Date: 2006-06-25
From: Gorham NH (Hiker's Paradise Hostel)

To: Gorham NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

10:29 a.m. I've been really slack about writing, mostly because I've been completely exhausted. Two days ago, the day from Madison Springs to Carter Notch, was probably my hardest day (physically) of the trip, at least since the beginning when we were still getting in shape and getting used to walking. From Madison Springs Hut we went up and over Mt. Madison, a climb that wasn't too large from the hut. It was rainy when we woke up, though, so the mountain, which was basically a huge rock pile, was pretty slick. After waiting for the Hut guests to pack up, washing dishes, and eating breakfast, we headed out up the hill. Fortunately a strong wind helped dry the rocks and it was no longer actually raining. The wind was terrible and dangerous though. You know, even over 1800 miles of walking isn't enough to keep me from being afraid as we traverse some of the terrain we face. That day, for instance, we averaged maybe 1.5 mph descending Madison. No real trail existed, only a line of cairns. Rocks, mostly one of two feet in diameter, were piled randomly with pointy bits up. Many were loose. The wind was blowing sideways across our path at 40 mph. I perpetually felt like I was going to fall. Although it wasn't very wet out, it was still slippery on the sloping rocks. When we got below treeline, we stopped having to rock hop, but the steepness and slipperyness meant hurting knees and a slow pace. Finally we reached Pinkham Notch, one of the few places along the trail that I'd been before. There we rested and ate lunch. The climb out of the Notch up Wildcat Mountain is much underrated. In fact, I've never heard anyone mention the steep, rough ascent up Wildcat or the annoying jagged ups and downs of the five peaks. Honestly, it was really hard. I'm sure part of it was all of us being mentally fatigued, but my leg muscles and knees were hurting from previous days and became progressively worse. The day was short, less than 14 miles, but getting to Carter Hut at the end of the day was a great relief. 3:42 p.m. Our work-for-stay at Carter was scrubbing a wall. Annoying, because we did it at like 9 p.m. and I was extremely exhausted, but it could have been worse. Yesterday we hiked out of the hut at 8. There was once again an immediate climb, but I don't remember it as being hard. We had lunch at Imp Campsite (a shelter, actually) where we met a southbounder and where Coconut Monkey actually stayed the night before. Monkey was trying to get into Gorham by noon for the P.O. because it was Saturday yesterday. Originally we had discussed waking up at like 3 a.m. and hiking out of Carter Notch to do 15.2 before noon. THe whole idea of taking a zero and getting packages on Monday is much better! Haha. Anyway, the hike from Imp to Gorham was really easy. Imp was annoyingly far off the trail though. From there, there were some steep downhills, but the last 5 or so miles had great trail conditions compared to what we've been seeing. The last two miles were particularly flat and smooth, reminiscent of Va. or something. We did it in about a half hour, which was refreshing after going twice as slow lately. We actually got to see Coconut Monkey at the road when we first got into town. He was hiking out again after making it in plenty of time to get his package. The nut did a 29 mile day to get to Imp to set himself up to get to Gorham early. He went from Lake of the Clouds Hut to Imp. That boy's crazy! At least he said he was really tired and hurting afterwards. We won't see him again; that's kind of sad. I'll email him though, when I finish and stuff, and maybe see him if I ever make it down to S.C. So then we hitched into town (my hitching skills were working for us), checked in at the hostel (a bunkhouse section of a regular motel), had some Chinese food with a southbounder also staying here, and basically crashed in front of the TV, watching Forrest Gump until bed. 8:54 p.m. There isn't much to be said about today even though it took me till almost 9 to get around to writing it. Basically, I lay in bed all day. Unfortunately I couldn't really sleep in. By 6:15 I was awake, and we were off to the store before 8. After shopping, we returned to the bunkhouse, where I cooked eggs, pancakes, biscuits, homefries, and sauteed apples. That's actually the only official meal we had all day. From then until about 3 we just lay around, resting, snacking, reading, watching TV, etc. In the afternoon we walked down the main drag to the outfitters, but they were both closed. Sunday. Damn. It was more than a mile to get there, but I guess I can't complain. I got a Coffee Coolata. We did laundry. We've been grazing on food all day. We watched some soccer, and lately we've been watching some Food Network. I talked to Lockjaw this morning. He seems to be doing well, being safe, and taking care of his leg. For a while I felt worse after talking to Lockjaw on the phone, instead of better. Today, and lately in general, though, I've felt better. I wish that we could hike together for the next 200 miles and summit together. One thing that's tough about the friends you develop out here is geography. Lockjaw lives in South Carolina, Kaptain all the way in Australia. Hiking with Kaptain is lovely. We have very similar hiking styles, and personalities in general as well. I'm excited to be done. I'm tired.