https://ethesis.wordpress.com/2019/09/02/in-caratunk/
Month: September 2019
Into the Whites
Happy’s thoughts:
We hiked up Mt Madison yesterday and spent the night at the Madison Spring Hut. The croo was amazing and just made the entire experience so much fun. It’s stunning to me that they pack everything in to the hut on backpacks. The Hut sleeps more than 40 people. That’s a lot of food to pack in. They offered us Work For Stay. I cleaned out a freezer. Steve swept up the dining area. Their bunks are usually $159 each. I’m thrilled with the WFS option. They even fed us dinner and breakfast.
Two croo members arrived while we were there with what looked like 100 pounds of supplies strapped to their backs. Just amazing.
This morning we headed out towards Mt Washington. The wind started up and got stronger and stronger. By the end of 4 hours of battling wind, I didn’t think it could get any stronger. I was wrong. The weather station on the top of the mountains gave me validation. Sustained winds of 50 mph and gusts were up to 90 mph. I very seriously thought we would be blown off the mountain more than a few times. No photos of that — I was too busy trying to survive.
Rain started just before we reached the summit. It was hitting so hard that at first I thought it was gravel. Nope. Just rain hitting at 90 mph.
Our choices: We could hike on down to a closed-for-the-season hut that has a emergency shelter that will sleep 6 called “The Dungeon”, or we could find a way into the town of Gorham. We chose Option B.
We hung out at the snack bar on top of Mt Washington, warmed up and then were able to bum a ride down off of the mountain.
We are now tucked into a beautiful resort hotel, The Glen House, for the night. Tomorrow, we go back up the mountain and head further south. They do not have a laundry, so I washed my socks in the sink and then headed down to the bar for football and bar food.
Why we caught a ride into town from Mt Washington:
I didn’t get a summit picture. I kept getting knocked down by the gusts and rain.
Funny thing happened going up. We were overlapping a younger couple. They kind of sneered at us.
The rain hit fifteen minutes early and Happy and I suddenly accelerated and left them down hill in the dust. They were quite surprised.
Yes. Gusts to 80 mph, up on the mountain heavy rain hit at 1:45.
This wonderful couple gave us a ride into town.
We will take up on the trail tomorrow when it is supposed to be sunny and clear.
So we did Madison Hut to Mt Washington. Rain hit hard before 2:00. No pictures. Gusts knocked me over while I was trying to get my summit photo.
At Rattle River Hostel
We met some great people and Win is recovering her knee. We are getting ready for the Whites.
The picture is talking with Tailhook at breakfast.
This was Odie’s passion project for years
Rattle River marks the end of Maine. That is why it is such a landmark. As Happy said:
We finished Maine yesterday and found the trail no better and no worse in New Hampshire. We did almost 12 miles today and arrived in Gorham, NH. I had my first shower in four days. (YAY!!!). All our clothes are being washed, so I am wearing loaner clothes that consist of unicorn pajama pants and a pink Golden Girls shirt. Steve has red/pink striped pajama pants with little cats on them. We don’t care how odd we look, it just feels so good to be clean.
Starting on Friday, Steve was asked to attend a D & D convention about an hour away. He will be one of their ‘Old Codger’ VIPs. (My words .. not theirs). My right knee has been unhappy, I am suspecting a little bursitis, so I think a few days off trail might be good for both of us.
I enjoyed our stop at Rattle River.
The trail had cut up my shoes. The tread was good but the uppers were sliced.
The hiker box had a pair of Merrills in my size. The hostel worker told me just to take them but I ran down the Amazon price and sent it to the hiker who had left them when they didn’t fit.
We resupplied at Walmart. They checked us at the door. First time I’d been stopped by store security.
Reached Full Goose Shelter
Sunny and clear”.
Today and last night’s shelter right before the notch.
We would wake up to find a tent pitched blocking the exit. In the shelter
Last night’s shelter:
Last two days have been tougher than they looked —especially doing Mahoosuc Notch.
We finally got through the Notch. No word about partial geese but but it is a good rest after a hard day.
A huge shelter.
We were still using our Copper Spur at this point.
