Date: 2008-08-11
From: Melville Nauheim Shelter

To: Goddard Shelter
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: light rain

Woke up around 6:30 this morning to overcast skies. Looked like it might rain again. During the night, there was another line of thunderstorms that moved through the area. They didn't last too long though, and we stayed nice and dry in our tent. After a quick breakfast, we packed up and headed off towards today's destination - Goddard Shelter. The trail was a mess after all the rain we had last night. During yesterday's rain, my boots became saturated with water. There was no sense in putting on dry socks this morning because my boots were still soaked, so I wrung out my wet socks from yesterday and put them on instead. I'll save my dry socks for a dryer day. Getting into wet socks and wet boots is only bad for a moment or two. Once you get them on and start walking, you get used to the squishy feeling pretty quick. The only bad thing is that my left big toe began to chafe and I wound up getting one heck of a blister (see picture). This was the first time I've ever got a blister wearing these boots (Asolo). While it looked very painful, it wasn't bothering me at all. I considered popping and draining it, but I found that the best way to deal with it was to leave it alone and wrap it tightly with duck tape. It wasn't long after we started out this morning when the rain began again. It was an on and off type of rain and we found ourselves constantly putting our rain coats on and taking them off again when the rain stopped. After a while, I started to feel like Mother Nature was watching me, and when she saw me take my rain coat off and put it in my backpack pocket, that was her cue to start the rain again. For much of our walk today, Ann and I retreated into our own thoughts and daydreams. Rainy days tend to have a meditative affect on the mind, and at one point, I realized that I had just walked for about 20 minutes with no awareness of the terrain I had just walked through. During the early afternoon, Ann caught her foot on a stick and took a nice fall smack into the middle of a mud pit in the middle of the trail. It was so oozy and thick that she had trouble getting up so I helped pull her out. She took it like the trooper that she is though. After slogging through mud all day, we arrived at the Goddard Shelter at about 1:30. The sky showed a glimmer of sunshine when we arrived, so we decided to set up our tent on a flat spot next to the shelter. No sooner did we get the tent set up, than it started to sprinkle again. Since there was only one person in the shelter, we decided to take the tent down and grab a corner of the shelter for the night where we knew we'd be able to keep nice and dry. There was a retired army vet staying there who was thru-hiking southbound. He told us that since he had left Katahdin, he has only seen one full day without some rain. He said that if it didn't stop raining real soon, he was going to get off the trail. What a shame for him to have gone through the Whites without being able to enjoy the views. After getting set up in the shelter, we crawled into our sleeping bags and rested for awhile. Other northbounders continued to arrive throughout the afternoon, some deciding to stay for the night, but most pushing on towards the Story Spring Shelter, another 9 miles further. I felt sorry for one young lady who was thru-hiking with her boyfriend. She was in tears because she was tired and didn't want to go any further, but he kind of pushed her into going the extra 9 miles in the late afternoon rain. It seems to me from what I've seen on my many hikes is that too many young thru-hikers are caught up in achieving daily mileage targets at the expense of their health and happiness. My advise for what it's worth is to listen to your body and the small voice in your head and slow down. Smell the roses along the way. You'll enjoy your journey much more.The Goddard Shelter is one of the nicer shelters I've ever stayed in. It is big, it is clean, it has a front porch area where you can sit and cook your food, and it has a view (when it's not raining). The privy is also top notch. While doing your business there, you can even read the Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Someone took it upon themself to write the whole story on the privy wall! It was a good decision we made to stay in the shelter, because the sky just opened up during the night. It POURED, but we stayed cozy and dry. Another section hiker whom we had met the day before in the Melville Nauheim Shelter (she called herself TipToe) arrived later in the afternoon and set up in the shelter next to us. She was also planning to hike up to Hanover. I'm not much for shelters, but tonight there was good company here. They were all friendly and considerate when it came time for sleep. Life is good out here, even in the rain.