Date: 2008-07-06
From: Full Goose Shelter and Campsite

To: Frye Notch Lean-to
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: broken clouds

Maine is hard, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. These mountains are unforgiving on all levels, let there be no mistake about it.I'm home.I was awake at 5:00AM this morning and began preparing for the day. After breakfast and lounging around a bit while Cookie prepared for the day, we were walking north at 6:45AM.One of the first tasks of the day was to navigate through the Mahoosuc Notch, the most time consuming part of the entire Appalachian Trail, and the most enjoyable as well. This section of trail requires you to go up, between, and under massive boulders. There were a couple parts that required me to take off my pack, shove it in front of me through a narrow passage, crawl, shove, and crawl some more until I had made it through the narrow corridor. There are many parts where you are leaping from boulder to boulder, hoping you don't miss your landing or fall short. There are other spots where your legs are split, each pushed against a boulder on either side of you, while your hands are holding onto limbs or some form of secure holding spot.I should note that the first think NOBO's now encounter in the Notch are Tibetan Prayer flags, which are hanging over the skeletal remains of a moose that fell in the notch last year.Once you complete the most time consuming mile on the trail, it's time to march up and over the Mahoosuc Arm. I should note that NOBO's have it MUCH harder on this climb than SOBO's do on the other side, but SOBO's have a death defying descent, the MATC is sharing the love here. From the top of the Arm, you are staring straight at Old Speck, which is easy to spot because there is a fire tower marking the summit. By the time we rolled into Speck Pond Shelter we had been hiking for 3.5 hours, while we had only walked five miles. This is where we went for a cold swim in Speck Pond, which is the highest pond in the entire great State of Maine, and also had a snack break.At 11:25AM we began the steep ascent to Speck Mountain. What you must know is that the trail does not actually go to the fire tower, it comes within 3/10ths of a mile, then begins the descent down to Grafton Notch.This summit is where it all began in the summer of 2006. I was on an Outward Bound Course, and we were just descending from the summit of Old Speck. While at the time I did not know this, we were taking the famed Appalachian Trail down to Speck Pond Shelter, where we stayed for the night. As I was walking on this trail I became completely entranced in the idea of some day walking this footpath.When I got home I did a little research, on the ATC website I noticed a link entitled "through hiking", I clicked on this link, wondering what this through hiking thing was. The more I read, the more I fell in love with the idea of someday hiking the entirety of that trail. I started out by saying to myself 'someday I will hike that entire trail', I then started saying, 'by the time I graduate college, I'll will have hiked the entire trail'.I then came up with this grand scheme of hiking the trail in 2008, starting in the spring of 2008. When I first proposed this idea to my principal, he said to me "Kevin, if you were dying of cancer, I'd say go for it, by you have your whole life ahead of you, focus on high school right now".I was not going to give up that easily. I arranged a meeting with my superintendent in an effort to show my principal that I was dead serious about this. In our second meeting he gave me the go-ahead to start planning how I would do school work while on the trail. There was no stopping me now.I'll be the first to admit, I did corner my principal, and I do apologize for that, but I found it to be worth the risk.18 months later I stood on the summit of Springer Mountain, preparing to start what has become the journey of a life time.And it all started on that one summit.The descent into Grafton Notch is long and tedious, but it is all down hill so I'm not going to complain at this point. It took us until 1:45PM to walk 9.9 miles, 9.9 HARD miles.The initial ascent out of the Notch is gradual leading up to Baldpate Lean-to. The moment you pass the lean-to junction is when all hell breaks loose, and by that I mean you are sent straight up, literally at times. You spend a lot of time on this section ensuring one foot is firmly placed before even contemplating lifting the other one.The Baldpate ridge is absolutely amazing. The approach to the East Summit involves scaling a a giant boulder, which in this case is the East Summit. It was completely different from anything on the trail. The wind was gusting and the views were absolutely sensational. If you are ever looking for a day hike in Maine, I high recommend going NOBO out of Grafton Notch on a nice day.Tonight I am tenting at Frye Notch Lean-to, tomorrow I shall go into Andover for resupply.There is a SOBO here who is intent on using the word "fucking" in all of his sentences. Here is a typical sentence from this man:"Yeah, that fucking mountain was fucking steep and those fucking NOBO's would not move the fuck out of my fucking way so I told them to get the fuck out of my fucking way and that I was not fucking stopping to have a fucking conversation with them about this fucking trail."Good night, and good luck.Kirby