Date: 2019-06-11
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: Campbell Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: broken clouds

Big day today!! I woke up and everyone was gone, but it was 7:30 so I wasn¢t that worried about it. I walked down to get water and the source was a bit far, but it  was good and there wasn¢t going to be a lot of water for a bit going up Dragon¢s Tooth. I had oatmeal and dried fruit and protein powder! A new addition to my morning food!! I¢ve decided I need to make my muscles even stronger for these longer days, and protein powder will help!! I put it right into my oatmeal and it¢s chocolate flavor so it helps. I¢m going to run out soon and I don¢t know if I¢ll be able to keep getting it in towns, but for now it works! I left the shelter at a good time and got back on trail. The sun was out, but that comes at a price! It was hot. And the spiders had a lot of fun after the rain, making cobwebs all over the darn trail. I walked through a million, like walking through a haunted house. It was a slow morning of climbing, and as I got closer to Dragon¢s Tooth, it was all rock scrambles. But I passed 700!! Yay!! 700 miles ahhh it felt so good!! I set up my camera to take a photo again because there was no one around. It was good to take a pack break because I haven¢t had a full pack on in a week and my back was like ¢wait what are you doing? This thing again? Nooooo!!¢ I scrambled up the rocks and through the cobwebs up to Dragon¢s Tooth! It was a bit anti-climactic. It¢s a big rock. You can climb all the way up, but I¢m not about to slide down and die today lol. One man I passed said it¢s ¢not for the faint at heart¢. Yeah well I¢m faint at heart lol I¢m a huge chicken. I climbed up a little bit of the Tooth and got a good scary view where I would¢ve slipped to my death so I slowly climbed back down and off of there. I again set up my phone to take a picture because there was no one here, and then had a snack. The downhill. Oh my lord this downhill. I don¢t like to use the word hate, but I HATED THIS. Oh HELL NO. It was awful. It was all rocks and all scrambling down. And there would be random little spots with rebar sticking out to stand on. I was so scared and panicked the whole time. Facing my fears right here on the AT. At one point it was so steep and involved a five foot drop to the next step, and I had all this weight on my back, I just cried out of sheer fear. I was shaking and so scared. Sometimes you have to take the plunge and if you don¢t fast enough, you just stand there getting more and more scared. I stared at the step and cried and eventually sat down, trying to edge my way down, hearing my pack scrape the rocks as I went down. It was okay after, but the whole descent was just hell. I will never climb that mountain again unless I need to lol. The view was okay, the Tooth was okay, and the downhill needs to be greatly changed. I know the whites can have this kind of climbing too, but my lord if I can find a way to slackpack the whites, I am going to do it. Having the weight made me ten times more scared. I was so afraid the force of my pack would just take me down. This felt like the whites today, and yes folks, I know what¢s coming. I¢ve been up there. And I cried the whole way up Moosilauke when my parents took my little 7-year-old self up there and I¢ll probably cry all the way up again lol. But the whites are also beautiful so I¢m quite excited to get there.I was feeling wiped after the downhill and didn¢t know how I could do more miles today and I was still shaking from fear. But I pushed on anyway. I knew it would be worth it for McAfee. I came down to a water source and filled up and had another snack. The bugs were all over me and that was annoying, but at least it wasn¢t raining. It was a little up and down for a bit and then there was a little portion through a meadow, which was very exposed and hot. I ran into Noodle though! She was hiking southbound to make up the miles from their Troutville excursion. She said Cali and No Rush and the other girl were behind her somewhere. I hiked through the meadow and was sweating buckets. It went back into the woods thank goodness. I passed two day hikers, a woman and her son, and for the first time in my trail experience, got a very interesting reaction. The woman literally plugged her nose at me, and then waved, while keeping her nose plugged. I wasn¢t aware I smelled THAT bad, but I guess I do? What a reaction lol. I made it to the top of this climb and then it was up down up down up down and I continued on until a parking lot, where I set my pack down and took a rest. I had seen Cali and she said someone had trail magic here, but there was no trail magic to be found. I saw a few people gathered around a truck, but no one called me over and the men closed the trunk of the truck. I guess maybe it was done? I met two hikers and one of them was very encouraging. I had four miles left up to McAfee Knob and he said the climb was not too bad, but it was definitely a good climb. He said he thru-hiked before too! I love meeting hikers out here that already thru-hiked. Keeping the trail in their lives!! I was pretty tired and it was hot. I carried on back into the woods to start the climb. There were two shelters within the first two miles, I guess because it¢s so touristy here. I passed the first. I met a man who said ¢going to the next shelter?