Then to a hiker friendly motel.
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In Caratunk —Mile 2047
We woke up to pouring down rain — but we only had 6 miles to cover in order to get to Caratunk. We left the shelter around 7 am and arrived in Caratunk at 9:30. The trail was wet but easy terrain.
Two guys had their pickup parked on the side of the road right where the AT Trail crosses the paved road into town. They were standing in the rain and handing out hot coffee and homemade chocolate chip cookies to hikers. Trail Magic!
People like this are a constant reminder to me of the basic goodness of people.We walked on to the Caratunk B & B. Showers. Loaner Clothes. Laundry. Custom Milk Shakes. I’m now curled up in their front parlor in a wing back chair and snuggled up in a very comfortable quilt.
Bad fact for the day: Steve and I weighed ourselves when we arrived. After 12 days on the trail, Steve is down 7 pounds. My weight is up 3 pounds. I’m feeling pissed about as he eats over twice what I do each day that we are in the trail. But, In the past, I have found that my legs and face swell during the first few weeks when we backpack. I don’t know why, but it has happened each time, so it is something I have come to expect. A week from now, I expect to suddenly drop 8-10 pounds as my body adjusts and the edema goes away. But today, those 3 extra pounds just make me mad.
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The rain was pretty mild. Got in, got a milkshake, showers and laundry. Going to get rested and out of the rain.
The group last night was really pleasant.
Bemis Mountain Shelter to Lady Di!
Currently on top of Old Blue Mountain before Andover.
Andover to East Hill Road. Now at mile 257 southbound.
Rangely to Sabbath Day Pond Shelter.
I’ve not been updating like I should.
But we’ve done 22 days on the trail and reached mile 256.9 going south. Doing well and averaging almost 12 trail miles a day.
Sometimes it takes a bit more walking to get the trail miles completed than just the trail distance.
Headed to Bethel
Today on the Appalachian Trail.
It was our best trail in Maine. Less mud. Stairs and iron rungs and beautiful weather.
Tomorrow the rain starts at 9:00 and we hike to Bethel.
But today was glorious in the sun.
Maine is so beautiful.
We had a great day. Slackpacked to Grafton Notch from Andover to Andover and our second day at Human Nature hostel.
We’ve had some rain (over two inches the other night as we slept in a shelter) but today was beautiful and dry.
We’ve been lucky.
The Shuttle picture was supposed to have Mr President, Viking, Rocket, Rooster and Executioner in it. Hit a bump in the road and got a bad shot it seems.
Bemis Mountain Shelter to Lady Di!
We were on top of Old Blue Mountain before Andover.
The trails have a lot of vertical here.
Rangely to Sabbath Day Pond Shelter.
These entries are kind of ragged as Internet access got spread out.
Shelters also get called Lean-tos in some areas even if they are not attached to anything.
I did not update a lot through here.
But we’ve done 22 days on the trail and reached mile 256.9 going south. Doing well and averaging almost 12 trail miles a day.
Sometimes it takes a bit more walking to get the trail miles completed than just the trail distance.
Made it to Stratton, Rangley next
Sunrise this morning.
Getting to town, while blogging we are doing laundry and sharing a gas station pizza.
The Bigelo Mountains were impressive and we hit another milestone. Mile 2000.
Updating my hiking album now that we are in Stratton, Maine. Doing a Nero at seven miles.
The shelters were neat. The ranger in the area for the summer was the only person fishing the fully stocked lake nearby.
I was told that without rain the area around the shelters starts to smell.
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We walked out of Caratunk, took the canoe ferry and headed towards the Bigelow mountains. We did 17 miles that day and stopped at the West Carry Pond Lean-to. The Church of the Brethren has canoed over for a youth camp out. They were good people and interesting to interact with — but they do dress funny.
In Caratunk
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We woke up to pouring down rain — but we only had 6 miles to cover in order to get to Caratunk. We left the shelter around 7 am and arrived in Caratunk at 9:30. The trail was wet but easy terrain.
Two guys had their pickup parked on the side of the road right where the AT Trail crosses the paved road into town. They were standing in the rain and handing out hot coffee and homemade chocolate chip cookies to hikers. Trail Magic!
