Date: 2003-10-04
From: Monson - White House Landing

To: Monson - White House Landing
Miles today: 68.6

Monson - White House Landing68.6 miles (2126.7 total miles)It was raining on day 187. We would be heading into the hundred mile wilderness. It was a cold rain, and we were nervous. We didn't want to zero, as we are anxious to finish. We didn't want to spend the night wet with the temperatures dipping down that low. We found out that there is a side trail leading to a road about 14 miles in. I felt guilty about cheating the "hundred mile wilderness", but thought it would be in our best interest to slack it. We arranged for the Shaws to pick us up there at 5:30.It was cold and overcast when we left. There were a lot of small ups and downs. It started to drizzle. We stopped briefly at Little Wilson Falls, the highest falls on the AT. Then we came to our first ford. I tried to rock hop it. But halfway through the rock tipped over, and I fell in ankle deep. It was cold and I was mad. We hiked up to a ridge, and down to Big Wilson, our second ford. I took my shoes off. It was cold. I took a few steps out and got nervous. This was painfully cold, and I still had a long way to go. I kept telling myself to take one step at a time. I endured each painful step until I got to the other side. Whew! My wet socks, which felt so cold before, suddenly felt warm to put back on. We hiked out as fast as we could to warm up. It was another 4 miles to our side trail. The side trail turned into a dirt road with huge puddles. It was pouring.   My boots were completely drenched. We walked up on the grass around the road, so as not to sink in the mud puddles. We finally got to the passable road at 5:05. It was too cold to wait, so we started walking back. At about 5:25 someone yelled "Car!", at which point Keith Jr. came flying over the hill, slammed on his brakes, and skidded, swerved, and hydroplaned to a stop. We jumped out with a big smile, "How you guys doin'?" He drove us back, where we showered, did laundry (again), and went to the barbeque restaurant. It was an exhausting day, and I slept soundly in a real bed.It was a completely frustrating day on day 188. We had an excellent breakfast at Shaw's (I had the 2x2), then headed out to the trailhead. I have such a hard time leaving town. We walked over a mile back to the trail. The walk was muddy and much wetter than when we walked out. We had to bushwhack through the briars. My legs got all cut up.We got to the trail, and immediately had to ford. It was just a small stream that you could normally hop over. We walked a few tenths of a mile, and hit another stream that we had to ford. This was was rough, and had a waterfall on the end. We ended up walking down below the waterfall, fording the cold river, and walking back up to the trail.We made it a whole half a mile before we came to a river that was normally a ford. It was impassable. We walked a quarter mile downstream and found a tree going across. But it was too long with rough water right below. No one wanted to take responsibility for this group decision. We ate lunch. Finally, we followed an old logging road downstream, and came out to where we were dropped off in the morning. It was 2:00, and we were back where we started. Someone found some locals, who told us to follow the logging road across a bridge, make a left, and follow another road which turns into a path that intersects the AT. We followed the directions, and sure enough, we hit the trail.I was exhausted at this point. We headed up the mountain, only to be hit with a sudden cold rainstorm. This drained the last bit of morale left in me. We decided to backtrack a mile to the shelter, and call it a night. The rain made everything slippery, and my boots were wet again. Just as we hit the shelter, the rain ended as quickly as it had started. I didn't care. I just wanted to go to sleep. We had walked all day, and only officially did 1.5 miles of the AT. It was so cold on day 189. It was about 40 degrees when I got up at 7:00. I looked out of the shelter, expecting the sunny skies that were forecasted, but only saw clouds. Putting on my wet socks was like strapping a block of ice to my feet. It was too cold!It was a long, hard 11 miles. The trail went up and down along the ridge, over Barren, Fourth, Third, and Columbus Mountains. The weather never got over 45 degrees, and all my energy went to keeping my body warm. I had nothing left for hiking up these rocky mountains. Half the food in my foodbag was frozen solid. We finished 11 miles, and debated going on. But it was so cold, I just wanted to crawl inside my sleeping bag. There was an icy rain/snow mix falling. It wasn't many miles, but I was happy to call it a day.The sun was actually shining when I awoke on day 190. It was a cold morning, and we took a while to get going. A mouse had goten into my foodbag, and into my tortillas. It was just over 4 miles to the west branch of the Pleasant River. It was warming up nicely, and turning out to be a nice day. The Pleasant River was a long, fairly shallow ford. I never could get used to that cold water. I forded with sandals, and sat in the sun to warm back up. It was 55 degrees!>From the river, it was 5 very nice miles up to the shelter. It felt so good to be under clear skies again. This was what AT hiking is supposed to be! We ended the day with a steep ascent. But we had an incredible reward: a clear view of Katahdin! It was right in front of us, much closer than I imagined. For a second my whole body tingled. I could see the end. We descended the mountain, and found a nice campsite. I spent the evening around a campfire with Willow, Last Minute, and Blip. It was an excellent day.We started with some steep climbs on day 191. We were up and over the few peaks of Whitecap Mountain by 10:00. It was a perfectly clear day, and we got nice views of Katahdin with snow on top. We headed down the mountain knowing we just finished the last major mountain until the end. We stopped at a shelter for lunch. We had a small ford to do, which only involved one step in the water between rocks. Then a short climb, and it was flat. We cruised through the flat land, knowing the next 50 miles would be just like that.We did 14 miles to White House Landing on day 192. We were hoping to do the entire 100 mile wilderness without having to stop, but the rain and impassable ford got us behind. So we stopped briefly at this wilderness resort for a few items, and to use the phone to arrange rides home.It is so weird to be done in just a few days. When it was cold, I was very ready to be done. But with this flat walking and beautiful sunny weather, I am not so sure. 45.9 miles to Katahdin!