Date: 2003-08-18
From: Gentian Pond Campsite 

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: clear sky

Yesterday, after having done almost 12 miles and being to the shelter around 5pm, I wondered how we'd take it today, since we only had 9-plus planned. It didn't take me long today to realize that the miles we'd planned were plenty! The hiking was tough today, with a lot of steep ups and downs. The downs really slow me down. For some reason, when I come to a huge, slanted rock face, I tend to ponder my options. Having a pack on makes it more difficult too, as the pack either pushes me forward, and therefore downhill, or tends to try to throw me off the rock if I butt-slide or take a step not far enough away from the rock. It's a joy sometimes, lemme tell ya.Hotdog and I missed the moose at the pond this morning. The family saw it, and I think Thirst Boots did too, but some of us were lazy, and slept through it. I know I thought, with only 9 miles on the day, I didn't have to get up and going early. It was a nice cool night, but it rained lightly. Not much rain though, just a light, brief shower.Coincidence that Mt. Success is not too far from the Maine-New Hampshire Line? Mt. Success provided some great views today. There were some clouds, but the haze was nearly gone. It really is beautiful here. We took some pictures, and a break before heading on to The Line. It took longer than I anticipated to get there, but I was very glad to see the sign announcing "Katahdin 281.4". Wow! After writing in all of those registers "GA---)ME" it is now true! I have hiked from Georgia to Maine! Of course the true goal is to hike to Katahdin, and lately I've been writing "Springer---)Katahdin", so no quitting yet.After a break there, we hiked about a half mile farther and went to Carlo Col Shelter for lunch. It was 0.3mi off the AT. Downhill. I hate when that happens, but we both needed water, so we went. At this point, I was thinking "We're over halfway through with our day and it's just after noon. Three tenths is no big deal." The afternoon proved tougher than expected.It wasn't that the climbs were too steep. I can handle steep climbs prett well. I do, however, have some difficulty with those cliff-like descents. And there were plenty of them. Add to that the wet ground, and I'm a turtle at times. But, so far, it's kept me safe from serious injury, and at this point, that is very important to me. As we were hiking up Goose Eye Mountain, Hotdog looked up and said "Do you think we go there??" I looked at the mountain ahead of us, and halfway up it, and there was a HUGE wooden ladder! "Holy Shit! Some trail does! Maybe it's a side trail." HA! Silly me! It was, of course, the AT. But before getting to the relative safety of the HUGE ladder, we had to climb what appeared to be a vertical rock face. There was a handy ledge, sticking out about 6", and some water running down it, for refreshment of course, but it was a tricky climb. The poles were tossed up first, as I didn't think I'd need them, and would prefer to use my hands o! n this rock-climbing stuff. We both made it up safely, and climbed the HUGE ladder. The side rails were tree trunks well over a foot in diameter, and the steps were about 3" thick each! It prevented us from having to scale a 20' rock face. Isn't that nice?The ladder fun wasn't over yet. There was more to come. We got to the top of Goose Eye Mountain. One of them anyway. There are 3 or 4 peaks to the mountain. At the top, we sat down to take a break. I could see all along the ridge of the Gooses (or is it Geese Mountains?). THat was awesome. I love seeing where the trail goes or came from on distant mountains! As we were sitting there, a couple of raindrops started to fall, and we both put on our rain jackets and pack covers. As soon as we did that, the rain stopped. I was scanning the sky to see which clouds were teasing us, I looked toward the north, and saw quite a downpour! "Which way are the clouds going?" Hotdog looked up and gave an answer with the swoosh of his arm. I kept looking at that shower. It appeared to be coming toward us. I told Hotdog about, and after sitting there for about 15 minutes, we wondered if we should've been moving down the mountain before the storm came, rather than watch it appro! ach slowly. Hmmmm... break's over! We packed up and upped our packs and headed down. The trail became quite interesting. There were bog bridges, which is very common, but these, when not parallel to the earth, had cross boards acting as steps or slide-preventers. They came in very handy, as Hotdog and I had both slipped on bog bridges already today. The bridges were quite the engineering feats, as they were angled this way or that, or tilted to make sure they supported nice even steps, not slanting off into the bogs. There were mini stair cases too, more like ladders with tilted steps, allowing a safer descent over some steep sheer rock faces. But in many places, there were no ladders at these rocks, and we were left to butt-slide or use the trees to try to descend safely. I wondered how they determine what areas need ladders, or bog bridges. It looks to me that the entire trail could be bridged or laddered. I'm not saying that should happen, but that some areas ! without these tools looked a lot worse than some areas with them.We made it partway down the mountain before the rain started, harder this time. I took off my pack, put on my rain jacket, and put my pack back on, ready to move on. The rain let up considerably. (sigh) Don't that just figyah! I hiked on for a bit, and since it was fairly level, kept my jacket on. Once I came to the bottom of a slight uphill, I, once again, took my pack off, took my jacket off and tucked it just under the pack cover, and put my pack back on. The sun came out, and the heavy rain had slipped by. Lucky us! I could've sworn the weatherman said no rain for 4 days. So far, we're 2 for 2 getting rain. Hmpff!We FINALLY got to the shelter, and Thirsty Boots was the only one here. He said it poured here, and he just made it to the shelter before it started.Man, these short days are just wearing me out! While I am anxious to get to Katahdin, I know, and have known, that there are some places, especially southern Maine, where 10 miles per day is a good day. Today was one of those days. I think there will be places, later on in Maine, where more miles won't be a problem. I just have to keep thinking and believing, that very step I take north is progress. I'm happy with that. Progress is good. Tomorrow will be another day where any miles are good miles. I'm looking forward to the famous Mahoosuc Notch, with it's house-sized boulders! It's time to play on the jungle gym!!! After a long nap, that is...