Bartlett to Hanover

So, coming out of Bartlett was a blast. Around 5 or 6 I decided to hitch a ride back to the trailhead since I still needed to do about 3 miles that day to get to Ethan Pond Shelter. I could see that the sky was just basically black and blue the way I would be heading, and I was looking forward to some fun. I got a hitch basically right before it began to pour buckets. It was pouring rain, and I really couldn't pick out where the trailhead was to the guy I was getting a hitch from. Since he was in a hurry, and since I had no idea where the AT was, I got dropped off about a mile from where the trail intersected the road. At that time it was starting to thunder and lightning, but I luckily made it to the trailhead before the lightning got too close. I remember hearing thunder that day and every time I did I would throw my hiking poles so I didn't get electricuted, like it would actually make any difference.

Since it was around 50 degrees outside, pouring rain, and the weather report called for 30-50 mile per hour wind gusts on the ridges, I decided to take a zero day at the shelter. I was inside my zero degree sleeping bag all that day, trying to recover from the first few days of the Whites. It was probably a good decision on my part, since I heard later that a north bound thru hiker had second stage hypothermia on Franconia Ridge that day and had to be helped down the mountain to Greenleaf hut.

The next day I pulled a 12 mile day to Galehead hut. The weather was much improved from the previous day, and I got some great views from the top of Mt. Guyot. I could see all of Franconia Ridge and Garfield Mountain, and thought to myself that it wouldn't be that bad of a climb the next day. When I got to Galehead hut, around 3pm, the weather began to get bad. I was going to go over Franconia Ridge but decided to stay at Galehead, which was a great decision. One of the tourists at the hut had overbooked his reservations, so 2 other thru hikers and I got to sleep in the bunk house and eat with the guests. It was amazing to have real, warm food for a change and a warm bed for the night.

I pulled a 16 mile day over Franconia Ridge the next day. Though there was a good bit of elevation change going up Mt. Garfield and Lafayette, it did not seem like it was that difficult of a climb. When I got to the top of Lafayette and Lincoln, I had amazing views of the ridges all around me and the deep valleys below me. The only thing I didn't like about Franconia Ridge was that there were tons of people up there day hiking, and it really is a different experience when you are alone at the top of an amazing mountain (like I was on top of Saddleback Ridge) compared to when there is people all around. It can be kind of annoying. I did work for stay that night at Lonesome Lake Hut, the last hut I stayed at through the Whites. Thank god.

The next day from Lonesome Lake I had to hike over Kinsman Mountain. It was a good 1500 feet of elevation change within a couple miles, so it was a challenging climb. I was feeling quite lethargic and kind of ill that day, so it took me forever to get up Kinsman. Though that part of the day sucked, the worst was to come. The next seven miles from Eliza Brook Shelter to the road to Lincoln, NH were a constant up and down for seven miles. Though the terrain in hindsight probably wasn't that tough, it is psychologically draining to know that you are gaining elevation just to go back down again. Those seven miles were probably the most frustrated I had been since the 100 mile wilderness, and it was most likely because I wanted to get into town and have a nice place to sleep that night.

When I got to the road to Lincoln, N.H. 112, I called Chet West, who allows thru hikers to stay at his home for a donation, barter, or work for stay. He really did not ask for much out of us, and so I stayed there the night, took a zero day and stayed there the following night, and just cleaned the hiker bathroom for work for stay. It was a great place to zero because it was quite during the day and I could rest.

After Lincoln, I had just one more mountain to climb before I was out of the Whites--Mt. Moosilauke. The first mile and a half from N.H. 112 gains a solid 2000 feet in elevation, and then another 1000 feet is gained over the next 2 miles to the top of the mountain. I took my time to get to the top, and once I got there, it was amazing. The top of Moosilauke is an alpine meadow, and 360 degree views can be seen from the top on a clear day. I could see all of Franconia Ridge and the Whites from there, with Mt. Washington in the distance. I could also see the Green Mountains in southern Vermont, where I will be heading soon. Chet said that, apparently on a clear day, you can see the heat waves off of the Atlantic ocean in the distance. I really didn't notice that, but it gives you an idea of the views from this mountain. It was probably my favorite of the trip so far. I hung out on the top of Moosilauke for a couple of hours because it was so nice, and covered a mere 9 miles that day though I was planning 16, but it was worth it.

