Date: 2008-07-31
From: Speck Pond campsite

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: light rain

Speck Pond campsite to Full Goose shelter5.1 milesEarly entry:We're at Speck Pond. After such a beautiful day yesterday it was obvious that we'd have to pay with some rain soon. It actually sprinkled for a while late in the evening, and continued steadily through the night, but never heavy. This morning during breakfast we started hearing long rumbles of thunder steadily getting louder and closer. We hurried to pack up while it was still dry, and got most of our gear packed and moved to the shelter before the rain started coming down hard. Then the lightning moved right over us. There are 7 of us here taking refuge in the shelter. Three girls had already set out hiking when the rain first started, but decided to turn back when the lightning got so close. Another couple were almost ready to leave when the lightning flashed directly overhead and they wisely decided to wait too. We're not even ready to start out yet anyway, Brian didn't have time to get the tarp dried and packed before the rain came down hard, so we'll have to do that when the storm eases off.Evening entry: Today was very tough, mentally and physically. The Mahoosuc arm is a tough stretch of slickrock even in the best of conditions, and we certainly didn't have them today. The thunder finally stopped around 9:30 so we set out a little before 10am, but the heavy rain had turned the arm into a series of slickrock cascades. Many of the rocks were just to big, steep and slippery for me to hope to walk down, so I tackled a lot of them on my butt, but some were too steep even for that, the weight and depth of my pack forcing me out and down got me in trouble a couple of times. Brian had to rescue me twice when I'd been pushed forward or slipped. We finally got to the bottom of the arm and decided to have lunch before tackling the Mahoosuc Notch. That's when the rain started again, and it never stopped all day.The Notch is a narrow ravine full of massive boulders that you have to scramble and climb round, over, and sometimes under: it's not what I would consider hiking.   It's described as the hardest mile on the trail. Some describe it as the funnest mile. In the wet conditions and pouring rain we had for our traverse there was nothing fun about it: it was slick, hard and downright dangerous. There were numerous times when we would both look at the rocks ahead in disbelief that we were expected to cross them, and many places where we acknowledged that in dry conditions an ascent or descent would be possible, but with the current slick wet state we had no idea how to cross. I had fallen quite hard coming down the Arm and my left hiking pole is now very bent in the middle section. I have lost confidence that it would support my weight if I had to depend on it in a slip, so I decided to pack my poles away for the traverse of the Notch to leave my hands free for climbing. So even though we traveled together through the notch, and were rarely out of sight of each other, we took alternate routes through the obstacles: Brian stayed high whenever possible, while I opted for the lower route. The good news is that we made it through. The bad? We were beaten up, cold, wet, frustrated, and miserable for a good portion of the time. The mile took us about three and a half hours, and we were both exhausted, sore, and dripping wet when we got through. It was 6pm. There was a reasonable stealth camping site at the end of the Notch but after a very short debate we decided to push on another mile and s half to our intended destination at the next shelter. It was slow going, and we arrived here right at dark around 7:30. I have to say, I have never received such an unwelcome reception at a shelter. I can understand that everyone inside was already happy and warm in their sleeping bags, but its a big shelter, and there likely would have been room for a couple more occupants. We were intending to camp anyway, so I considered it quite rude that no one even said a word, obviously not wanting to be the person that invoked the "is there any room in there" question!Anyway, were in our camp clothes, warm and reasonably dry, though there is no chance our clothes and gear will dry out by morning. We're fed, though it was an effort to cook, as exhausted as we are, and tomorrow will be a whole new day. If we hike to our intended destination at Gentian Pond shelter we will finally be out of Maine and into New Hampshire (where the mountains are even higher!)