Date: 2023-08-31
From: Full Goose Shelter

To: Crocker Cirque Campsite
Miles today: 81.4

Google Photos Photo AlbumDay 78Full Goose Shelter to Speck Pond ShelterAT miles 5.1Miles hiked 5.3Today we were tackling the slowest mile on the trail: Mahoosuc Notch followed by the intimidating Mahoosuc Arm. The common refrain from the SOBOs is, ¢If you think Mahoosuc Notch is bad just wait until you get to the arm.¢ With blue skies there was the promise of a nice day to tackle this iconic stretch of trail.The hike started off uphill right away climbing Fulling Mill Mountain. Trudging along I was keeping an eye on my sometimes less than reliable Far Out App so I could do a short video introducing Mahoosuc Notch when I made it there. With the blue dot showing I was .2 miles from the notch the trail suddenly ended at a big chasm. I spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out where the trail was when two guys came crawling up a boulder from the opposite direction. They were celebrating making it through the Notch in under 3 hours. At least I know I'm on the trail. But how do I traverse this trail. After a few tries I finally found a way to move forward.Mahoosuc Notch is a mile long jumble of HUGE boulders that hikers must crawl or climb up, around, under, or over mostly finding their own route. It typically takes 2 to 4 hours to traverse the mile-long notch thus marking this as the slowest mile on the AT.It certainly was a challenge ¢ more like solving a puzzle rather than hiking. I made it through in 2 hours and 30 minutes. There were several times where I would have to backtrack to find another route. Patience was indeed a virtue and a necessity to be successful here. At what seemed like the end I met Piper and his dog who were eating lunch. They were happy to be done with the notch. In less than a minute I found that our celebration was short lived. That was only about halfway through the notch.  Some places required me to remove my pack and push it ahead while I crawled on my stomach. There was a lot of rock scrambling, rock climbing, bouldering, and praying involved in making it through the notch. I found a like new trekking pole, water bottles, a shoe, and other items that hikers lost while tackling this section of trailOnce I conquered the Notch I filtered some water and fixed a quick lunch. A SOBO hiker joined me at the stream and we shared notes about the trail. A food packing tip I got from him was instead of carrying separate packs of ramen, put all the ramen in a gallon ziploc and bust up the pieces for easier packing and less trash. At meal time just take out what you need.Hiking on, I soon came to Mahoosuc Arm. There was a lot of fear mongering about the Arm and I suppose if it was raining it would be warranted. Or if I were going Southbound. Actually, if it had been raining I¢m not sure how I¢d have made it up the Arm. Mahoosuc Arm was a very steep exposed granite slope that was hard enough to climb in dry conditions. As I was heading up I passed Cliff coming down.  We fist bumped and asked how each was doing then continued on. The climb up was a grind. A long grind. A calves and thigh burning grind occasionally requiring me to grab onto other rocks, trees, and roots for assistance. Once at the top it was another mile to Speck Pond Shelter.  It was nearly dark when I got to the shelter and there were several people sitting around a fire. I greeted the other hikers then went to find a tent spot and cook dinner. Silverback and I discussed our hikes and planned for the next day.  Once again I was tired to the core and basically passed out when I crawled into my tent.A little after 9:00 pm, a time when hikers quit making noise out of respect for their fellow hikers, a Canadian couple came into camp trying to be quiet while getting in their tent. Once in their tent they started talking and laughing like they are the ONLY people in the woods.  I felt like throwing a rock at their tent. In the interest of good International relations, I suffered in silence.Day 79Speck Pond to Frye Notch Lean-toAT miles 10.4Miles hiked 11.0Morning seemed like it was going to be a rainy day. I hoped that wouldn¢t be the case.  We went down to the shelter to eat breakfast and hang out with the other hikers. There were two Canadian couples doing a section hike and a black woman, Foxy, who would be the oldest woman of color to have thru hiked the trail at 67 years old. She was hiking with another woman who¢s name I don¢t recall. Foxy and her friend were hiking to a road crossing so her friend could get some medical attention for a bad cut she had on her leg that looked to be infected.One of the Canadian guys came over and started talking to me and sharing a block of cheese.  