Date: 2015-07-24
From: Trident Col Campsite

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 14.5

Well hello, Maine.We left the campsite very early; many more tents seemed to have sprouted during the night and a small tent-city was formed. I think we are crossing the SoBo bubble.We began hiking at a good pace. There were small up and downs yet the Trail was relatively smooth. The sky was grey and the threat of rain was looming though we were happy as we knew the New Hampshire-Maine border was up ahead. We began hiking up Mt Success, the final challenge before entering Maine. It was a steep and rocky climb, however the descent is what stands out in my mind. The initial portion required some scrambling and butt-blazing along a few cliff-like segment and the vertical-ness of the descent became drastic as we continued. There were 3-ish parts where we had to go down 10-15 foot smooth rock slides. I actually had a fun time sliding down, laughing as I watched Shrugs trying to awkwardly slid down. We arrived down the slide and Shrugs got up to circumvent a final drop; I, on the other hand, continued sliding down, but failed to see the sharp angle change, lost control, and crashed landed at the bottom, ripping my pants in the process. I fell hard on my thigh which became bruised and tender. My pain dissipated as we saw the NH-ME border marking. We took a long lunch break, admiring the signage and marvelling the fact that we have hiked over 1,900 miles. It was only a bit past 1 o'clock, so we decided to push for another 5 miles.A few minutes after we left, we encountered massive rock boulders and giant cliffs between which we needed to squeeze through. The surfaces were smooth and slick, adding to the difficulty level. Twice I had to take off my pack - I had never done that before, not even in the Whites.We needed to hike up the Goose Eye Mountains West, East and North peaks. The terrain was incredibly challenging: vertical rock facades with rebars, hand-over-hand climbing, scrambling over boulders. Grey clouds passed, periodically showering us and wetting the surfaces. We never hiked on ground, only rock surfaces. I slipped quite a few times as we had to climb rock slides. I scrapped my knees badly and once fell on my shoulder, which really hurt.The downhills were steep and usually involved crossing down wodden planks with small blocks nailed on their surface to help descending hikers. I definitely prefer these aids or even a mouldy, falling-apart ladder to the wet rock slides. We saw a youth group struggling up the mountain. We had to wait many minutes for them to pass us. I felt their pain, but I was absolutely freezing as the cold wind was blowing. More SoBos passed us and I had never, ever seen a more miserable, defeated, exhausted group of people. A few of them had soaked, muddy pants and they warned us that there were sinkholes up ahead. While I felt so sorry for them, I was grateful that it had not been me that had fallen in a thigh-deep muddy puddle. We hiked at 1 mile per hour. The rain was still ongoing, pouring for 10 minutes at a time. I was so tired, defeated and in pain. The terrain's difficulty and my numerous falls, scrapes, bumps and traumas began making me increasingly anxious. Every new rock slide caused stress and uneasiness, like a heavy lump of lead in my stomach. Tears welled up in my eyes and my feet dragged slowly behind Shrugs.We were almost at the shelter as I could hear voices ahead. I thought we had arrived but we had a long climb down a ladder made of metal, wet and coated in mud, to tackle first. The shelter was full, as were the tenting spots. Hey Jude was in the shelter and waved at us. I must have been quite a sight because he asked me if I was alright: legs coated in mud and streaked with dried blood, gaunt face smeared with dirt and tears.We ate supper and Aviator, a 2014 NoBo hiker out for a weekend gave us some of his spagehetti dinner in exchange for a couple of Rice Crispie treats. Warm food always helps.NEW HAMPSHIRE SUMMARY- I forget about the segment spanning from Hanover to Glencliff. It was hard, there were quite a few challenging climbs... Smarts Mountain, Cube Mountain come to mind. But me, I'm all about dem Whites.- The Whites were imposing, beautiful, demanding, awe-inspiring, unique, intense. The forest was luxurious, densely packed with conifers and covered with soft moss, an array of different shades of green. The exposed ridgelines were a definite highlight - a scene from a fantasy novel. Shrugs made up a haiku succintly describing the Whites:Tall and majesticPowerful and terribleIt was all worth it- Mt Washington: confirmed for having the worst weather in America. Do not summit in a storm. However, the gift shop sells cool hats.- The hardest parts were (according to us) Kinsman Mtn, Webster Cliffs and the Wildcats (however, we did Kinsman and Webster in the rain, so that increases the difficulty)- I always wondered about something (and I suppose this is not just applicable to the Whites): most of these mountains have English names (e.g. all the Presidentials), but the First Nations must have given them names as well; these ranges strike the imagination and definitely evoke at least some thoughts in most people. What were these mountains named before?- Axon