Date: 2023-08-24
From: Valley Way Tentsite

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 50.3

Google Photos Photo AlbumDay 71Valley Way Tentsite to Pinkham NotchAT miles 7.8Miles hiked 8.6I planned to wake up before the other hikers so I wouldn¢t be in their way when they started to hike. My wake up call turned out to be two early birds who were getting their food bags a little before 6:00. I got up, packed up and headed up to Madison Hut. By all accounts this was going to be a hard day of hiking.The climb up out of Valley Way Tentsite was a rude wake up call. I was definitely awake by the time I got up to Madison Hut. Although, it did go much better than the hike down.Once I arrived at the hut I went inside to see about claiming my two free baked goods but they were still serving breakfast to the tourists (day hikers) so I went around back and fixed my own breakfast. While I was eating, Jerzee came up and we talked while waiting for the Croo (that's what the hut workers call themselves) to put out the leftovers. Jerzee gave up and said he was going to start slowly hiking up the mountain and to call him if the food was out while he was within earshot. Silver Back showed up at this time and we went inside to check on the scraps and get some coffee. I got my 2 free baked goods ¢ warm, moist, coffee cake that came with AMC thru hiker card and some coffee. The rest of the thru hikers who had camped down below came rolling in. At the same time, Silver Back yelled up to Jerzee that there were no breakfast leftovers. Those poor hikers put back on their packs and left with disappointed looks on their faces. Not two minutes later the Croo put out a big bowl of scrambled eggs and a plate of bacon. Still warm. Silver Back and I were the only hikers in the hut. We enjoyed our breakfasts.Packed up and ready to go it was time to tackle Mt. Madison. This was a choose your own path sort of climb up big rocks/small boulders. Man, my quads were turning to jelly by the time I got to the top. Oh. False summit. Keep going. Again, I thought I had reached the summit. This time I was confronted with the reality that I was only half way there. Keep climbing Taps. And climbing some more. Still not there¢¦Mt. MadisonFinally, Huh, a huh, a huh. I made it to the top. Snack break. There were two trail runners up there and we talked for a while. They took my pic for me and the trail runner guy pointed out and described the descent for me. My whole body hurt as I took this in and I hadn't even taken my first step down.Summit of Mt. MadisonI started the arduous descent down Madison aware that one misstep would result in a very painful fall. My knees were screaming in protest but the alternative to walking down was a lot more painful. After what seemed like forever (in this case, 1 12 hours) I was back at treeline. Of course, I was still going down, down, down. I passed a trail to the right that looked like it was hardly used and in dire need of some trail maintenance. I kept going and soon came to a trail intersection at the Osgood tentsite. A group of hikers just arrived coming from the opposite direction and we stopped and chatted a bit before they went to the tentsite and I continued on. The trail was real nice at this point and looked like it was still the AT. So I went straight. I should have known better by now. There was even a faint blaze on one of the trees in this otherwise mostly blazeless section of trail. But, having been fooled before by the exceptional trail marking in New Hampshire, I still checked my Far Out app. Good thing. I was 12 mile off trail. Thanks AMC. Back up the hill and onto the real AT. Yeah, that less than stellar looking trail that I had just passed.  I was trying to make good time so I could be at Pinkham Notch for the four o'clock shuttle to the Barn Hostel where some of my cold weather clothing was waiting for me. The condition of the trail was not working in my favor. There were some blowdowns to climb through along with a couple of stream crossings. To be fair, there were also some scenic sections of trail that I really enjoyed.Descent of Mt. Madison below treeline near Osgood TentsiteThanks to a long stretch of snowmobile trail I was able to roll into Pinkham Notch at 3:15. (I don¢t know if it¢s my imagination or not but it seems like non-AT trails in New Hampshire are better maintained than the AT. ) Silver Back had arrived about 30 minutes before me. Craving a cold soda and something besides a candy bar, I went into the visitor center to see what was available. As soon as I came out Mountain Goat texted Silver Back to let him know there was trail magic in the parking lot. Score.A hiker's parents came up to see their daughter, Hello. (No, that's their daughter¢s trail name.) and decided to do trail magic. C T, Merlin and Wade (his dog), Jerzee, and of course Mountain Goat were there. We were treated to burgers, fluffer nutters, Rice Krispy treats, sodas, and fruit. Soon enough more hikers, including Hello, began rolling in. Silver Back and I went over to wait on our shuttle and met Third Wheel who was waiting on the same shuttle unaware of the nearby trail magic. It didn't take him long to get over to partake.A few minutes later a big white Cadillac from the 70s rolled into the parking lot horn-a-beeping Paul, the hostel owner, had arrived to pick us up. We piled into the car and off we went. On the way to the Barn he talked about his own thru hike and how the trail and Gorham have changed over the years. At one time