Once breakfast was finished we were off. The trail started out by going up Old Speck, Maine¢s third highest mountain and the highest point on the Mahoosuc range. At the top is a fire tower which I hoped would provide some good views.Surprisingly, for Maine, or New England for that matter, the climb up Old Speck wasn¢t all that bad and the sky cleared up making for a clear, sunny day. I got to the summit of Old Speck and saw a bunch of backpacks and a guy reading a book. It was the college group from Full Goose shelter. The guy reading a book was the backpack guard while the rest of the group went to check out the fire tower. While I had originally planned on visiting the fire tower by the time I got up the mountain I was ready to just continue on rather than take the .3 mile spur to the tower. We greeted each other as I made the right turn on what I thought was the true trail. After a few minutes I met a small group of people hiking without a pack and realized I was on a blue blaze. The group stopped and excitedly told me about the firetower up ahead. Might as well go see it since I¢ve already started down the path. It occurred to me that I didn¢t need my pack so I dropped it at the side of the trail making the detour a little easier on the legs. The skies were clear and views from the tower were spectacular. The climb up the tower was kind of scary but worth it. I had cell service so called Robin to chat for a bit. The wind was blowing pretty hard up there and I was starting to get a bit chilled so I took that as my cue to get back to the business at hand ¢ hiking.The climb down from Old Speck was a bit rocky in places but otherwise not too bad. I passed a couple of nice waterfalls that were flowing pretty good given the amount of rain we¢ve had. I caught up with some hikers who were my age: Otter, Rotten Buzzard, and a lady they were hiking with. We hiked together down to the parking lot at Grafton Notch. They were optimistic that there would be trail magic when we arrived and I hoped they were right. The trail eventually made its way down to Grafton Notch trailhead which was a huge parking lot. Where the trail met the parking lot there was a car parked surrounded by coolers and a trunk full of snacks. This was Trail Angel Candace, who provides trail magic every day. It seems the hikers I met on the trail knew Candace from when she¢d shuttled them for a resupply a couple of days ago. To make this notch even more special, a family on the other side of the parking lot was cooking burgers and dogs and had a lot of homemade goodies. We were all hanging around Candace not wanting to make her feel bad that we were visiting the other trail angels. She shooed us over there saying it would be wrong to not visit the other trail angels. So I went over to get my burger, cookies, salad, and other assorted treats. They made sure we packed some goodies for the trail.Also located at the parking lot were two nice privies. So, yeah.  Before heading out I went over to thank Candace again and she loaded us down with more snacks. My pack got a little heavier but dinner was taken care of for the evening.As I headed out I had to change maps on Far Out. This is the last northbound map on the app. Just over 260 miles to Katahdin!The next section of trail took me up and over the Baldpates. While not very high in elevation, the climb up to Baldpate West Peak was steep, eventually going above treeline with amazing views. I could also see the series of mountains I had to climb as I moved forward. The saddle between Baldpate¢s West and East peaks was a huge, deep alpine bog. Getting through this bog with dry feet was almost impossible. Some hikers had tried putting blowdowns across sections of the bog but all that really did was keep you from going in deep (like over waist deep in places according to soundings taken with my trekking poles). The deepest I went in was up to my knees. Climbing up the East Peak I passed a dad and his daughter hiking southbound. We stopped for a brief chat but moved on since we were losing light. There was a steep climb up Little Baldpate, one place steep enough that trail maintainers had thoughtfully made a wooden ladder to climb up. followed by a long downhill which led to the Frye Notch shelter where we were camping for the night.Dinner was really good since it was supplemented by all the snacks from the afternoon¢s trail magic.Day 80Frye Notch to South Arm RoadAT miles 14.6Miles hiked 14.6Today was a tough day of hiking followed by some unexpectedly awesome trail magic.The hike started off nice enough with a decent trail that led past Dunn Cascades and Falls, a nice waterfall, before crossing East B Hill Road, passing Surplus Pond and heading up Wyman Mountain. There were excellent views off Wyman. Off in the distance I could see a row of windmills. I¢d been seeing these off and on for a couple of days and noticed that I¢m getting closer to them. Continuing on I expected the rest of the day¢s hike to be pretty much what I¢d experienced so far. We had tentative plans of stopping at the Hall Mountain lean-to for lunch then trying to catch a ride into Andover for a two or three day resupply after crossing Moody Mountain and arriving at South Arm Road.  Once down Wyman the trail got a little more overgrown and there were some slow sections of trail and a boulder field thrown in to keep things interesting. It was also pretty hot today so I wasn¢t hiking very fast. I got to the shelter and Silverback had already moved on. I ate a quick lunch, filtered water, and got back to it. There was an interesting, somewhat sketchy climb down through a boulder field followed by a stream crossing.Moody Mountain was a surprise to both of us. Although it is not a very high mountain, it was a very steep climb including rock scrambles and rebar steps for the really steep places. There were places where the trail didn¢t look like a trail. It was just a jumble of random rocks and boulders that I had to pick through and climb over. Once at the top there was an actual trail but no views. I checked my phone for messages to see where Silverback was and he said that Moody Mountain was pretty. To sum up the trail, another hiker had posted this message on Far Out: ¢I finally found my purpose in life after climbing up and over this mountain and that¢s to create a blue blaze trail around the base of this mountain.