Date: 2009-07-23
From: Gorham, New Hampshire

To: Maine border
Miles today: 33.3

Friends and Trail Followers:I sit here in the Gorham, New Hampshire public library trying to get a blog entry out to all of you before hiking a 12-mile day. Gorham is 297.9 miles from the summit on Katahdin and 16 miles to the border with Maine.My current plan is to do 13-mile days which would get me to Katahdin on August 14. This gives me a potential 'zero day' for my projected August 15th summit or the ability to slow down if the weather dictates. I am through New Hampshire's White Mountains and did so with mostly good to great weather. My hikes over the largest mountains, including Mt. Washington and the Presidential Range, were in fantastic weather conditions. Recent northbound AT hikers did not have it so good. The Trail gods were paying me back for putting up with three snow storms and a season's worth of rain.The Camera SagaSorry for not reporting this last time, but I DID get my camera back! If you recall, as I raced to meet my parents and Shannon in Bennington, VT on the morning of July 1, I was rock-hopping through an 11-mile section from a shelter south of Bennington to the roadway leading into the town of Bennington. Along that trip my camera was jarred from the holster on my backpack's waist belt and when I went to reach for it after 7 miles - it was gone!   I didn't have the luxury of time to go back looking for it and it could have been at the bottom of any of the mud puddles I had to jump over.I gave it up for lost and found solice in the fact that only the pictures from New Jersey through Massachusetts were lost (the others having already been downloaded). So I hurried on to meet family in Bennington. I met another hiker heading south and told him my story and gave him my contact info. He in turn, relayed this story and my info to 3 or 4 northbound hikers. I also left a written message on a paper plate in the next shelter I came to.Lo and behold, six days later I get a voice message from Left Toe (a hiker I had hiked with back in Virginia) that he was on the trail ahead of me and he had my camera! It turns out some section hikers found it dangling from the branch of a trail-side bush, not in a puddle! They also found the paper plate. When they were passed by Left Toe, they relayed the saga, the paper plate and the camera. To make a long story short, he was doing a southbound 'slack pack' hike and met Shannon and me outside of Killington, Vermont for the exchange. He would not take a reward, but I convinced him having an extra $20 for ice cream money was a prudent thing for every thru-hiker to possess.Thus, all my pictures were saved. I sent the memory card home with Shannon for safe keeping and I am now back immitating Ansel Adams.The MooseGood thing I had my camera. On Monday, July 20, I was finishing my 14.9 mile hike from Lake of the Clouds Hut to Pinkham Notch, when I encountered my first moose sighting. This was a tough hike over Mt. Washington and the Presidential Range. I was on the downside of the range, on the Osgood Trail, when I saw another hiker 100 feet up in front of me. Then I spotted the young female moose - between the two of us, just off the side of the trail. She was the size of a horse and was eating and slowly walking in my direction. I took some photos (not enough, in retrospect) and she wasn't bothered at all by the flash (used due to the dark background of the forest). In fact, she seemed curiously enthralled with the flash (though I like to think it was me) and kept coming towards me, just off the trail. There was a large birch tree between us, so I felt somewhat protected. She came within 6 feet of me until I chickened out and headed down the trail. I still regret not waiting and trying to pet her on the nose. I'll never know if she would have let me, but it is still one of my biggest regrets on my trip.Projected Finish DateWith 297.9 miles to go, I feel that I can slow down and enjoy my last days on the trail. There still are some mountains to be traversed in NH and Maine, but nothing like the Whites. After 30 miles of those, it will be rolling hills and lots of water crossings. Fording streams and rivers will be my next big challange. There are some trail angels that will take you across in canoes, but many of the streams are crossed in waist deep water. I hope that the rain doesn't pick up and swell these waters. If so, that's the reason I have built in some additional hiking time.I look forward to seeing Maine and eventually getting to the 100 Mile Wilderness. This is the last hundred miles before Baxter State Park and Katahdin. Hikers have to over-supply for this 5-7 day hike. It is total immersion in wilderness with only a few logging road crossings as signs of civilization.My blog entries may be few over the next 24 days. Maybe in Rangeley and Monson, Maine. I'll do my best, but understand that I'll be in very remote parts of Maine. Keep an eye out for them and I'll see you all up the trail.