The next day I pulled a 16 mile day from Jeffers Brook Shelter to Hexacuba Shelter. The terrain was much more mellow compared to the Whites. Going up Mt. Cube, I caught my first glimpse of wildlife since the 100 mile wilderness. As I was hiking up the trail, around 6 pm, 10 feet in front of me four ferret looking creatures came walking across the trail in a perfect line. They saw me as they came across the trail. The front two bolted across to the other side of the trail, the last one in the line bolted back to the side that he came from, and the other one just stood there and didn't move. I just stood there and stared at it for a while. It was pretty cute. After a minute or so, he tried to scurry away, and I kind of followed him for a bit, then he took off running. I learned the next day that it was a weasel, and that these cute furry creatures are rather vicious. They basically go into mice holes, and eat the mice while they are sleeping. Since there are numerous mice in the A.T. shelters, I really wish I could carry around the weasel as a pet out here. That night, as I mentioned before, I stayed in Hexacuba shelter, which was probably one of the coolest shelters I have stayed in on the trail. It is shaped like a hexagon, and was very clean without any mice or anything.

The next day, I went up Smarts Mountain which was a pretty nice climb. At the top of Smarts, there is an old Firewarden's Cabin that the DOC (Dartmouth Outing Club) maintains as an A.T. shelter. I hung out here for a while and took a nap after lunch. Also on top of Smarts is a Fire Tower, about 20-30 feet high, that offers panoramic views of the surrounding landscape. I went up the steps of the Fire Tower and there were some great views to be had. That night, I stayed in Trapper John shelter, which was the most mice infested shelter on the trail so far. They were crawling over me so bad that I took my sleeping pad and bag outside and slept on the ground.

From Trapper John shelter, I pulled about a 17 mile day into Hanover, NH. The terrain was the nicest I have seen since the 100 mile wilderness. Hanover is home to Dartmouth college, and is a very nice town. I got to stay in one of the frat houses on campus last night thankfully. Today I will be going to the Hanover Co-op to get some food and checking out the outfitters in town to try to find a lightweight sleeping bag for the warm weather, and then hopefully sending my bulky 0 degree sleeping bag home. I will then be heading out to cross the New Hampshire/Vermont border and doing 5 miles to the next shelter, and begin my 3rd state of this trip.

July 17 - 21, 2010; White Mountain National Forest

Well it's been an adventure the last few days. Like I mentioned, I made it into Gorham, N.H. on Friday and did some shopping at Walmart and recuperated. I bought a new pair of shoes, since my first pair are toast and purchased my food for the next week or so. I divided my food up and drop shipped it in front of me at the next few towns so I don't have to carry it all. I basically took a zero day on Saturday to do this and then hiked up the trail about 2 miles to Rattle River shelter and slept there on Saturday night. Oh yea, funny story, on Saturday morning around 2:30 AM, I had to introduce myself to the local police department as I did a little stealth camping behind the local elementary school. They informed my that I'm not allowed to do this, and they better not catch me doing it again, but they let me stay until morning. The sleep sucked as I was interrupted by the train whistles all night long anyway.

I split up with my friends as we hike over the mountains so we don't create a log jam of hikers at the hostiles in the mountains.

On Sunday I did about 13 miles and stayed at the Carter Notch shelter where I was able to sleep on the floor of the dining room. In the White Mountains these shelters/hostles are larger but they cater to the tourists who ride a train to the top of Mt Washington and then hike down and we're second class citizens who can either pay $90 a night to stay there or do work for the hostile to offset the costs. I washed dishes for a couple hours.

On Monday I did about 11 miles and stayed at Madison Spring shelter on Mt Madison where I slept under a tent platform as it rained. Most of the hiking on Sunday and Monday over Mt Madison was above the tree line with about a 3,000 foot ascent over a 3 mile stretch. It took me about 3.5 hours to cover this stretch. It's been in the 50s during the day.

On Tuesday I covered about 10 miles and it rained in the afternoon. I made it up to the Lake of the Clouds Hut on Mt Washington. This hostle holds 90, but they overbooked it by 25 people. So basically I couldn't slept on the floor because the overbooked guests got that area, so I got to sleep in the "Dungeon". This was basically under the building in a 10 X 10 area that reminded me of a bomb shelter. It had 6 wooden bunks, but the bottom 2 were rotted out so only 4 of us slept there. It smelled like mildew and I could hear the mice running around during the night......nice ! This was my reward for cleaning up after the guests and doing the dishes. I got to eat the cold leftovers after the guests were done eating. We basically sat on the floor as the guests ate. It was like we didn't exist, (except for our punjit aroma I'm sure !) There was about 5 thru-hikers there with me.

On Wednesday I'm hoping to cover about 11 miles to Ethan Pond Hut, but I'm about 3 miles away because I'm caught in a downpour. I'm in a general store waiting out the storm in Bartlett eating a pizza and drinking a liter of Mt Dew. There's terrible lightning, so I hitched a ride off the trail to Bartlett. I could see the storm coming from the top of Mt Washington and basically sprinted the last mile or so down to get off the mountain before the storm hit. You don't want to be above the treeline when there's a storm coming.

