Date: 2015-07-27
From: Just past the state line

To: White Mtn Hostel, Gorham
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: light rain

Wet on Mtn-tops & in the woods. I wasn't aware of rain during the night; yet I heard dripping from the trees: so I don't know if all the moisture was just from the cloud. Probably. I purposely stopped last night just short of a huge rock climb ¢ I'm talking Mahoosuc-Notch-type boulders stacked vertically. I remember doing it in the dark coming the other way; it isn't well marked in either direction. I know the AMC doesn't like to blaze the Trail in their territory, but this is the kind of place a hiker needs "assurance blazes" ¢ to answer that gnawing question: "Is this mess really still the Trail?". The blazing improved considerably after Gentian Pond; so apparently each trail-maintainer has discretion to decide how many blazes to do in his or her section. That's not quite fair to hikers!Those rocks were more-or-less the beginning of Mt Success, which has many ups & downs. I coined a new proverb: "You're not a success on Mt Success till you're done with every bit of it!".Hikers I met along the way included [I always miss some, or forget their names before recording them] Taco, Jingles, Two [or Too or To], a section-hiker going so fast I couldn't get his name, & then 2 hikers who looked guilty. They were sitting on the Trail near Dream Lake, eating snacks. When I asked them, as I do everyone, "Are you a Thru-hiker?", they apparently thought I was accusing them of not belonging there. Anyway, they would neither confirm nor deny. Later I met Veggie-Viking, Smokestack, Hierobics, & Heisenberg [from Germany]. When I had called the White Mtn. Hostel last night, Marney suggested I might want to get there by 6:00, when they do their Wal-Mart run. I started hiking early [6:15] & felt I was on track for the first part of the day, but a lot can happen in 16 miles. Like additional mtns! I had misplaced my map & the guidebook page for this section, so I was trying to go by memory. I had completely forgotten Cascade Mtn., which has a lot of preliminary ups & downs, including one called Wocket Ledge. I've always thought that was a fascinating name, but I missed it this time [What's a Wocket, anyway?].When I finally got to Mt Hayes, I tried to call the hostel to say I was still coming, but it would be later that 6:00 [It already was]. I stopped on the semi-bald top to dry my tent & eat blueberries: the first of the little mtn blueberries I'd seen ripe. I knew the Trail was fairly easy down from there, so I thought I'd try my other shoes again. There were way more ups & downs than I remembered, & also more rocks, tho not the kind that are usually slippery. I slipped & fell on my wooden pole, considerably shortening it. Those shoes just aren't anything like my first shoes ¢ I'll be able to use them only on very easy parts of the Trail ¢ or send them home.The last part of the Trail, 3.6 miles, was quite easy, tho I had to be careful even there, on the rocks steps they had periodically: 214 mph! I haven't gone that fast for a long time. And being on more level ground, my knee felt much better.I got to the hostel after 8:30, but was well-received.