Date: 2021-06-30
From: Rattle River Hostel

To: Carlo Col Shelter
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: clear sky

Following a hot night in the hostel, I was out of bed at 5:30 and downstairs to have pancakes with the breakfast eaters (one must take care not to be ostracized from the group by showing anti-breakfast proclivities). Quiksilver had posted up in the kitchen and was making pancakes for one and all. I was drinking water prodigiously to try and pre-hydrate for another hot and muggy hiking day. I had an interesting conversation with the hostel owner the afternoon before as we talked about magnetic pole reversal, local water ordinances, mega-volcanoes, how to split and replant Hostas, doomsday tidal waves, Gatorade vs Powerade, and other odds and ends.  Being widely read sometimes pays off. I can talk with just about anyone about nearly anything. This is fine. Yeeha was taking another zero today to see if he can continue his hike as he battles a shin injury. So I headed out first at 6:45 with Iceberg just behind and Quiksilver a ways back. After a one mile road walk I entered the woods and started up, completely sweating through my clothes in about 45 minutes.The elevation profile for the day promised lots of climbing (I think the mist in one day so far in the trail for me) and we had decided to make the Gentian Pond Shelter our rally point about 11 miles up trail. There were 22 miles or so to Mahoosuc Notch and Mahoosuc Arm (a iconic one mile boulder scramble followed by one of the steepest climbs in the AT) and a few ways to split up the distance. Doing the Notch in the rain would be far from ideal, but with three days of rain forecast, we mayn¢t have much choice. The other issue today was going to be water, it¢s been very dry here and the streams and creeks are drying out. The first decent water source looked to be 8 miles away, but when I got there there were only stagnant pools, no flowing water. I arrived at the rally point at 12:45 to find that water source all but dry as well. The 11 miles had been fairly tough and it rained just as I arrived. Iceberg roller in a little after one and after some consultation we decided to go for the next shelter 5.8 miles away. Had the shelter had good water, we probably would have stayed. We messaged Quiksilver and started uphill, with the promise of a reliable stream about two miles away. After two more steep uphills we got to the steam that had been flowing a week ago to find one stagnant pool and nothing more.  Out of options, I scooped out what I could and treated it with iodine tablets before filtering it as well. Then I checked the weather: 30% chance of afternoon rain but no thunderstorms.  That left one big 1400 foot climb up Mt Success.  Well, don¢t be too shocked, but the weather forecast was bunk. I was witching a half mile of the summit when it began to rain and thunder. The closer I got to the top, the more the thunder picked up. I had a cell signal and it showed a thunderstorm about 3 miles south along another ridge. I was standing in a group of pines hardly taller than me so I wasn¢t well protected. Time to throw caution to the wind!  I crossed a few exposed granite outcroppings and then saw the summit 100 yards away. I had gone this far, so I then crouched slightly and ran across the rock and bog boards, went up and over the top abs then back into the trees on the other side. Phew!New Hampshire wasn¢t done with me yet, though. The next three miles were rooty, rocky, slippery and challenging. Thrice more I had to throw my trekking poles down an incline and then go hand over hand (hand under hand?) down the rocks. I added two good scrapes and another shin bruise along the way to the New Hampshire/Maine border about half a mile from the campsite.  Then Maine said ¢HELLO!¢ with three rock scrambles of its own in the last .1 miles to the shelter. I am now hammocked-up, having had my standard dinner of a meal bar, peanut butter wrap, and Landjaeger sausage. Tomorrow we plan to be on trail at six so we can reach the Notch late morning before the rain sets in. There are a few SOBOs here as well, and we shared info about the trail north and south of here. Hopefully we¢ll find some good water and dry trail. Iceberg and I plan to go to Bethel, Maine Friday night for a resupply but Quiksilver may stay on trail as he¢s already packing about 11 pounds of food. I¢m exited to be in Maine, though I know it¢ll be a stout challenge. My new shoes are looking very beat up from all the rocks over the last 140 miles, but my feet are as good as they¢ve been since Virginia. So good news there!As an added note, cell service is very spotty in Maine, so there may be a day or two delay in posts. I will still be writing every night and then posting when I can.