Date: 2008-08-28
From: Carlo Col Shelter, ME

To: 1 before Mahoosuc Notch, ME
Miles today: 5.8

Well, up and in my pissy morning haze (I think I¢m becoming a more and moregrouchy morning person) I discovered my cheese¢s (little round babybel in thatwax stuff) had all exploded open, so with my recent stomach issues, I didn¢twant to take the slightest chance, so I had to make a PBJ sandwich instead. Nobig deal¢¦I realize, but when my brain refuses to fully function until about 1.5hrs AFTER I¢ve been out of bed, it was a difficult chore for me to deal with.LOLKaren came up with the idea of driving both cars, leaving one where A.M. and Iwould be coming out today at the Notch Trail and then driving us down to theCarlo Col Trail. That way she wouldn¢t have to be there to pick us up. Wewere hiking by 8:25 a.m. Another beauti-tific Maine day¢¦perfect really. Weheaded back up the Carlo Col Trail which went by quite quickly. We were atCarlo Col shelter in 1 hr, so we stopped there to look around. There was acool wooden seat carved out of a log in the shelter. I looked at the registerand saw people in there that I¢d met back in CT that had been through like amonth before! Hey¢¦can¢t accuse me of not taking time off ey?We headed the .3 up to the AT and started an immediate climb up Carlo Mt. Itwas pretty steep with some rock scrambles, but we made it up pretty quicklyconsidering. Today was characterized with up¢down¢up¢down, over a total of 4peaks, pretty exhausting really, but such a perfect day it¢s hard tocomplain¢¦so I won¢t.We got to the top of Carlo Mt. and headed down a pretty steep down for a littleover a mile. Maine is pretty folks, it¢s sort of got a lot of everything sofar, with thick forests, green moss to exposed rocky areas to nice trail torocky scrambles. I like it so far.Next was Goose Eye Mtn. which has 2 peeks to it, so you¢re up and down a lot onit. We thought (as my optimistic self always does) we were on peak #1 and thenlooked up and saw people (we¢d later find out was a college group we¢d metyesterday too) on the next summit and A.M. looked over and commented on somefallen trees that seemed to really stick out on the next mountain side over. Itold her it was actually a huge log ladder going up the side of the mountain,and we knew we were headed there for sure.It never ceases to amaze me how far you can go in such a short amount of time.I get to the next mountaintop and look back and am like, ¢Wow, did I just hikehere from there in like 1 hour?¢ I could also see Mt. Washington clear as abell today, but eventually we were so far away the folds of mountains behind uscovered it up. Progress is being made.We got to the top of the first peak of Goose Eye Mtn., and there¢s a .1 blueblaze to the very top, but we opted out of that. We hiked down and then rightback up to the second peak. Lots of great rock scrambling today and there wasalso some really awesome wooden ladder and boardwalk work done. It was quiteimpressive. It made me feel like I was walking through a fun house or was insome American Gladiator¢s competition with descending a steep mountain on thesewooden steps.We met this great couple, Just a Few Steps and his wife Tortoise from NC.They¢re like in their 60¢s and have completed the PCT sectioning and come outeach year and do 1 state of the AT. They were a delightful couple and theyrecognized A.M. from her journal! They told us all the talk of the MahoosucNotch was out of hand and that yes it¢s hard, but it¢s not as bad as peoplemake it out to be. They made it through in about 2 and 1/2 hours. Thatmotivated us, because we¢ve heard everything from 1 hour to 5. We¢llsee¢¦tomorrow.We had planned on stopping at the Full Goose Shelter for lunch, but couldn¢twait that long, so we stopped in this exposed valley between the 1st and 2ndsummits of Goose Eye Mtn., and oh man was it incredible. Warm sun, coolbreeze, a view to die for, A.M. and I had this whole mountain to ourselves, wecould see Success Pond way off in the distance. We were on a large rocky slabin the ground and at different points, we both ended up laying down and justsoaking in the sun. Pretty incredible really. I didn¢t want to leave.Around 1:40 p.m. we headed on though, because we had a few more miles to go.Today was actually a 10.7 mile day with 5.8 being AT miles. Tomorrow is mylast day doing side trails, all of my slackpacking from Grafton Notch north isall pure AT, which is nice too, but these side trails in the Mahoosuc Rangehave been lovely compared to the longer sidetrails in the Whites.We started the climb up the final peak of Goose Eye Mtn. which was a littleless than 1 mile and then started a 1 miles descent down to Full Goose Shelter. On the way up though, I saw a blue gear bag on the trail and picked it up.There was dog food in it and we were told by Just a Few Steps that Mala, awell-known AT hiker who has over 12,000 miles of hiking under his belt, and hisdog were just a few hours ahead of us, so we feared it may be his dog¢s food. Iput it in my pack hoping they¢d be at the shelter.We got to the shelter, which has a big wooden ladder going up a small cliff toget up to the shelter and camp areas and nobody was there. I needed water, soA.M. took a break and I walked down about .1 to the stream and got some nicecold water. It was a large shelter and had lots of great places to hang. Bythe way, zero concerns about hanging in Maine, it¢s back to normal.We ate a quick snack and then headed out again knowing we were 1.5 miles fromthe Notch Trail, the sidetrail we¢d take out to the car. We went down theladder and then I got confused thinking we were headed south, so we turnedaround and went back to the shelter. A.M. discovered there were 2 