Date: 2017-06-22
From: Spaulding Mountain lean to

To: Piazza Rock lean to
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: moderate rain

Hiking in 2017 is a different beast to my first American thru-hike back in 2006. When I first started, the first smartphone was still more than a year away from being announced by Steve Jobs but today, in the middle of a tough section, I was able to adjust my schedule and enjoy one of the best days on the trail because of an updated weather forecast received at a remote lean to.My original plan for this section was to do 13.5 miles to the first lean to, 11 miles to a campsite near the start of the Saddlebacks -- the longest stretch of trail above the tree line since the start of the trail, making good weather important -- and then nine miles along the crest to the highway to get into Rangeley.The original forecast -- of two good days followed by thunderstorms coming in on the third -- suited this itinerary. But the updated forecast was for rain early tomorrow and although we've taken to treating any such forecast with a large element of disbelief -- yesterday's unforecast chilling squall being a case in point -- it prompted me to do a longer day today while the weather remained good.And it paid off. It helped, of course, that my trail legs are finally kicking in, allowing the option to push the miles if required. Although less than a month after leaving the Canadian border, nobos still seem like an entirely different species and the notion of 16.8 miles being a long day must still seem laughable to them. Most of the series of nobos we met today demonstrated the disparity in fitness. Although based on their attitude -- treating the trail as if it was an ordeal to be endured, like a prison sentence or a long and expensive mortgage -- I'd rather have my diminished level of fitness and enhanced sense level of enjoyment over their grizzled stoicism. My standard question, "Are you ready to be done?", usually elicits a groan, a grimace and a comment along the lines of: "Oh god yes" followed by a punishing itinerary of 25-plus mile days so that it would be OVER and they could do something they actually enjoy.(To be fair, my comment in the lean to register later that day did liken hiking the AT to being in an abusive relationship, with the frequent inflicting of unnecessary and deliberate pain but with occasional nice bits, such as the Saddlebacks, to entice you to stay. Still, I'm enjoying the trail far more now I've slowed down.)Dew Rag, a former Army sergeant major who was doing the trail after 33 years in the military and who compiled every stereotype that demographic suggested, was a case in point.When we met him at Poplar Ridge lean to, at which he listed all the things he hated about the trail and how he was going to blast 25-mile days to finish Katahdin. He already had his flight booked to Hong Kong "to see my girl" and was then going to hop around various southeast Asian countries.In the half hour we spent with him, I don't recall a single positive thing he said about the AT and his finishing seemed to be the symptom of some kind of Type A obsessiveness or fear of losing face.The shelter was a poignant one for having a portrait of Inchworm, a 66-year-old hiker who in 2013 got off trail a few hours north of here, couldn't find her way back and then starved to death in her tent after an indeterminate amount of time. Searchers had been within a few hundred metres of where she was found but she hadn't been able to raise the alarm and when they sent out cadaver dogs, her diary later showed she was still alive and so they hadn't been able to get a scent.At the other end of the spectrum was the presence in the lean to of a Q&A booklet produced by the long term Maine Appalachian Trail Club member who had helped plot about 100 miles of the AT in this area and who was responsible for maintaining this section for decades. His style was spare but funny, as exemplified by his response to the question "What's so special about the view from the Saddlebacks, anyway?", to which he'd replied: "I'm sorry you had bad weather on your crossing of the Saddlebacks."We figured we'd find out for ourselves in the next hour or so. Jake and Wrongway headed off earlier, aiming to get to town, and I headed off at my slower pace, heading along the bumps on the ridge before emerging above the tree line on The Horn.The trail was brutally steep -- quelle surprise -- but after The Horn, the ridge was relatively gently graded and had outstanding views on all sides. This was the best bit of trail since the Knife Edge on Katahdin.How Dew Rag, or any of the other get-it-over-with nobos, could be in a bad mood just after doing this part of the trail on a truly gorgeous day was entirely beyond me.And I actually met a couple of happy nobos on this ridge, and it was no surprise that they had an easier schedule planned for their hike rather than blasting out a series of high-mileage days.Their smiles were mirrored by my own. Doing this on a day when shorts and a thin shirt were more than enough clothing was simply gorgeous.On the summit of Saddleback, I could look towards the north west over the array of peaks we'd already hiked over, following a route that extended beyond the horizon -- always a nice feeling. And looking roughly south east I could see huge peaks looming ahead in a week or so: the Whites.These New Hampshire mountains are generally agreed as the most difficult part of the entire trail, requiring good weather and with sketchy ascents and descents on steep granite. I have plenty of time, so I have the luxury of waiting for good weather. After all, I'm out here to enjoy this rather than treat the AT as most of the nobos were, as a kind of punishment to be endured.There's an extra level of energy that comes from beautiful terrain, and this extended even as I began the descent back down into the valley, where the more familiar AT of steep wet granite, mud and roots resumed. These were miles to be completed as opposed to savoured, but the trail still went past some beautiful lakes along the way.I arrived at the lean to and was surprised to find Jake and Wrongway in situ, along with Aloha, who I'd last seen in Monson. Jake and Wrongway have opted to head into town tomorrow and then, respectively, head back on the trail or to do so after one night in a hostel.Aloha is a new graduate who has a $1,200 budget for his entire hike, which pretty much precludes such luxuries. So far he'd spent $120 and with the 10 per cent mark on the trail a few tenths of the mile away, he was on course. I was grateful not to have those kinds of limitations and thought it best not to mention that my budget was at least five times as much.They were all good company though and we had a convivial evening around the fire, knowing the road to Rangeley is just 1.9 miles away.Life is good.AT fact of the day: Jake now has a trail name, Nobo the Sobo, because of his long hair, prolific beard, skinny physique, fast pace and high mileage made the rest of us all assume he was a northbounder when he was starting southbound. The trouble is that the name conjures up the Frosty the Snowman song and it's been an earworm that has plagued him all day. But in the spirit of turning lemons into lemonade, he's aiming to do a new AT-apposite verse to the song at every shelter logbook.