Date: 2005-06-14
From: Carlo Col Shelter

To: Speck Pond Shelter
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: moderate rain

Thunderstorms rocked the shelter walls last night, quite an impressive awakening. The storm has brought cool weather and has settled down to a light drizzle by morning.   I¢m nervous about doing the Mahoosuc Notch when the boulders are wet. Had I not scheduled a shuttle into Andover off the notoriously hard to hitch off of ¢East B Road,¢ I would have waited out the weather. Schedules, no matter how short, are constraining and annoying out here! It¢s just drizzling, so I suit up and see what my first day in Maine has for me. On the way to the next shelter, 4.4 miles, I am back to ¢technical¢ hiking. Lots of shear rock faces to inch down. Amen to good traction on my shoes, because now it has started to pour. I find myself bracing most of my weight on my trekking poles on the steepest downhills when I can¢t find a root or tree to dangle off of! Up and over Mt. Carlo and the three peaks of Goose Eye Mountain and I¢m at Full Goose Shelter by 11. It is still pouring so I use the shelter to eat something before moving on. I wake up two hikers sleeping the day away. They must be solar powered. Also hiking the notch today, I half-jokingly ask them to listen for my cries if I take a fall.The Mahoosuc Notch is famous for being the ¢toughest mile¢ on the entire AT. A full mile of car-size boulders you must crawl up and over, around, and sometimes under. I¢ve been hearing about it for the last 1,900 miles and I¢m curious to see how bad it is. It¢s bad. It took me 1 hour and 40 minutes to get thru, and I took my pack off 3 times. My favorite move was using my pack as a step going down a vertical 15-foot wall. Many hikers told me this was fun for them. I was too uptight to be having fun. The rocks are wet and very slick. There is not much room for error. One misplaced foot, one slip¢¦There are frequent white blazes and arrows throughout the notch, so at least you know you are taking the best route. I finally make it to smooth ground right when I was starting to wonder how long 5280 feet could possibly last. ¢Now it¢s time to cruise,¢ I think. I want out of this cold rain and the shelter is just 2.5 miles away. But you can only cruise when the trail lets you. My work is not done. A 1600-foot climb up the Arm and there¢s not much left in my tank. No views today from the Arm, just high winds. Speck Pond Shelter may be the most beautiful thing I¢ve seen all day. I stock up on water so I don¢t have to go back in the rain and get into dry clothes and in the sleeping bag ASAP. I cook dinner to warm up and then I¢m asleep minutes later.I¢m not sure how long I was asleep, but I wake to a man standing in the shelter saying ¢are you awake?¢ It¢s BallpaHk, the caretaker. He talks to me for quite awhile and helps me adjust my whiney attitude toward the trails in NH and ME. ¢We grow tough people in Maine, so we¢ve got tough trails, tough mountains.¢ I want to be tough, not whiney.Are you worried about the two boys behind me? They made it through, safe but wet. They will, however, be ending their trip tomorrow on day 3 of a 14-day planned trip. These trails are tough, I¢m not kidding you.