Date: 2003-10-02
From: Gentian Pond Shelter

To: Stealth Campsite
Miles today: 7.0

Such a mixed day...physically, emotionally, weatherly (is that a word?). I woke up with the sun and all the early risers in the shelter. I didn't get the greatest night's sleep, but not the worst, either. I went over and talked with Windsong and Trauma for awhile...they've been having a great hike. Their summit of Katahdin was clear, warm and beautiful. I spent some time with Yoni, who, I think, remembered me from the hostel. Then I went back to bag to have some breakfast. The day hikers were getting their stuff together, so we all waited until they had gone to get packing. I overheard Puff Daddy and Espy discussing what they were going to do. It was then I discovered that Bluebird was leaving the Trail to go home. Last night was the last straw for her...she's had enough of rain and cold. She was crying as she told me this...I can understand what she's going through. I asked if I could give her a hug, and she said yes. I'm hoping it helped a little bit. Big Bir!d and I left them there...they were all returning to Gorham, and Puff Daddy and Espy were going to try to get to Monson to flip-flop after saying goodbye to Bluebird. I started off at a good pace...I guess I felt like I needed to run away from that shelter. Not only was I sad about Blurbird leaving, but I was so close to joining her...even though the hike yesterday for me was not that bad. I ended up getting quite a bit ahead of Big Bird, but waited for him near the top of our biggest climb for the day. He hadn't slept well, and was still feeling the ill effects of the cold/flu thing that he had, so he was feeling worn out today. I was excited because we were going to get to Maine today, but still feeling deflated by the morning's events. I slowed my pace a bit so that Big Bird could keep up, as I wanted us to cross the border together. He's been keeping me going through NH, so I felt as if it would be wrong to cross over to the last state before him. It started to !sprinkle as we were nearing the peak of Success Mountain, so we stopped to put our pack covers on. I felt weary at the thought of another day of hiking in the rain...the only thing that was buoying my spirits was the thought of Maine, Maine, Maine. It ended up not raining, though, and we summitted Success under gray skies. As we looked toward Maine, we could see the sun shining on a lake to the left...above it was the most beautiful rainbow. Not your typical arch, but the type you get when you spray water out of a hose on a hot summer day...wide and shimerry I took a picture, and hope it turns out well. We hiked on...less than two miles to Maine. New Hampshire said goodbye to us in its own inimitable way...rock faces, slick with water. I attempted to go down one of these, nearly impaling myself on a protruding root. It took me awhile to stop shaking after that. Finally, we were at the border...the sign ahead read "Maine...the way life should be". We crossed over, took pictures and sat down to eat. Entering new states makes me hungr!y! Actually, the colder it gets, the hungrier I've become. Not only do we need to eat to keep going, but also to keep warm...I don't know that I can carry all the food I'll need to get through the 100 Mile Wilderness! After our lunch, we started hiking in Maine...it wasn't long before we came across a huge boulder scramble that I'm sure was a preview of Mahoosuc Notch. I did a lot of sitting down and five-point crawling. Yikes! This is the way life should be?? We picked up the pace a bit, as we still had 3.5 miles to go, and it was growing late. As we started ascending the ridge to Goose Mountain, I saw...a snow flake. It did seem that as we crossed over the border, the quality of the cold in the air changed. Now, I know what you're thinking...that a bunch of ! But, I swear, even when I cross over the border, while driving up to Maine to visit my Mom or my Dad, I can feel that change in the air. I didn't think anything of the first couple of f!lakes as they fell, and we made good time in the first mile up the ridge. As we started over a bald area on the ridge, the snow started to really come down...near white out conditions. We couldn't see the peaks ahead of us anymore, but knew we had to cross at least two before we would get to the shelter. The wind had increased in intensity, and we could barely see the Trail in front of us. I noticed a small flat spot by the side of the Trail, but continued on around the corner. As I looked up at the rocks above me in the swirling snow, I knew that we were done for the day. It was 5:30, we had at least 2.5 miles to go, and we couldn't see where we were going or predict how long it would take to get there. We set up the tent...it just barely fit into the small space by the Trail. I cooked dinner for myself, ate quickly, then went to tent. We had planned on splitting the rest of the Jack Daniels between this evening, celebrating getting to Maine, and tomorrow evening, after completing the Notch. We changed plans and finished it tonight.!   Mother Nature is messing with us again...there's no way, now, that we can get to Andover by the time we need to if we keep hiking. We're going to have to come up with an alternate plan...something that doesn't include Mahoosuc Notch, I'm afraid. My thru-hike continues to have a mind of it's own. I wonder if I'll be included in it anywhere... Snow continues to fall outside the tent...nothing to do but go to sleep.