually extended when I pressed the On/Off button. I guess the moisture created a seal such that there was enough resistance for the lens to not extend on its own. Once I pried it open, it operated normally. One small victory in an uneventful day. Crocstar and I checked out his pictures by putting his memory card in my camera (since his LCD was broken) and then I made a call to my Mom and Catherine before calling it a day.