I found out that on Monday a 24 year old hiker fell to his death off Mt. Washington when he slipped on some rocks near a waterfall and was carried over the falls and fell about 200 feet.

July 16, 2010; Made it to Gorham

I've made it out of the hell that is the state of Maine, and am currently in Gorham, New Hampshire. I did the Mahoosuc Notch a couple days ago, which is considered the toughest mile of the trail. It is basically a giant horizontal rock scramble, and I had to do it in a terrential downpour. Add to that the fact that it was about 40 degrees in the notch (there is snow in the notch all year round), and it was a pretty fun time. The last 40 or so miles since Andover have been pretty brutal, and I actually ran out of food for a couple days here thanks to screwing up my resupply. When I got to Gorham I ate 3 double cheeseburgers, a McChicken sandwich and a Big Mac and I was still hungary. I will be heading into the White Mountains tomorrow which will probably deliver the same ass kicking as Maine. 300 miles down, 1900 or so to go.

July 12, 2010; Closing in on New Hampshire

It's Monday and I'm in Andover, Maine. I've hiked about 8 miles today and plan on about 4 more miles. Chris, the "Weatherman", who I met on the Greyhound bus, has decided to call it quits, to boring for him I guess. I did some above tree-line hiking on Saddleback Mountain and crossed over Bemis, Elephant and Old Blue mountains. Lots of rocks. Andover is about 18 miles from the New Hampshire boarder and between 30 and 40 miles from Gorham, New Hampshire at the base of the White Mountains. They call this the toughest stretch on the trail. We'll probably take a zero day at Gorham to rest before we head over the Whites. In the Whites we'll split up again so we have room in the shelters. They are larger, but few and farther apart. I'll probably be in Gorham by Friday or Saturday.

July 9, 2010; Mountain Climbing

I just called Mom and Dad from near the top of Saddleback Mountain (4116 feet), it's been a lot of tree line hiking and mostly uphill all day, I'll probably do about 17 miles today. I'll cross over Horn, Saddleback and Saddleback Junior Mountains today. I'll stay at a shelter tonight and hike into Rangeley in the morning.

The next major town will be Andover, Maine. It's about 15 miles from the boarder of New Hampshire. Looks like it's about 30 - 40 miles from Rangeley. The next major mountains will be the White Mountains in N.H.

Talk to you then.

July 2 - 7th, 2010; Trail Magic and the 4th of July

Arrived in Stratton, Maine yesterday (7/6/2010) morning after a brief hitch hike into town. I'm staying at the Stratton Motel, $20 a night. Took a shower and did my laundry. The last 3 days have been some of the easiest days so far, I've been averaging about 13 miles a day and have completed about 188 miles, only 100 more to get out of Maine.

We experienced some "Appalachian Trail Magic" on the 4th of July. We even got to see some fireworks from the campers near Flagstaff Lake. We had a cooler of beer, pop and snickers bars left in the shelter for us, it was nice to kick back after a day of pestering bugs and heat. It was so bad I even wore my bug netting over my head to keep the biting flies off me. It's also been very hot these last few days hiking and its been even tough sleeping. I think I'm going to have to get a lighter rated sleeping bag.

I saw lots of turtles, snakes and frogs over the last few days as well. I was also the recipient of a couple Heineken's from a NOBO hiker on Saturday.

We lost one of our hikers, "Bread" hung up his shoes, so now we call him "Toast". But we picked up a new hiker, Jill, who hails from New Hampshire.

July 1, 2010; R&R in Monson

Arrived in Monson at the end of the "wilderness" on Wednesday after hiking about 10 miles and met up with my trail friends again. We were separated on Tuesday because we all made different itineraries for how far we would hike and where we would stay. The hiking was pretty easy compared to the previous few days. I did about 10 miles on Tuesday as well. I stayed in a hostal last night here in Monson for free by doing 3 hours of work today for them. I also did my laundry and showered, nice to feel like a human again. Since Monson isn't very large, and a population of about 666 people (there's a scary number), we had to travel to Greenville to get supplies at the store. I picked up about 7 days worth of supplies. I'll probably leave in a little bit and hike a few miles up the trail and sleep somewhere off the trail tonight.

Here's a aerial picture of Monson, you can click on the picture to enlarge it.
http://www.monsonmaine.org/images/MonsonMaine.jpg

Here's another map for tracking my progress. It actually shows Monson on it.

http://www.nps.gov/appa/planyourvisit/upload/APPA%20Map.pdf