Date: 2017-07-25
From: Carlo Col Shelter, ME

To: Speck Pond Shelter, ME
Miles today: 9.5

7/25/17, Speck Pond Shelter, MEMiles hiked: 1600.1, Miles to Katahdin: 271.8, Miles to go: 589.7Remember back awhile when I said that I had the mistaken impression that the trail through NJ, NY, CT, and MA to Greylock would be a cruise and that I was sorely mistaken? Well, I've done it again. For some reason, I thought that once we finished the White Mountains it would be a cruise to Mt Katahdin. Wrong!I hiked 9.5 miles today and it was a full day. I awoke to rain at Carlo Col Shelter. It had rained pretty much all night; but, I managed to stay pretty dry. Where I was camped on a slope, I slid down during the night and my feet touched the side of the tent, resulting in my sleeping pad and quilt getting a little damp. Of course, my clothes from yesterday were still soaked. Putting on cold, clammy, smelly clothes is probably the most unpleasant aspect of the day. After you get moving, you don't notice; but, first putting them on is always unpleasant. By the time I hit the trail, the rain had tailed off and the clouds actually began to thin. By afternoon, I was hiking in full sunshine. The  trail was still a muddy, mucky mess though. The rocks were still wet and slick, which made the steep descents fairly treacherous. I lost count of how many times I went down. Most of the falls were slow and fairly controlled. I had one pretty bad fall on my left hip which left it pretty bruised and tender, though. The climbs continued to be steep, with sections where rebar steps were embedded in the vertical rock face. I felt like I was on a via ferata, only instead of a safety harness j had a 30 lb pack. I also ascended several ingenious log ladders. The trail maintainers in southern Maine sure have their act together. I stopped for lunch at the Full Goose Shelter and while I was eating, Hummingbird walked up. I was very surprised to see him because when I had last seen him in Gorham he said he was ready to be finished and planned to knock out big miles. When I reminded him of this, he said that he got to Carlo Col Shelter yesterday afternoon around 2:00 PM and decided to stay rather than hike in the rain. He had actually been at the shelter when I arrived yesterday evening. I just hadn't seen him in the crowd. After lunch is when the real fun began. I hiked a couple of AT icons - the Mahoosuc Notch and the Mahoosuc Arm. The Mahoosuc Notch is a mile long narrow Gorge with steep, high walls. Over the millennia, rocks have broken loose and fallen into the gorge, resulting in a jumble of boulders and rocks of assorted sizes and shapes 20 - 30 feet deep, like piles of giant Legos all jumbled up. There are places in the Mahoosuc Notch that still have ice that hasn't melted by mid-July. This mile long section of the trail is billed as the most hated and most loved mile of the AT. You have to scramble over, under, and around these boulders as you pick your way through the notch. At one place the passage under a boulder was so small, I had to remove my pack and push it ahead of me as I squirmed through on my belly. Many times I had to sit down and slide down a tilted boulder - not always an easy feat in a kilt. It took me about an hour and a half to work my way through the notch. Luckily, the sun had dried out the rocks before my passage, making them much less slick. Upon completing the Mahoosuc Notch, I faced another obstacle - the Mahoosuc Arm.  It consists of a climb gaining over 1500 feet of elevation over 0.9 miles. There were many sections that went almost straight up. It was just a matter of settling in and slogging out the mile long climb. Once again, a dry trail made this a much better climb. At the top of Mahoosuc Arm, it was a short hike to Speck Pond Shelter. I got here around 5:00 PM, which gave me time to dry out some of my equipment a little. It was not nearly as packed as the last shelter. So, I was able to get a tent platform. All in all, it was a tough day; but a fun one.