Date: 2013-08-17
From: Crocker Cirque Campsite

To: Stratton,ME(route 27) 
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: clear sky

188.2 miles remainingHiked 45.4 miles 2013 ATCell excellentOld Goat notes:Yesterday afternoon had a surprise that made our decision to stop at 1:30pm a big plus. It started to rain a short time after we were settled. It rained on and off all night, we did get a break to cook and eat dinner and settle in early at about 7:00pm mostly because we were cold. I fell asleep early as Check 6 read a book to relax. As I said it rained off and on all night where we were camped. Someone told us when we arrived here in Stratton that it didn't rain on this side of the mountain. The logistical report for today started at 7:10am when we started up Crocker Mountain. It was a long uphill hike going from 2747ft to 4040ft in 1 mile. Most of the hike up was through rocky terrain. At one point we went through a rockslide area; fortunately all we did was cut across it which went fairly quickly. We were on top of South Crocker Mountain a short time and then started down the other side. Fortunately the saddle between South and North Crocker mountain was not very deep 200 to 300ft. We've hike Gaps in the south, Notches in New Hampshire and now the low spot between peaks are called saddles. No matter what you call them the all mean hard climb to follow. Did I mention South cROCKer Mountain has a rocky south slope. The hike up North Crocker went fairly well and the trail became more of a hiking trail rather than a rock climb. The summit of North Crocker was higher than the south peak at 4228ft. From the summit we had a 5 mile downhill hike to the road. The trail was very decent and we were able to hike it at a reasonable pace; we were actually feeling very good by this time. We reached the road at about 1:05pm to be greeted with Trail Magic by Gracie and one other woman. They came all the way up from coastal Maine (2 hour drive) to serve treats to hikers. They had a table set up with food and drinks for hikers coming through. I had a delicious chicken salad sandwich and chocolate chip brownies. Thank you ladies. Incidentally, I met Gracie at Traildays this past May. The trail community has so many great people. After eating and talking with these ladies we were about to head out to the road when a nice local couple came out of the woods and offered us a ride into town. We have had excellent Trail Karma so far. We are now settled into a room in the Stratton Motel. We are showered, our clothes just came out of the dryer, and we are about to go to dinner. I had the experience of having my tan wash off...as I washed up I saw the water under me turn brown, it must have been my tan - what else could it be?Life is good!Check 6 notes:I learned something today that has me SO excited! We met a couple who hiked from GA to Harper's Ferry, and then came up to Maine and are hiking back to Harper's Ferry as a flip-flop thru-hike. (A common thing to do if it seems you won't be able to finish the entire AT before bad weather closes Mt Katahdin to hikers.) This couple lives in Maine, so they know Maine well. Old Goat and I have been talking about the terrain that's ahead of us, and I can see it getting much easier soon, but there's something I didn't put together in my head until "Gumby" (the husband of this couple...she is "Cricket"; I forgot to ask why) talked about the Maine mountains. He said that we have just 5 more mountains to the end of the AT!!!!!!!! Knowing there are ONLY 5 mountains to go is thrilling to me! (We'll do two of them in the next 2-3 days...the Bigelows.) I can't begin to tell you how exciting it is to me to be able to count down the mountains now! YAY!When we ascend mountains I am very slow. Ascending is so hard for me...I spend most of the time gasping for breath. I don't want anyone to see how slow I am and how hard it is for me. I feel ashamed and embarrassed by how hard it is for me and how slow I am. Old Goat is being wonderfully supportive and keeps telling me it doesn't matter how slowly we are doing it. I have to stop often to catch my breath, and he's being so patient about that. He reminds me how often we hear guys say they wish their wives would hike with them. And he tells me he's proud of me for continuing when he sees how terrified I am at times. All of that helps a lot.And then there are the times I'm terrified about the terrain we're tackling. The rockslide area is an example...you can see down the rockslide and the footing is not easy. I cried through some of that because it scared/scares me so. Rockslides have always been scary for me, but even more so now with my balance issues. And then steep descents are harder now with my balance issues...this morning everything was wet, so it was very scary for me because one could easily lose one's footing on the wet rocks, roots, and dirt. At one point I just lost it and cried; then I got myself together, did it, and the rest of the hike today was fine. A good thing I've been thinking about over these past 6 days is that my muscles haven't been hurting. For the 2 weeks before we resumed our AT hike, we spent about every other day hiking on the Finger Lakes Trail, which is not far from our home. We went out with full packs and hiked 4-6 miles on the trail and then back to the car. Doing it almost every other day helped get our muscles in shape without overdoing them even though there are no mountains like we hike on the AT. It helped me a lot! Today is the first day my muscles ached after we stopped hiking...but nowhere near as much as they would have if we hadn't prepared as we did.Time to call it a night. 8pm...near hiker midnight (which is as soon as it gets dark). Good night!