¢As I was descending a SOBO passed me telling me there was some trail magic down by the road. It was getting near 5:00 by now so I figured whatever was there for trail magic would be long gone by the time I arrived. I was hoping the descent would be more pleasant than the ascent. It wasn¢t. There were long stretches of stone steps in between eroded sections of trail. While crossing a trickle of a stream I made the mistake of stepping on a very slippery rock and suddenly found myself lying on my back in the stream. Ugh! I finally made it to the bottom while there was still some light. Tacked to a tree was a piece of paper announcing that there was lobster being served ahead and asked that non-thru hikers be respectful of thru hikers and not eat the lobster. I wasn¢t very interested in lobster but I was curious as to what kind of trail angel was serving lobster. I had received a text from Silverback saying he was at the trail magic and that he was camping before the creek crossing.As I was hiking I saw a group of guys out camping for the weekend and continued until the trail ended abruptly at a stream with a little inflatable boat tied to the bank. Well, I found the creek. Where were the campsites? I looked around and found a privy but no Silverback. I decided to check on the group that was camped out. Turns out this was Old Buzzard¢s Annual Labor Day Weekend Trail Magic. They had a huge cooler of lobster they had boiled and would reheat when hikers showed up. They also had hot dogs, pizza, spaghetti, snacks, and drinks. Old Buzzard had thru hiked the trail several years ago and was from Massachusetts, lived in New Hampshire, and owned a cabin in Maine. When he hiked the trail there was no trail magic in Maine so now every year, he does a whole weekend of trail magic. He also had written a book that he was selling for $10 including mailing it for us. Old Buzzard and I started talking and he is a fascinating guy with lots of fascinating stories. Turns out he is a runner, triathlete, and a retired high school track coach. We talked for hours.  Silverback and I decided it was time to set up our stuff so we could get some sleep. They were taking us in for resupply in the morning. I only needed some snacks but Silverback was about out of food and we needed to make it to Rangely. We set our stuff up in the dark and went to sleep right away.Day 81South Arm Road to Bemis StreamAT miles 12.4Miles hiked 12.4If all goes well today I¢ll hit my halfway point of the hike. I can¢t believe how far I¢ve hiked so far. It seems like I¢ve only just begun my journey.I way overslept this morning and missed my ride into town. Silverback had already gone and I had no cell signal to ask him to pick up some stuff for me. When I got to the trail magic site Old Buzzard¢s son offered to take me into town after breakfast. Deal. Old Buzzard¢s son always accompanies his dad on these trail magic sessions. He is also an avid hiker and competes in adventure races. Just like his dad, he was a lot of fun to converse with.While I was eating, Silverback returned from Andover. He had picked up snacks and breakfast stuff for me, saving me a trip into town. Nice. That was a real time saver.  Or maybe not. Old Buzzard and I picked up our conversation from where we left off the night before. While we were talking Silverback headed out. I thought I¢d be right behind but Old Buzzard and I just kept on talking. Finally, though, it was time to go. Before I left he told me I should bring the family up to stay in his Maine cabin and that I was welcome any time.There is a stream between the trail and the road. Luckily it was low enough for a rock hop across but the first rock was a gymnastic maneuver to reach by hanging onto a tree and leaning out to the first rock. I made the first rock but still managed to slip on the next rock which was small and slippery. Now I had one soaking wet foot and leg and one mostly dry foot and leg. Awkward. Oh well, what¢s the point of dry shoes and socks anyway?  The climb up Old Blue Mountain was long and steep. These mountains are not very tall but they are as hard or harder to climb than some of those much taller mountains in New Hampshire. About 2/3 the way up the mountain it was possible to look out across the valley and see Old Buzzard¢s cabin. At the top of the mountain was a small clearing with a bench looking out over a valley. This was a great place to stop for a snack. About a mile before the peak were some rebar steps to help get up the cliff face. Without them not sure how hikers would have made the climb up, at least on this footpath.Next up was Bemis Mountain. The trail up and over Bemis mountain was pretty steep, rocky, wet, and muddy. Once at the top there were no good view points. Hiking on to Bemis Mountain Second Peak I figured would be more of the same. And it was, the difference being that the summit was expanses of exposed granite, small trees, alpine bogs, and lots of amazing views. As I was hiking along I somehow managed to rip part of the sole of my shoe from the bottom of my shoe so now I had this flapping thing every other step. Climbing down was