Date: 2015-07-25
From: Full Goose Shelter

To: Speck Pond Shelter
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: light rain

I was tired when we woke up this morning and I was dreading the day: we had to face the Mahoosuc Notch and the Mahoosuc Arm. The Notch is a notoriously difficult segment, a mile-long pit of car-sized boulders where hikers must scramble over and under rocks while avoiding deep crevasses. I remember meeting a few past thru-hikers who asked me "do you like bouldering?" Do I LOOK like someone who does?! The clueless hikers told me it's easier to navigate through the boulders if one manages to get on top and leap through the jumbled pit, as opposed to crawling over, around and under them. Suuuuuure, I am TOTALLY capable of jumping, with a full pack, over giant rocks and gaps. We left the camp and began down, towards Mahoosuc Notch. Shrugs was leading the way so that I wouldn't see the upcoming terrain, as one puts blinders on a horse. The terrain featured many steep and slick rock slides (which Shrugs knows I hate) so he was guiding me through them by explaining the mechanics of friction. Shrugs is so nice (also: I think I would do better in theoretical hiking, if there were such a discipline).We arrived at the notch, put away our hiking poles and began. We scrambled over boulders, slid down rocky facades and crawled under dark, claustrophobia-inducing spaces. The air was noticably cooler deep within the rock maze and in a few areas I spotted some icy patches, small areas of permafrost, I guess.Each obstacle demanded a certain time to evaluate the safest route around it. I had to take off my pack many, many times as I was often not strong enough to hoist myself up with the added weight (and my still sore shoulder was not being cooperative). Shrugs had to place his shoulder or knee for me to lean on and add extra support. A few times, I leaned my back against a rock wall and extended my legs towards the adjacent surface as to form a bridge with my body; in this way, I struggled upwards along the crevasse. A light drizzle sprinkled the open surfaces.It was extremely tiring and excruciatingly long. It took 3.5 hours to do the mile. Everyone was faster than me. There were two little old grampas who passed me (though they were very nice as they picked up my bandana that I had dropped). I am tired of always being the first one up and the last one finished. "The most fun or most difficult mile of the AT"... how about the most never-ending?We stopped to gather some water. Sadly, there was little respite as the Mahoosuc Arm was up next, a 1,600' elevation gain over 1,5 miles. Translation: damn steep. The initial portion of the climb was alright, but then we needed to face multiple rock walls. How do you even go up or down a rock wall? I noticed that many hikers had made paths on the sides through the delicate trees and vegetations. The soil was eroded and full systems of roots were exposed. Unfortunately, I added to this slow destruction as these impromptu paths were really the only way I could climb up. We eventually made it to the campsite. Today we did 5.1 miles in over 9 hours. However, we had a suprise at the campsite: we saw Rosy Eagle, a thru-hiker we had met during our 2013 section! At the time, he was going NoBo and now, he is travelling SoBo. It was nice to talk to him, even if it was only briefly as he was pushing on.It was very cold during the evening so we went to bed early. It rained hard during the night.- Axon "Trail" in Mahoosuc Notch