Date: 2015-08-07
From: Camp site 1908.9

To: Grafton Notch
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: light rain

I was exhausted from the hike yesterday and was asleep by 9:00pm. I woke this morning around 05:30 but laid in my sleeping bag for another half hour because it was nice and warm. It had gotten really chilly overnight. Hard to believe it is so cold in August. I finally got out of my sleeping bag and started to break camp. After a quick breakfast, I had everything ready and it was time to hit the trail. I started hiking around 06:45. I only planned to hike 13 miles today but I knew it was going to be a tough day of hiking. I started out with a climb up to Goose Eye West peak.   It was a hard climb up with lots of rock scrambles. Then it was down a bit and another climb up to Goose Eye East peak. From what I've seen in Maine so far, the mountains are almost all rock with a few areas of bogs thrown in.    From the top of the peak there was supposed to be a nice view but it was all fogged in; so no view. I then went down again and back up to Goose Eye North peak. Again there was supposed to be a view but it was all foggy. The bog areas at the top were kind of spooky in the fog. It was very quiet and still this morning.    I came down off this peak and made it to the Full Goose shelter. I finally saw another hiker today. I stopped and talked with Not Swedish for a bit to see where he was headed for the day. He was planning to try doing 20 miles today and I told him good luck. Then it was back to hiking.   There was another climb and the descent down to the start of the Mahoosuc Notch. This is called the most difficult mile on the whole AT. The notch is a jumble of boulders of all different sizes, some the size of a car or bigger. You have to climb around, over and under the boulders to get through. I literally crawled under rocks taking my backpack off because the space was so narrow.  Today's picture shows one of the rocks I had to crawl under, notice the arrow. I pushed my pack through first then crawled after. My pack has holes in the netting. It was actually quite fun going through this section. It took me 80 minutes to complete the 1.2 miles. I took a short break at the end before starting the climb up the Mahoosuc Arm. This climb goes up over 1800 feet in just 1.5 miles. I used to think a tough climb was an elevation gain of 700 feet per mile. The climbs here are over 1000 feet per mile. The climbs in Maine are also mostly rock. There are times you look up the mountain and think, they can't expect me to go up there. But, then of course, that is exactly what you have to do.    There were several place on the way up where there was rebar hand holds to assist in the climb. After much huffing and puffing, I finally made it to the top. I was beat and stopped here to enjoy the views and have lunch.   I talked to two NoBo section hikers. They had planned to thru-hike last year but quit in CT. They were tired and exhausted and not enjoying last year. They started hiking in CT the first part of July this year.   After a nice long lunch break it was time to get back on the trail.   It was downhill for awhile and then across some alpine bogs. There were lots of blueberries around the bogs and I stopped to enjoy a few. Nothing better than fresh organic fruit. Next it was time to climb Old Speck Mountain.   The climb up from the bogs to the top was nothing but solid rock. This was the last climb of the day and I was very happy to reach the summit. I was rewarded with some fantastic views at the top. Now, I just needed to hike another 3.5 miles and drop down over 2500 feet. I would be at the road crossing where Lavander would be waiting.    I was about half way down when I saw some writing in the mud on the trail. It said "Count, I was here at 1511" I thought it must have been Lavander who wrote that. I looked at my phone and it was 1516. I was only 5 minutes behind her. I started hiking faster. I saw another writing and now it was only 3 minutes behind. Soon I caught up to Lavander. She had hiked up from the road to meet me. But, she was concerned she had missed me and started back down the trail. We hiked the last 1.5 miles together. Now it is time to get some dinner and get ready for tomorrow's hike. We are camping at Grafton Notch. As we were setting up camp, Fozzie, Trix, and Not Swedish hiked into the notch. They are camping here as well. Looks like Not Swedish isn't doing 20 miles today!!