steep and rocky with a few places where I had to toss the trekking poles down and use my hands to climb down. I still had a way to go and it was dark so I was now hiking this tricky ¢path¢ in the dark. Across the valley I saw another headlamp so I wasn¢t the only person out stumbling in the dark. Then to my surprise, a hiker caught up with me. His headlamp was much brighter than mine. I may need to find a brighter light. I finally made it off the mountain and was now at Bemis Stream. But where do I go? I started looking around when I saw a headlamp coming towards me from the opposite side of the river. It was Silverback. He told me there was a place I could cross without wading, then guided me downstream to a mass of blowdowns and I was able to cross on them. We went up to where there were some tent sites. There was already somebody in a tent there plus Silverback¢s hammock. I quietly set up my tent and fixed dinner. While I was eating it occurred to me that I had forgotten to keep track of where I was so I could celebrate my halfway point. Well, I for sure wasn¢t going back up Bemis Mountain. Then, to my surprise, I saw that I was only .1 miles past. I started backtracking and I couldn¢t believe what I found. My halfway point was where I had just crossed the river. Tomorrow I would memorialize the moment. Tonight, though, I was going to sleep.Day 82Bemis Stream to Hiker Hut, Rangely, MEAT miles 14.0Miles hiked 14.3First things first, I had to memorialize my half way point achievement. I'd like to say I had it all planned out to hit the halfway point at a river full of rocks but truthfully, the trail once again provided. I made my personalized "Taps 1/2 way" marker and Silverback photographed the achievement for posterity.After I finished breakfast the hiker camped next to me crawled out of his tent and it turned out to be Ape Man, a hiker I first met at Old Colony. We got to talking and it turns out he lives in Richmond. I headed out and in less than a mile came to ME 17 where there was an overlook and parking lot. The view was amazing with clear, blue skies and mountain tops sticking out of the sea of clouds over the valley. While I was there photographing and admiring the views, Ape Man showed up and did the same then we hiked on together. A lot of the hike today was what I always imagined Maine would be like, big open forest, big rocks, rolling hills, and ponds. Very pleasant hiking. Of course, there was still plenty of mud, roots, and steep rooty climbs but they were mostly a passing annoyance on this otherwise beautiful day.As I passed along Long Pond there was evidence of recent trail work which was much appreciated after hiking on mostly unmaintained trail since Vermont. Nicks were cut into low areas to allow drainage and big rocks were placed in the bogs to act as stepping stones, replacing the rotted, slippery, sometimes unpredictable wood bog bridges. One amazing thing they did which has been a pet peeve of mine for many years is they returned a view back to being a view by cutting down the trees and vegetation blocking the view. As one hiker put it, "There's a million trees in the woods. Who's going to miss the 10 you cut down to have a view"? We sometimes spend two or three hours climbing a mountain to be rewarded with, yes, a view blocked by trees. The view is our cookie.After a wonderful day of hiking the trail came to Piazza Rock Trailhead Parking on ME 4. The trail crew was in the parking lot when I came off trail so I went over to thank them for their work. I expected a bunch of old guys but this crew had to be in their 20s. They were very humble in accepting my gratitude. I tried contacting Silverback and the Hiker Hut (where we were staying) but got no answer. I found out why on my hike to the Hiker Hut. Yeah, no cell service about 10 meters out of the parking lot.I got to the hiker hut and nobody was there. Kind of spooky but I made the best of it by filtering some water from the nearby stream and cooking some dinner. About halfway through my ramen and mashed potatoes, Steve, the owner, showed up and helped me get settled in. Turns out he was a pro triathlete in the 90s so we had a great conversation about the good old days of triathlon.Soon enough Silverback and Diving Swan returned from town. Silverback came bearing a pepperoni pizza and root beer. Diving Swan was section hiking and staying at the hostel waiting for his car to be repaired. He was afraid that he had a blown head gasket. We sat around until about 8:30 when all of us headed off to call it a night.Day 83Hiker Hut to Poplar Ridge ShelterAT miles 10.8Miles hiked 13.5I had to get up early as Steve was fixing us egg sandwiches (or as he called them, "egg sammys") for breakfast before taking me into town to buy new shoes.While in Rangely I did laundry (the smell of week old road kill in July has nothing on my socks) and charged my electronics. The outdoor store was supposed to open at 9 but this was the first day of their winter hours so I had to wait until 10. This had the effect of throwing off Steve's schedule for the day as well. Interestingly, there was a restaurant in town, Bingham's, which is located exactly halfway between the North Pole and the Equator. I was standing at the door at 10 ready to try on shoes. They thankfully had a pair that fit so I was in and out in less than 15 minutes. A quick stop at the IGA and we were on our way back to