Date: 2015-08-08
From: Carlo Col Shelter

To: Bald Pate Lean-to
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was a day of 300 snacks.So many snacks. Seriously. The mountains make me HUNGRY. Even hungrier than usual.It was a little chilly this morning when I got up.A father and his daughter, who was about 19, stayed at the shelter last night. They were out for a section hike. It was only their second day, and the father, though fairly good-spirited, seemed ready to throw in the towel.As I was packing Gertrude, I heard him ask her, "What hurts?"She replied, "Everything."Then she turned to me and asked if I still get sore. Hahahaha. Yes. I still hobble around for ten minutes like a little old lady every morning until my feet remember how to work. I probably should have lied, though... I didn't want to discourage her, but I was honest.It was a very long day, beginning with a long return to the trail after that stupid super long 0.3 mile side trail. Actually it seemed shorter this morning than last night, even though it was uphill this time. All that morning energy!I slept really well last night, woke up at my usual time, and thanked the ear plug gods that they blessed me with those foamy green things, because when I pulled them out upon awakening, I was greeted by the dulcet tones of multiple snorers.I slept right through them. Hooray!I enjoyed a delightful morning climb up Mount Carlo, then got to climb Goose Eye Mountain. So many freaking rough climbs. I didn't even average 2 mph at like... any point at all during the day.There were multiple times today when I reached a peak, then started back down, and looked straight ahead of me to see more mountain rising up, knowing that it would be the next climb. Sometimes it's nice to know what you're getting into, other times you just don't want to face the reality that you're going to have to climb that monster in front of you...I do like meandering around on top of the mountains. The smooth bits are fun, and beautiful, and wonderful. Sometimes swampy and muddy, as water gathers in the spaces between peaks.But you can look to the left, or the right, and just see sky. Not just above you, but all around you. It is so surreal to be up in the clouds. SO AWESOME, surrounded by blue, little alpine trees only reaching up to your knees...About an hour after my bagel breakfast, I started getting hungry. Cue snack binge #1. I took out my tropical trail mix (yum!) and dug out a handful before stashing it in Gertrude's side pocket. Two minutes later, another handful. Then another, then another. I probably dug that bag out like ten times as I climbed that first mountain.And as I started descending the second peak, I reached back for my guidebook pages, and they were GONE. AGAIN. WHAT THE HECK. They must have gotten pulled out along with my snack and fallen onto the trail, a poor abandoned memorial to my trials and miles.I looked back the way I came, down a section of steep ledge, and did not debate for a second going back to look for them. Nope, nope, nope. Not worth it. I have the PDF, and worst case scenario, I just follow the white blazes.I also knew that Silent Force was behind me and that there might be a chance that he would find them and pick them up. Maybe he would catch up to me sometime during the day.And he did! We have been leapfrogging a lot lately. As I was descending towards Full Goose Shelter, he came up behind me. "Did you by any chance..." I started, and he nodded, pulling that amazing, heartwarming, lovely little plastic bag out of his pocket. The next few days of my life are imprinted on those pages.I thanked him and thanked him and thanked him again. How lucky am I? Of course I am dumb to keep losing things, but somehow always works out...I have another confession to make. When I got to the intersection with the Mahoosuc Notch Trail, I found a granola bar on a rock. Just sitting there. Unopened. There was no one around.I ate it.I was hungry.... In real life, I never would have eaten random food found in the woods. Who knows where it had been?! Or who put it there?! It could be gross. It could be POISON.THE TRAIL IS TURNING ME INTO A BARBARIAN. HUNGER STEALS MY COMMON SENSE.My standards fall more and more every day...I am ashamed at my actions. But it was better for me to eat it than a wild animal, right? Some innocent creature might have died from eating that wrapper. I like to think that I was helping clean up trash. Please humor ms on this one.After my shameful snack break, it was time to navigate Mahoosuc Notch, which AWOL claims is "the most difficult or fun mile of the AT".It was awesome. So fun. Also frustrating and confusing. Basically, you have to navigate your way through a series of boulders. Huge chunks of rock, everywhere! There is no easy way to get through... it was a challenge in planning.I pretended that I was blazing a trail through the jungle, in a land untouched by mankind. The cliffs rising up around me were my wilderness cathedral, as I worshipped the gods of air and water, rock and plant.And I pounded out that mile through the notch. I bounded over those boulders! I cruised over those crevasses! I leapt up those ledges!Okay, that's all a total lie.I did not even hike that mile. I shimmied, lowered, climbed, and grasped. I hauled, slid, and sidled. I clung to rocks and thought, " NOW WHAT?!". I looked up and resisted the urge to scream, "THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY TO GET UP THERE!" But then I found a way anyway. I stretched my legs between two rocks over a huge gap, split-style, and moved one leg an inch, then the other an inch, creeping along slowly, trusting my muscle strength and the friction between my Merrells and the rocks to keep me from dying. I used my trekking poles to steady myself, then let them drag along uselessly as I utilized my hands to haul myself up.My fuel bottle popped out of Gertrude's pocket like three times as I squeezed and slid through tight gaps. Luckily it did not end up lost forever in Battlefield