Date: 2003-09-19
From: Gorham, NH - Grafton Notch, ME

To: Gorham, NH - Grafton Notch, ME
Miles today: 31.1
Weather: light rain

Gorham, NH - Grafton Notch, ME31.1 miles (1905.8 total miles)We spent a good part of day 168 doing chores in Gorham. We hit the post office, and ate well in town. I bought a new bear bag rope and bootlaces at the outfitter. Willow bought bright orange bandannas for Last Minute and I for hunting season. We got a hitch back to the trail from a guy in a pickup going home to Maine.It was a pretty good hike out. It wasn't particularly hard, especially after what we've been doing in the Whites. We climbed and had some nice views. It was 5 miles to a spring, where we planned to camp. Most of the sites were taken, but we found a few flat spots in the woods.It was raining on day 169. It was only sprinkling as I got up, but it was constant. We hiked out, and the rain kept falling. We got completely soaked. It was just like being in southern Virginia again. The granite rock faces were slippery. I slipped off a bog bridge and fell shin-deep in mud. There were bog bridges completely submerged, and a few that actually formed waterfalls for the water streaming down the trail. It was mentally tough hiking, with nowhere to even rest without getting soaked. So we just kept hiking.It was about 7 miles to the first shelter. We decided early that would be our destination. We got there before 1:00, and it was packed. Everyone was cold and tired. Morale was so low with everyone. The weather had called for partly cloudy, so no one was expecting this. I changed into dry clothes, set up my sleeping bag, and crashed.I woke up a few hours later. People were drying their tents outside. There was blue sky! I went outside. There were tents drying in trees, in bushes, and on the roof. I took my tent down to the lake where it was windy and held it out to dry like a kite. It didn't completely dry, but it was better than it was. As bad as it was, I was grateful that didn't happen when we were in the Whites. I also used our short day to catch up on some sleep.We stayed at the shelter until about 10:00 on day 170 drying out from the rain. We headed out late, and climbed through the mountains. It was another tough day with the rocks being still slick. It seemed like the trail didn't go in any specific direction, but instead tried to find the steepest, rockiest "path" over the mountains. We finally came over a ridge, and I saw the blue sign in the distance that said "Welcome to Maine". It was our final state, my home state. My heart jumped, my adenaline surged, and I found myself running to the border. "I'm home!" I yelled back to my hiking partners. We took pictures, and stopped for lunch. Other hikers started showing up, each taken back in their own way about reaching our final state. It was a fun lunch gathering of 10 hikers, way out in the middle of the woods, reaching the final leg of our amazing adventures.After lunch we left, and immediately set out on more crazy, exhausting rock scrambles. Coming down a particularly steep rock face, we met our friends Kunkapot Jack and Mr. Spencer, who had done a flip flop. We hiked on, not making better than a mile an hour. We paused only briefly on Goose Eye Mountain to watch the beautiful sunset behind the purple mountains. Then we headed on, with the daylight chasing us down the rock ledges. Finally we stopped to get our headlamps out, when the lunch group caught us. It was a strange feeling to be night hiking with such a large group. After about a half hour we found the shelter and crashed out for the night.We were tired on day 171, and got a late start. It was a mile and a half down to Mahoosuc Notch, which is the hardest mile on the trail. We stopped for a second breakfast, then hit the notch. Mahoosuc Notch is a jumble of huge boulders strewn out in a nearly impassable way. Last Minute and I bet each other ice cream that we could do the entire notch without taking our packs off. Willow wanted nothing to do with our stupid bet, and squeezed through the narrow crevaces with much less trouble. I got on my belly and crawled through a small hole just big enough for my pack. Last Minute tried the butt-first approach. Willow had a water bottle fall out, and had to climb down some rocks to retrieve it. I ripped my shirt and landed on my head getting through a small hole. In all, it took us 3 hours to get through the notch. Last Minute and I both made it through with our packs on (although Last Minute's pack suffered some damage). It was tough, but lots of fun.We sat at the end of the notch, exhausted and depleted. We had done 2.5 miles by 2:00 in the afternoon. The previous day of rain slowed us down, and our food was stretched. We still had some major mountains to climb, and a hurricane headed our way. So I decided to do the only thing I could do: I called my mom.We hiked up the granite path of Mahoosuc Arm to Speck Pond. There was a shelter there with some affluent section hikers. Willow yogied a cell phone, and I called my mom for help. She was busy, but dispatched our good friend Hee Hee to pick us up the next day. We finished with a windy climb up Speck Mountain for the night. We set up camp and climbed the firetower. It was an amazing collage of silhouettes, deep blues, and twinklng lights. It was an amazing panoramic view, but too windy and cold to enjoy it for long.We did 3.5 surprisingly easy miles on day 172. We got to Grafton Notch and found Hee Hee. She drove us to my parents' motel, but not before stopping for lunch, and buying us Giffords ice cream (the best ice cream in the world). Thanks, Hee Hee! We went to the motel and showered and rested. We went out for Chinese food for dinner. It was a restful day that we all needed. Thanks Mom and Eddie!Western Maine is so hard! It is frustrating to be so close, yet so completely depleted. I am tired, sore, and always hungry. It seems like all the thru-hikers are feeling this. But we are in the home stretch. 266.8 miles to Katahdin!