the Hiker Hut. I finished packing and ate a quick snack, checked to make sure nothing was left behind then headed back to the trail. I had some hard hiking ahead of me in hot weather.The first part of the hike was a road walk to the trail on the outside of a guard rail. I managed to snag and tear my favorite hiking shorts on the guardrail.I was back on the trail at noon. The trail started off real nice ¢ smooth and flat. But this is Maine so it wasn't long before I was going uphill. And uphill some more over Saddleback Mountain. There was so much fear mongering about Saddleback and The Horn. Saddleback was a leg workout followed by some incredible views in all directions. While on Saddleback I checked for service to let Silverback know I was on trail. He had texted me to be on the lookout for an orange bag with his hammock straps and tent stakes. Not good. Looking.  It was a nice hike across Saddleback to the Horn. Climbing down Saddleback I felt like a football running back while charging through all the spruce trees that were overcrowding the trail. I'll bet I know what happened to that bag. After going across the saddle it was time to climb up and over the Horn. I'd heard so much about how hard this descent was. There was a huge jumble of sharp, square boulders to climb down, over and through along with a few ledges to climb/slide down that made for slow going but it was nothing compared to the first day in Maine. Good! I survived that unscathed so it should be smooth sailing to the shelter. What? Wait! Next up was the mountain nobody talked about. Saddleback Jr. They should have talked about it. Going up was steep but not bad. The descent was plain scary with several big ¢how do I get down there?¢ places. Adding drama to the situation was the song playing on my Spotify playlist: Don Maclean¢s American Pie. For those of you unfamiliar with the song there is a section in the chorus with the lyrics, ¢This¢ll be the day that I die¢¦¢ Yeah. That part of the song started right as I¢m looking down from a cliff wondering how was going to climb down without dying. There were a lot of throwing the trekking poles down then shimmying down rocks, butt sliding down rocks, hanging off of trees and tree roots but, I made it. Next was a few miles of "normal" trail otherwise known as mud bogs. I made it to camp shortly after dark.  Moondance, a SOBO, had helped Silverback out with his missing hammock straps. She had been carrying around some rope she¢d never used so gave it to him before continuing on. He was able to hang his hammock using that.  Day 84Poplar Ridge Shelter to Crocker Cirque CampsiteAT miles 14.2Miles hiked 14.6Today's hike would take us over the Crocker mountains to Maine Route 27 where we¢d get a shuttle to the Main Roadhouse for resupply.Starting out there were fantastic views of mountain peaks poking up through the clouds out across the valley. The way the mountains look like they are floating on a sea of clouds is always one of my favorite views. Hiking down was on a typical obstacle filled Maine trail. There was a pretty strongly flowing knee deep stream that I ended up wading across then the trail began its ascent of Lone Mountain. It started out gradual but became a steep grind over the last mile. The top offered no views as a reward for my effort. I stopped for a quick snack then continued on. Mount Abraham was the next mountain but the summit was off a spur trail so hikers were spared another quad busting climb. This was followed by another grind up Spaulding Mountain. Descending Spaulding Mountain there was a memorial off to the side of the trail marking the spot where, in 1939, the CCC connected the final pieces of the AT to form a continuous footpath. Sort of like where they drove the golden spike. More hiking over rocks and roots brought me up to the spur trail to Sugarloaf Mountain which is Maine¢s second highest mountain. There is also a large ski resort at the summit. Another nice place to take a break and enjoy the views.  There are good views of the Carrabassett Valley on the way down to the Carrabassett River. The hiking was actually very enjoyable here when suddenly I was standing by this boulder filled, rushing river. I wasn¢t looking forward to trying to ford this river, especially being alone. I started looking for a better place to ford when I saw 2 other hikers upstream doing the same as I. I hiked over to them and we found a few blow downs that we were able to cross on. Thinking we had made it to the other side we celebrated and started hiking right to another water crossing. We were on an island. Some more looking around and I found another snarl of trees that looked like they could be used as a bridge. This crossing was more sketchy than the last but we all made it. From here it was only about a mile to our planned campsite.When I got there Silverback had some exciting news. He¢d received a message from Steve (Hiker Hut) that Moondance had found his bag and brought it to the hostel. Steve was going to take the bag to the Maine House so one of the Jenns could bring it to him. That worked out well since we were planning to do a resupply at the Maine House anyway. Crazy.It was the usual end of day routine. There is a small pond nearby where we were supposed to be able to see Moose but the trail was overgrown and we were both pretty tired. I felt more like sleeping so turned in for the night.Hiking the Dream!