ladders, sothe AT basically comes up these ladders right in front of the shelter and thendown another ladder. We turned around and went right back where we justwere¢¦duh, and started an immediate steep .5 mile climb up Fulling Mill Mtn.,our 4th and final peak of the day. I was pretty exhausted by now, even with aday pack, going up and down all day drains you. Again, some rock scrambling upthis climb, but at the top it was another fantastic view. Can¢t plan, expect,or will these types of hiking days into your life, but they sure are nice whenthey happen.We started down the 1 mile descent down this mountain and it was actually not sobad on the top 1/3. We expected it to be super bouldery, but it was nice trailand then did get steeper, but it didn¢t get bouldery till probably the last .2miles. I don¢t recall seeing one white blaze on this entire mile, which had meconcerned for a bit, so I looked at my maps to make sure we hadn¢t accidentallygotten off on a side trail, but the only trail coming of this mountain was theAT, so we were ok.Just before the Notch Trail junction, you get a bit of foreshadowing of theMahoosuc Notch, with large boulders and butt-scooting type trail. I¢m actuallyexcited about doing the Mahoosuc Notch tomorrow. Karen bought some bikinggloves (we got the idea from V8) and I¢m wearing those tomorrow so I don¢t tearup my hands. They¢re the kind with no finger tips and a leather palm.My feet were hurting pretty badly from this very long 1 mile down, but at 4:17p.m. we found ourselves at the Notch Trail junction. Another sign pointed tothe Mahoosuc Notch, and I laughed because someone had penciled in a K at theend of Mahoosuc to spell Mahoosuck. I suppose they didn¢t like it very much.We knew the Notch Trail was supposed to be the easiest access point up to the ATand man was it. Folks, I¢ve probably never hiked on trail this flat andwonderful¢¦like ever. As a bonus it follows a great stream all the way 2.2miles down and there¢s cascades emptying into deep clear pools of water withpebbly bottoms. Man, there were a few places I would have loved to have goneswimming, but we were hungry and knew we were headed for burgers tonight!Besides, it was too cold to go swimming.Oh for some reason, today I kept thinking about those cool rocks, Geode rocks,the kind that look like a regular rock on the outside, but broken in half theyhave those brilliant purple crystals inside. Don¢t ask me why I suddenlythought I was seeing them, but heading down the Notch Trail, I stopped dead inmy tracks, and picked up what I was SURE was a Geode (as if it would just belaying in the grass right?) and I said to A.M., ¢Hey, is this one?¢ Um¢¦she hadto break it to me that what I had picked up was indeed a large grey mushroomthat had been a little disfigured. Oh my gosh, sometimes I have to wonder whatcauses my airheadedness to go into overdrive, so I put the mushroom down, andjust started laughing at myself. I mean really? (I would later learn thatGeode¢s don¢t even EXIST in North America!!!! They are found in SouthAmerica!!!! LOL). Don¢t ask me¢¦.just don¢t¢¦..I told A.M. I thought perhaps itwas a really good thing she was hiking with me right now. JI highly recommend this 2.2 mile side trail for a super easy hike but withbeautiful surroundings. So A.M. and I felt like we kicked ass today. We madeit down this 2.2 miles in 49 minutes!!! We actually CAN hike a normal speed,and this confirmed that the trail is just hard here.At 5:06 p.m. we were at the parking area, ecstatic and crawling into the car.I¢m so glad this super easy trail is my way up again in the morning, I won¢twaste energy on climbing right away and basically the Mahoosuc Notch isimmediately up once we get back to the AT. Yippy!!!Oh, I forgot, at Full Goose Shelter, there were 2 signs I found interesting. 1was alerting hikers there is a moose carcass in Mahoosuc Notch that I believefell and met its death last year, and the sign said they are letting naturetake its course but if you have question, you can ask the caretaker at the nextshelter. Also, for the first time I saw a sign telling thru-hikers what theyneeded to know to enter Baxter State Park!! That was highly motivating¢¦I haveto admit.So anyway, we got to the car all proud of ourselves and headed down the road.A.M. thinks we saw the butt end of a moose crossing the road at one point, butI¢m sure it was a Sasquatch¢¦no really, dark, 2 legs, tall, heading into thebush. HAD to be Sasquatch right?We got to HWY 26 and started back to the motel, but there¢s this lady called ThePie Lady that makes these incredible homemade pies everyday and has a tinylittle wooden stand you go up, grab what you want and leave the $ in a box.Well¢¦we had to stop, and get another strawberry rhubarb pie as well as ablueberry pie¢¦mmmm. It¢s a cool thing really.We got back, got cleaned up, and Karen, A.M., and I went to a brewery fordinner. Big hamburger for me with a side salad. We were the only ones in thewhole place! I told Karen she really should hike into the AT with us tomorrowto enjoy this beautiful Notch Trail, and she was excited to do it, so it willbe nice to have her with me at least for a few miles in the morning.I¢m totally exhausted though. Oh, Uncle Tom (A.M.¢s hubby) said that this firstsection of Maine is the hardest with a total of 18,000 feet of elevation gain(as in total climbing), which coincides with Map #7 of Maine. Map #6 has like11,000 feet of elevation gain and Map #5 has like 4,000 feet, so it will begetting easier thankfully. He said he thought this was the toughest hiking onthe whole trail, so that¢s great to hear.Well¢¦time for bed and get up and do it all over again. I¢ll be in Grafton Notchby the end of tomorrow.~Certain