¢ And I said ¢no I¢m going up McAfee¢ and he said ¢oh boy!¢ And I was thinking ugh what is this climb? How bad is it? I passed another man who said I ¢looked peeved¢. I guess I was struggling a bit at this point haha. It was a long day and I hadn¢t put my pack on in a week and I was going through some of the hardest, rockiest terrain so far. I reached the next shelter, got some water, and used the privy. It was completely empty and it was about 6pm so I was kind of shocked no one was there. But I figured everyone was up on the knob? It was strange to see it so deserted. It was a really nice shelter!!I continued on, passing a few people along the climb up. I listened to a podcast to get me through and it was about a woman who had an estranged mother throughout her life because apparently she was abused, but it was unclear if her memories at 5 years old were correct or if she was manipulated. It was a very interesting podcast, but I got very into it too, frustrated with the journalist who decided to investigate without the woman¢s approval. I passed two people who screamed down at me that there was a copperhead on the trail. I slowly walked up, thinking every root was a snake and getting quite scared. But it was fine and I didn¢t see any snakes. It must have gone across the trail and away before I got there. The climb wasn¢t too bad the rest of the way and the podcast helped. It was rocky and long, but doable. And I was so close! And then I arrived!! There was a sign that said ¢overlook¢ and I followed it over and saw McAfee Knob!! Finally!! It was so awesome. There was an incredible view all the way across and a long rock ledge that you could walk down to see the whole view. I put my pack down and walked down the rock ledge taking pictures and taking it all in. I thought I was totally alone, which surprised me since this is such a popular spot, but I guess everyone went down before sunset. I looked over and saw that I wasn¢t alone and No Rush and the girl (Rachel) were there! They were sitting in their hammock watching the sunset. I guess they took a zero here today, although they originally planned to go where Noodle was going.Rachel took my picture, which I was so happy about because I was worried there wasn¢t anyone up here before I saw them. This is the iconic AT photo besides Katahdin. The view truly was amazing, so I can understand why, but it is pretty funny to me that people get so excited for this view. I was definitely pumped. I got my iconic photo and even jumped up into the air for a shot! I had a nice time with Rachel and No Rush for a bit and I used my GoPro to walk back and forth on the ledge and take videos. It was getting dark and I was debating watching the whole sunset with them, but I decided to go on to the shelter.It was a bit of a rocky downhill, but I finished my podcast and quickly made it to the shelter. There was no one in the actual shelter, but some tents around. I plopped my pack down to set up my tent, but it was so late I just decided to stay in the shelter. I spread out since I was the only one in there. I thought I saw Raisin, Tugs, and Tank Top¢s tent, but I didn¢t wanna bother them. I was hoping they¢d come out and hang at the shelter, but they didn¢t. I got water and the source was a bit far. I ate dinner alone and it was pretty much dark by this point. I got a lot of anxiety about eating my food and it being dark, as I¢m more on the alert for bears these days. So I couldn¢t eat anymore because of my anxiety. Every sound I heard made me think it was a bear and I just took all the food and put it in the bear box. I was so happy there was one! It makes sense, being the first shelter after such a touristy view. Some of the tenters were section hikers, just here to see Dragon¢s Tooth, McAfee Knob, and Tinker Cliffs. Today was a good day, but such a long one. My feet and body were aching after the 17, but I pulled it off and I know I¢m capable of doing that kind of mileage. At this point it¢s a mental game. And there has to be motivation to get me through the days, even just little goals. Today I knew I¢d get to McAfee and I¢ve been looking forward to that for so long. It was my motivation to go 17. I probably would¢ve bailed sooner otherwise. I was hiking all day and that¢s what¢s so exhausting about this entire experience. It¢s just all day and it¢s so monotonous when there isn¢t a view to get to. And some people can just bust those miles every day, but it¢s so hard for me. I did it today though and I have that to pull me through. Still trying to hike my hike every day. Little Debbie