Date: 2011-07-30
From: Old Speck Mountain

To: Full Goose Shelter/Campsite
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: few clouds

7/30/2011Time:  DISTANCE TRAVELED: About 8 miles FROM/TO: From the campsite we made at the top of OldSpeck Mountain to Full Goose Shelter/Campsite. WEATHER: It was overcast and cool today way into the afternoon. Around 3 p.m., it started warming up and some sun peaked through the clouds. MEALS: I had 3 packages of instant oatmeal and some water for breakfast. My first snack was Pop-Tarts, with water; and for my second snack, I had both a Power Bar and another package of Pop-Tarts, with water to drink. My third snack consisted of a candy bar and water. Then for dinner I had a package of Alfredo Noodles with a package of beef flavored Ramen noodles mixed in, and drank water. ROAD/TRAIL CONDITIONS: See the day¢s summary. SHELTER USED/SLEEPING QUARTERS:  Although we made it to the Full Goose Lean-to, I am sleeping in my tent. My tent was still wet from last night, so I set it up to dry and air out, and for other reasons, too.  PEOPLE MET, HIKED WITH OR SEEN: I hiked with Achilles all day, and we caught up with RunningMan. I think I referred to him before as Mountain Runner, but I was wrong about his Trail name. So . . . we hiked with him the last three miles. When we got to the shelter, we met up with Whisky Bumpkin and Log Walker. There are some nobo¢s here, too, but I¢m too tired to join in the conversation, or even pay attention to it.  ANIMALS SEEN: I saw a bird, a squirrel, and a few bugs. MONEY SPENT OR SAVED: I¢ve spent no money today. MAIN CONCERN OF THE DAY: Safety!! After the rain last night, all the rocks and roots were wet. The trail was muddy and very, very, very steep down the side of the mountain. It took us two hours to go a mile. The wind on top of the mountain was about 30 mph, and it blew us around a bit. Then the notch, which people say is the hardest mile on the Trail, was wet. It took us 3 hours to cross the notch. We left camp this morning at 9 a.m., and got to Full Goose, 8 miles away, at 5:30 p.m. Wow! What a day!  SPECIAL NOTES: Wet rocks are slippery in Maine. I busted my a**. I was a little cocky with my ability to leap and maintain my balance, so I¢m going to have a deep bruise on my right leg. It could have been worse, though, since I had an extra 50 lbs. on my back. Anyway, I will be more cautious from now on.  SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: We started out tired this morning after it rained all night. By the way, I¢m glad I tied my tent to a big boulder and a tree because the wind tried to blow me over twice! My tent was leaking a bit, too, so needless to say, I didn¢t sleep well.  As we hiked, we could only see about 8 feet in front of us ¢ we were in the clouds. When we hit the first ridge to go down, it was very exposed, and the wind was pushing us around. It was very intense!  Then, headed steeply downhill, we hit slippery rocks, and had to move very slowly.  We made it to the campsite I had planned to stay at, but we only took a break there, then pushed on. It wasn¢t long before we were once again on slippery rocks going down a very steep grade. There was no daydreaming today! Every step had to be thought out or you could fall a few hundred yards!  So we made it to the notch, a mile long valley that is slightly uphill. It was filled with boulders that you had to climb over, under or around to get through. Sometimes, you even had to jump from one to another. It was fun until I fell, and had to do the last third of the hike with a Charlie horse in my right outer thigh. Our hiking polls were tied to our packs as we climbed uphill for that mile.  The day was both physically and mentally strenuous. Through that last mile, I apologized to the men I was hiking with if I seemed rude. I was done, but couldn¢t quit until we hit the lean-to. Today, I think, has been my most challenging day up to this point. My 22-mile day back on June 30th, with all it¢s mishaps and trials, doesn¢t seem so bad now. I think this is the only day so far that I have thought about every step and where it was going to go. It may have been different if everything was dry. My time to do it, of course, was wet, and it took a lot of work on my part to make it through to the lean-to.  I¢m going to bed now. We have an 11-mile day tomorrow, and after the first 5.5 miles, we will be in Newhamster!   TTFN.