Date: 2012-05-22
From: Velvet Rocks Shelter

To: Moose Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: light rain

Despite the mosquitoes, we both slept well thanks to wearing hats and headnets. We were glad it got cool enough during the evening that we could comfortably burrow in our sleeping bags. It started off cloudy today. The trail was mostly up, continuously gaining elevation as we crossed bogs, some with boards spanning them, some with just scattered rocks to try to span, stand on, and use to move forward over the thick, black, stew. In the boggy zones the mosquitoes were fierce. Often they would latch onto our wrists, hands, or elbows right when we're teetering on rocks. It was if they knew we couldn't afford to risk our balance to slap at them just then; for them it was free meal time! As the day peaked, so did the temperature. It was hot and steamy in the forest; no breeze; in the upper 70's gauging by how we were drenched in sweat. To keep from really overheating, we just shuffled up the mountain, but that didn't seem to slow the flow of our dripping faces. Our bandanas were thoroughly soaked from wiping our faces and necks after we lifted the headnets that we have to wear to thwart the mosquitoes. Unfortunately, the hat and headnet only add to raising our body temps. Mosquito repellent sprayed on just flows off given our high perspiration rate. Are we having fun yet? Best thing is that we could still smell the aromas of evergreens over the bug spray, and beautiful songs of warblers cheered us on.    Around noon it started raining hard. On went the pack covers. I put my poncho on over my shoulders just covering them while Take It Easy walked exposed, hoping the rain would cool him down. I was afraid the rain would chill me too much to go without some protection. Take It Easy says that his new shoes are great. His problematic feet aren't suffering, except for his right foot which only bothers him a bit every now and then, but not enough to need to take a break. I'm the one who took lots of water breaks, mainly to break from the heat generated by the long upward climbs.   We reached this shelter around 2:45. Take It Easy said he'd like to hike another 2 hrs or so, but considering it's continuing to drizzle with heavy mist, plus it's definitely cooling down, hiking wet we'd have to hope to find a place to pitch our tent in the rain, plus the tent would be heavy with rainwater when packed in the morning. The benefits of making a few more miles wouldn't be worth the drawbacks. We'll stay put here for the night.    Today's sights: one orange newt that escaped being trampled on the trail, just after a flowering open hillside we reentered the forest to find a large section of acres of maple trees tapped and strung with flexible tubing to gather their syrup, heard two woodpeckers AFTER lunch(down south we heard woodpeckers starting their work in the early morning). Weird thing at this shelter is the abandoned tent that's spread out in a jumble on the shelter floor. It has at least one hole in it that we can see, and there's some clothing left behind, too. Guess someone didn't care enough to take his tent home and repair it; who knows about the clothing discarded. In reading the shelter register(a simple school-type spiral notebook), this year since March this shelter's only sheltered a few high schoolers hiking together, and 2 couples hiking together. Those were the only entries. I guess the server at Murphy's in Hanover was right when he said not many section hikers are out yet.    All is well here at 4:15 as I sit on the shelter floor writing this. Take It Easy's hiking northbound to the nearby water source(stream). When he returns we'll have a refreshing electrolyte-replete drink using some nuun "fizzy" tablets in our empty soda bottles that we'll fill with water & drop the "fizzys" into. Ahhh...that cocktail will help our systems recover from the strenuous day. Next we'll sprawl in our shelter, watching the rain fall while we have happy hour fizzy with fruits and nuts. Thank you, much loved Anchorman for the healthy gift of electrolyte tablets and fruits & nuts!