People like this are a constant reminder to me of the basic goodness of people.We walked on to the Caratunk B & B. Showers. Loaner Clothes. Laundry. Custom Milk Shakes. I’m now curled up in their front parlor in a wing back chair and snuggled up in a very comfortable quilt.
Bad fact for the day: Steve and I weighed ourselves when we arrived. After 12 days on the trail, Steve is down 7 pounds. My weight is up 3 pounds. I’m feeling pissed about as he eats over twice what I do each day that we are in the trail. But, In the past, I have found that my legs and face swell during the first few weeks when we backpack. I don’t know why, but it has happened each time, so it is something I have come to expect. A week from now, I expect to suddenly drop 8-10 pounds as my body adjusts and the edema goes away. But today, those 3 extra pounds just make me mad.
The rain was pretty mild. Got in, got a milkshake, showers and laundry. Going to get rested and out of the rain.
The group last night was really pleasant.
The hostel here is so very pleasant.
And now we are clean and our clothes smell fresh again. Tomorrow the rain breaks and we cross on the canoe ferry and head south.
A beautiful day even if we arrived smelling and looking like drowned rats.
The 100 Mile Wilderness
From the bridge at 2183 to Monson at mile 2080 is 103 miles. That stretch is known as the 100 Mile Wilderness.
Originally people walked the lumber roads and got to the state park that houses Katahdin. The trail was built up over time and now there are no road walks.
The northern half is fairly flat. Guys like Tyrannosaurus (named for his short arms) just blaze through it. It has nice shelters and great trail.
Except for the water crossings. You will ford between three and seven streams (depending on rain). You may or may not also have to survive swarms of mosquitoes and interesting bog bridges four foot over deep and mucky water.
We had rain going in which disrupted the mosquitoes so we had none. Lady Di, Ninja Mouse and others who we met as they left the wilderness had really suffered.
On the other hand we had the full water crossing experience. I even lost a pole that floated off downstream when I fell.
The forest service removes the nylon cables that people string because they do wear out with time and start to fail. I got lucky with the ones I found that they hadn’t gotten rid of yet.
After my fall I started just crossing in my shoes instead of bare feet or camp shoes. My trail runners got wet but would dry out as I hiked. The trail runners also gave me surer footing.
I did forget a pair of socks I had hung to dry in a shelter. Somewhere that pair of darn toughs made someone happy (you can trade them in on the lifetime guarantee).
We used the shelters through the wilderness though we camped as well depending on mileage.
At the northern end our cluster included two army guys (one a ranger) an LL Bean employee hiking with her mom, and John Monk an all natural powerlifting competitor.
The one army guy was geared too light. He had a gatewood cape to serve as his rain layer, warmth layer and tent. He also had only four days of food. He took six days to cross the wilderness. He was lucky the rest of us fed him (though he never asked for food and did not yogi).
The other guy was too heavy. For example. He carried a seven pound emplacement tool instead of a trowel. He eventually realized a little less weight wouldn’t hurt.
The mother carried margaritas for the trail.
When I lost a pole John “Chip” Monk let me borrow his so I would have two and hiked with one. With his permission I modeled a Paladin off of him for a module.
The south half of the wilderness is rougher. It routes over the chairbacks, mountain terrain without views.
We spent one night at a shelter with a group that had basically stalled. One had bad sleep apnea. Every time he quit breathing I woke up. Then he would start again right before I would start CPR. I had a lousy night’s sleep.
At the end we were going to stop at the Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to. There was a really “off” guy there and so we hiked almost six more miles to Monson, finishing in seven days.
“Off” ax in I asked directions to the water (he already had gotten some) and he sent me over a cliff instead of pointing out the trail. The trail was obvious on the way back, just hidden from the shelter.
Monson had a great hostel, a camp store with hiking poles (I returned Chip’s poles) and food.
From Monson we headed south.
I lost entries from this stretch to some sort of server glitch.
There was very little internet though there was one hilltop that had a five foot circle with great reception.
System Failure
The system messed up and several posts were lost.