Date: 2016-08-08
From: Mahoosic Notch North End campsite

To: Gentian Pond Shelter
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: clear sky

This morning was chilly, probably in the 40's, and overcast. After packing up and eating breakfast I was on the trail by 6:00 and headed for Mahoosuc Notch. The Notch is a mile long jumble of medium to very large boulders that seem to follow a stream bed through a gap between two nearly vertical walls of stone. The guidebook I use calls this Notch the most difficult mile on the entire AT. When I approached the Notch it was a truly imposing sight. I sat for several minutes looking at the boulders and trying to spot the white blazes that would lead me through them. The Notch is wide enough (I'd estimate it to be between 20 and 50 foot wide in most places) that there are almost always two or more paths through a section that look viable. I decided that I would try to follow the white blazes as closely as possible and not deviate even if another path appeared easier or safer. I packed away my trekking poles (I figured they'd be useless most of the way) and got started. After only a short while I found I had to choose between climbing over a jumble of boulders and squeezing through gaps beneath them. The blazes gave me no clue which course to choose so I decided I would try to go over rather than under whenever I could. This strategy, along with carefully following the blazes, worked well for me. I had to backtrack and try another route only two times and had to take off my pack and push it through a gap in front of me only once. I also learned quickly to pay attention to the direction hikers coming north came from and, figuring that if they made it that way so could I, go in that direction. By following these rules I set for myself I made it through the mile in about an hour and twenty minutes and without a single bump, bruise or scrape. At the end of the Notch the trail rose steeply up to the summit of Fulling Mill Mountain and then down into a gap where I had lunch at Full Goose Shelter. From here the trail traversed a series of mountain peaks; Goose Eye Mountain's north, east and west peaks, Mount Carlo and Mount Success. Starting up Mount Carlo at about noon, the sky started getting dark and the winds really started blowing. I was tired from the days efforts and my tailbone hurt like the dickens. As I put my pack cover and rain jacket on I had to decide between stopping for the day at Carlo Col Shelter about a mile ahead over Mount Carlo (avoiding the bad weather and having a very long 19 mile day tomorrow) and going on six miles over Mount Success to Gentian Pond Shelter (pushing it and risking the storms today and having a more doable 13 mile day tomorrow). I decided to push on. Just as I reached the summit of Mount Success it started raining and the winds really picked up; enough so that I literally had to lean into the wind (like those talking heads on the weather channel do at hurricane sites) to stay upright. Thankfully there was no thunder nor lightning so the situation was uncomfortable but not really life threatening. I arrived at Gentian Pond Shelter at 6:00, exhausted and sore but happy with making it through a very hard 12 hour day. Most of the hikers staying wth me at the shelter were going north and wanted to know all about the Notch and the Arm so I told them over supper. Some of the other hikers went a swam in the pond after supper but I was too tired and turned in early for the night.