Date: 2013-07-13
From: Mahoosuc Notch Campsite

To: Goose Eye Mountain East Peak - cowboy camping
Miles today: 4.9
Weather: light rain

I do believe that today was the absolute best day I have ever had in my life so far! So, there's a lot of awesomeness to share and I apologize for the length of this post... but not really because I guess no one HAS to read it =P I started the day by going through Mahoosuc Notch with Doc. It's known for being the most difficult mile on the trail, and the most fun if you take the time to look at it that way - which of course we did! It was soooo much fun! It's not so much difficult as just very technical because it's a boulder field where there was a rock however many years ago. So basically we're scrambling over/under boulders and through little crevices and caves and stuff - it was like a giant playground! There's some places down there that never see sunlight, so there's ice and snow year round which was cool to see in the middle of July! Doc and I got to a cave where we could see a significant amount of snow, so obviously, we went down to play in it! Blue caught up to us at this point which was especially fun because he's from Pensacola and has only seen snow twice before, once being on Katahdin - so he was SUPER excited! It was fun to get to share that moment with him. We had a snowball fight. Naturally. In a cave. In July. We came out to thaw out for a bit and wait for Rock Lobster (a SOBO section hiker we met yesterday) and hid when we heard him coming so that we could ambush him with snowballs. He joined in the fun, then came up with the idea to make a snowman. Us Southerners were pretty useless, but Rock Lobster was awesome at making a little snowman, and we gathered stuff to use for the face and whatnot! So, we built a snowman and left it under a shady ledge for other hikers to see when they came through, hoping it'd last a little bit at least! What an awesome morning! Between the difficulty of the Notch and our long break to play in the snow, it took us 3.5 hours to get through Mahoosuc Notch. Worth it! So worth it. The day gets better!The actual hiking (even though we didn't even do 4 more miles after the Notch)was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! There weres ome great views from summits, but also, hiking along the cols was especially fun because they were in the alpine zone so there aren't many tall trees so I could actually see up the trail a ways and all around! The alpine meadows are pretty sweet to hike through too. Everything's just so cool! Even though we've had GORGEOUS weather the last few days, it's still muddy and boggy in some places, though not too bad. I'd managed to keep my shoes dry for a while... until this afternoon. So, right before the climb up to the Goose Eye peaks, there was a patch of mud that I could have just stepped on a rock and made it across. But instead, I somehow (not on purpose) stepped directly into the mud...which turned out to be thigh deep. My right leg was stuck! I was crying from laughing so hard, but it took me a good five minutes to get myself unstuck without getting my left leg in the mud and without my shoe coming off into the mud. It was quite hilarious. Don't think I'll be living this one down since there was a witness!We got up to Goose Eye, I think the second peak, and though we were trying to make it to NH tonight to cap an awesome day, the view was just too beautiful to pass up. So Blue, Doc, and I spontaneously decided to cowboy camp on top of the mountain so that we could just watch the sunset there. It was truly breathtaking and it's impossible to describe the feeling to anyone who wasn't there. I'm glad to have had good company for today. We set up our sleeping bags a little off the peak to be out of the wind, then got to look at the stars, which I'd been looking forward to a clear night when I'm in the open. It was so beautiful! And just when I thought the day couldn't possibly get any better, we heard fireworks. We got to watch FIREWORKS from on top of the mountain! What a great day to mark the end of my first month on the Trail =) I feel truly blessed.