Mahoosuc. It would not have been good news for my dinner situation if it had.I had to take my pack off twice. Once, I shoved Gertrude ahead of me through a small gap. The second time, Silent Force, ahead of me, decided to avoid a similar but IMPOSSIBLY small squeeze by throwing his pack up and climbing up after it. I followed him, and he pulled Gertrude up for me. I am still not sure how I made it up on that rock.It would have been SO EASY to break myself there. Luckily, I didn't! There were some unsafe slips and dangerous jumps.It took nearly an hour and a half to make it through the notch. And I was hungry again by the time I finished.It was definitely difficult but also fun. It was nice to use more than just my legs. It was like a giant hiker playground.Then I got to climb Mahoosuc Arm! Hooray! Silent Force, who I passed stopping for lunch at the top, gave an accurate summary of the 1.5 mile climb: "That was hard."THESE MOUNTAINS. I SWEAR.I stopped and ate double lunch (so hungry...) at a pretty spot past the peak. Just past that, I picked up some nasty pond water at Speck Pond (it wasn't that bad...) I enjoyed the awesome spot while I swizzled my SteriPen around in my water bottle. Seriously. I was at a pond at the top of a mountain in the middle of the Maine woods. AWESOME.I FORGOT TO TELL YOU THAT SILENT FORCE SAW A MOOSE YESTERDAY. I was only like twenty minutes ahead of him. AND I MISSED IT.I really want to see a moose.The descent down Old Speck to Grafton Notch felt like it took forever. I passed a man sitting with two small dogs. He had rigged up some kind of system using a plastic milk crate. I imagine he strapped it on his back to carry the dogs.Side note: I also forgot to mention that my legs are now adorned with what I like to refer to as "Trail Plaid". After wrestling my way through Mahoosuc Notch, I am sporting a million scrapes. I am pretending i have beautiful red and pink stockings. Yes, I realize I am crazy. Please realize that living half in the woods is quickly draining my sanity.Anyway, guy with dogs made a comment about the sorry state of my legs. I just shrugged cheerily, saying that I fall a lot. I do. I fall all the time.He was very kind and told me that I could help myself to soda and beer out of the cooler in the back of his truck (maroon with Arkansas plates) when I got to the Grafton Notch parking lot.My first Maine trail magic! I was psyched. I don't drink beer or soda, but still. Magic! (I ended up investigating with Silent Force, who caught up to me in the parking lot, and drank a bottle of water)..Later, I passed Trial and Error out on a section hike. "We've met before!" They said. It took me a minute, then it hit me. They were at the shelter Chris and I stopped at after I fell on The Priest. I remember that I ran off to Lee and came back to find them talking about me. It was fun to meet them again, and made me feel better in my afternoon misery (I tend to get tired and grumpy hiking after 3 o'clock).I wonder where Chris is now. And Coco and Magnus. I miss my friends!The Aussie Legs wrote in the shelter log that they stopped here for lunch yesterday! I am half a day behind them. I am sad that my nero planned for Monday will put me farther behind them again.The last miles always seem to be the hardest. They drag by so slowly. I am always so tired by the end of the day.But I made it to the shelter! Silent Force is here. There are 3 guys here trapping small animals as research for the University of Maine. Two are tenting, and one is in the shelter. He is the kind of guy that rolls over by lifting his whole body, flinging it over, and crashing back down. A shelter-shaker.Also here is Davis, a southbound hiker. Davis is a snorer. After I introduced myself, he asked me if I had ever heard of Hands and Mouth.Hands is the guy I met near Wayah Bald, who followed me through the Smokies and told me that he wanted to take me out to dinner. He ended up flip-flopping. Once he got to Harpers Ferry, he headed north to Katahdin and has been hiking south from there.He has sent me a few messages lately.I like Hands. He is a really nice guy.But he is interested. I am NOT interested. I almost cried thinking about Jim again today (PATHETIC, I KNOW. WHATEVER. I WAS PROBABLY HUNGRY AT THE TIME), and I just don't want to deal with that awkwardness. I hope I don't run into him. It might happen tomorrow, though. Davis says that Hands is close behind him.Even though I thought the caretaker at Imp Shelter/Campsite was cute, I still wasn't interested. He kept dropping hints that he wanted to hang out. In other circumstances, I probably would have been all for it. But not here. Not now. No more drama for me, please. I have had enough of that for one thru-hike.I am here to hike! I am not here for romance. Nothing will distract me from Katahdin!Okay, pizza and chocolate will distract me, but only temporarily.I guess we'll see what the trail brings...It is a very nice evening out here. There is a little bird flitting about and investigating the shelter. What a magical place the forest is.THERE IS A MOUSE ON MY CAMP SHOES. This is the first time I have seen a mouse in a shelter. He is so cute! I hope he doesn't get into Gertrude.Now he is like... right next to me. FURRY FRIENDS. Should I be worried about this? I don't really care... As long as he doesn't eat my gear.My legs are very stiff and my tummy is very pudgy and my body is so tired. But it is the best kind of tired. I love that tired feeling, that full exhaustion that puts you soundly to sleep. It makes me feel like I accomplished something. Today was a success! Mountains were scaled! Boulder fields were navigated! Snacks were devoured! Knees were beaten upon and withstood the pain!I am thankful for safe passage today. I am thankful for magic and the beginning of a plan. I am thankful for mountains behind me and ahead of me. I am thankful for ponds in the wilderness. I am thankful for Silent Force's help today. I am thankful for Maine, even though it kind of sucks so far.