Date: 2018-08-10
From: Gorham

To: Gentian pond shelter
Miles today: 11.8

It was lights out around 11pm last night, late but early for River when we're in town. 5 am came and unfortunately there was no hot water to shower with so I washed up and put on my clean hiking clothes and we headed out to breakfast for their 6am opening. I had a delicious omelet with hash and cheddar cheese, home fries and coffee. I hydrated with water and sucked down a bottle of Starbucks frappachino in the car on the way to the trail head. We'll rested and ready for another day. For the first time I really enjoyed the road walk. Its 7am early morning quiet and my feet don't hurt like they used to. I don't even have to take my shoes off when I take breaks anymore, not that I've taken any significant breaks recently. It takes 11-13 hours of grinding hiking in this area to get 10-13 miles behind me. My shins bump against boulders constantly and suffer scrapes and bruises from rock scrambles. I look like I've been in some kind of wreck from my knees to my ankles. But I'm well and strong and those will heal. I'm still thankful for God keeping me safe with each trip or slip and fall. With as many steps on uneven and/or wet surface as I take in any single day it's inevitable that I'll fall regardless how cautious I am. I've seen less fortunate hikers and I pray for their healing. After a little over a mile of road walk the trail took me to the woods and a 2.5 mile ascent of Mt Hayes. On the way up I met 3 hikers. 2 women hiking together, an AMC volunteer named Sarah and her friend Bagels. The 3rd hiker was a woman named Which Way, a veteran trail maintainer of 27 years in the 100 mile wilderness. I had brief conversation with all of them and discovered we're all on the same schedule for this section. I'll see them all at the Gentian pond shelter later and it gave me something to look forward to. All day we played leap frog with Which Way and had lunch with her at Trident Cool Campsite which was a bit off the trail but she needed water and there weren't many options today. River and I left ahead of her and stopped a half mile ahead at a nice stream for water. Because we're still hiking with less gear we have one filter, one tent and one cook set and I need River for my water. But once I filled up there I was good for the next 5 miles to the shelter and hiked on ahead. River stayed behind hiking for a while with Which Way. I put on my music and made the rest of the day feel less difficult. It's a great little pick me up that I've learned to use to change my mood if needed. I passed Dream Lake and skipped the side trail to it then came to Upper Gentian pond and finally Gentian pond and the shelter. It was a really nice newer shelter with a loft and there was only 1 hiker there when I arrived. Gray, who I'd met at IMP shelter when he and 3 others arrived after us in the dark and rain. Gray way waiting for the rest of his tramily to arrive and I was waiting for River. But while I was waiting I was captivated by the view from the shelter. Really beautiful. It's seldom that we have something like that at a shelter and I was in full appreciation of it. River and Which Way arrived shortly after and we adopted the loft for the night since there was a nice step up and a commanding look at the view. Bagels and Sarah arrived and set up their tent and other hikers arrived including Little Horse, a German man who doesn't speak a lot of English and the rest of Gray's tramily Wallaby, Road Kill and one other. We all cooked dinner and settled in early. From the loft I enjoyed the colorful night sky and watched it fade. The shelter was quiet with all 8 hikers doing the same. River set her alarm for 5am. I closed my eyes. I was very comfortable though my back was still feeling a bit overworked and vulnerable.