Date: 2015-09-20
From: Carlo Col Shelter

To: Speck Pond Shelter
Miles today: 9.5

We were up before light and ate breakfast. We were soon packed up and on the trail and over Mt. Carlo, Goose Eye Mountain East and West and North peaks. Coming down from the North Peak I slipped on a wet rock and as I fell my poles caught me and the one on my left snapped in half with the force of the impact. It took the brunt of the impact so while my shoulder hurt like hell it was an aching pain and not a tearing pain so it was ok. We made good progress and took a lunch break at the Full Goose Shelter. We then went up and over Fulling Mountain and down to the famed Mahoosuc Notch! Mahoosuc Notch was fun boulder scramble, only possible, due to the help of Odin. When I couldn't make it he pulled me up. Once when I jumped down from one rock to another I slipped and smacked my head on a rock which started bleeding, it would have been worse if not for the moss to soften the blow. To make matters worse I was on a downward slope with my good arm trapped under me so I couldn't get myself up! I was like a turtle stuck upside down! Odin quickly came to my rescue and made sure that I was ok. He made me count fingers and asked questions to make sure that I didn't have a concussion. I even found honest to goodness trail, trail magic in the form of a hiking pole that someone had abandoned on the trail! The trail provides! Odin and I, for the most part went over the top of everything when possible and made it through the mile in about and hour. Then began the hardest climb that I experienced on the trail up the Mahoosuc Arm. There's no way at all that I could have pulled that climb off by myself. So much climbing and having Odin help me up that we were exhausted by the time that we reached the top of the mountain. Odin made sure that I made it through that toughest mile on the trail, knowing that I couldn't have done it even though, like Honey, he had an extremely tight schedule. Once he saw that we were through the hardest part he apologized that he had to press on so we said our goodbyes and parted. I would so like to get ahold of him as the paper that he gave me got wet and became unreadable. I believe that his name is Christian. I'd like to connect with him on Facebook and see how his hike went. I staggered into the Speck Pond shelter after getting water from a stream along the way while it was still light and picked a spot in the shelter and got set up. One of the hikers there came by and offered beer so, having my arm thus twisted, I accepted 2 and drank one while I was cooking my dinner and the other while I ate. There were a number of people at the shelter and it was bitterly cold outside. I was all bundled up and went looking for the bear box that was supposed to be by the shelter but it was nowhere to be found so I just hung my food from a mouse cable and called it good. There was one guy at the camp asking to buy some safety material so I gave him a little to go and he instantly sponsored a safety meeting. One section hiker with everything but the kitchen sink begged me to take some beer from him to lighten his load. He was planning a thru-hike and wanted to see what worked and what didn't. Finally there was nother hiker up the way that was sponsoring safety meetings like an authorized member of OSHA! I made it around and talked to many of the hikers until exhaustion and the cold really started to kick in. It was soon dark and I took another hooker bath in the privy and changed into my thermals, hat, wool socks and burrowed deep into my seeping bag liner and bag and threw on my headphones for my nightly routine. I was lulled off to sleep by the sound of frogs, loons and the water lapping on the shore of the pond.