the trail went through town. Over the years the town has grown and to make managing the trail corridor easier, the ATC moved the trail away from the town making it more difficult for hikers to get into town. There used to be 2 hostels but one recently closed when the owners retired. The townspeople are very hiker friendly but officially the "town" doesn't like hostels after a local realtor did research showing that property values are lower near a hostel. According to a few townspeople we've talked to, the ATV and snowmobile crowd are a bigger nuisance than hikers but they have more money and clout than hikers who just quietly pass through town. They are also better dressed. We arrived at the hostel, registered, were made aware of the rules, given the tour, then rushed off to get ready for the resupply shuttle to Wal-Mart. It took two vehicles to shuttle us to the Wal-Mart and we had one hour to get our shopping done or risk missing our ride back to the Barn.We all were assembling outside waiting for our rides when I saw that one of the hikers had a big box of honey buns that only cost about $5.00. I only had a few minutes to spare but I sprinted into the store, found the honey buns, paid for them and arrived back to the other hikers in less than two minutes. Third Wheel had timed me. Somehow we all made it out in time and our shuttles were very punctual. We crammed our purchases and bodies into the vehicles and returned to the hostel for showers, laundry, and dinner.  For those who might think hostels are big party places they might be shocked at what they find. Some might be watching a movie but most are repackaging their food, cleaning and drying gear, planning the next few days of hiking, then going to bed by about 9. Most hostels' quiet hours are somewhere between 8:30 and 10:00. The hostel owners are very firm on their rules but amazingly, hikers are very good about following the rules. Especially the quiet hours since we are all so tired and ready and used to going to bed early.Day 72Barn Hostel in Gorham, NHAT Miles 0Miles Hiked 0Took a zero day at the Barn Hostel in Gorham, NH.  The Barn HostelAfter the past few days climbing and descending in the Whites, my knees, ankles, and toes (yes, toes) are screaming for a break. I promised them a day off if they would get me safely up and over Mount Madison. They held up their end of the bargain so I¢m keeping my promise. Another factor in zeroing, double zeroing in fact, is the weather forecast for the upcoming Wildcats. I barely trust the traction of my shoes on dry, grippy granite. There will be a lot of climbing and rock hopping on lichen covered rocks of questionable traction. I¢m not willing to risk getting injured because I¢m in a hurry to climb a mountain. As I¢m typing this there is lightning on the mountain as well. Another safety issue to observe.  It started raining just before hiker midnight which made for good sleeping. The rain let up sometime during the night which allowed my tent to dry. Today's hike would be short with the promise of about 4 miles of snowmobile trail at the end. I went to the Dollar General store to pick up my resupply to supplement the food shipment Lynn sent me then grabbed some dinner.Back at the hostel I repackaged my food then went to my tent to go to sleep. If weather forecasters are correct, we should be able to conquer the Wildcats on Sunday and Monday.In the meantime, there was laundry, shopping and trying to figure out a better way to pack my backpack to keep me occupied. I need new trekking poles so I opted in on a shuttle to REI this afternoon to hopefully get some new poles. I got my new poles and a new fuel canister and also picked up new shoes that Roadrunner had ordered.While talking to Robin I noticed that the tops of my shoes were separating from the soles. I wish I had realized this before or while I was at REI. Now I needed to figure out where or how to get new shoes. Options were limited and growing more limited the farther north I go. Trying to buy them online and have them shipped was a definite challenge and probably not the best choice. It was hostel quiet hours and I was tired so I crawled into my tent and passed out.Day 73Barn Hostel in Gorham, NHAT Miles 0Miles hiked 0Another zero day. I'd rather be hiking but my tired body and sore knee appreciate the rest. I went to the post office to mail home my trekking poles. This turned into an unexpected ordeal. To begin, the post office didn't have anything that would accommodate my uncollapsed poles. After a struggle and help from the postal clerk I got one section to collapse but they were still a bit too long. At home I would just make a custom box. I wasn't at home. I wasn't willing to donate them to a hiker box so I needed to come up with a solution. Next door was a Dollar General. Against all odds I went inside looking for a suitable box. I couldn't find any so asked the store manager. She was so kind. She went off in search of a box and found a Hershey's candy display shipping box that was perfect. I bought some packing tape and one of the clerks loaned me a box cutter and I got to work. Soon enough I had my trekking poles packaged for mailing. Back to the post office. First mission accomplished. Now off to hopefully find some new shoes.I went to the hardware/hockey/hiking store. They had my shoes and not my size. Bummer. Hopefully, there will be an REI shuttle. While I pondered this situation I went off to find some breakfast. On the way I ran into Hooty Hoo and Cheesecake. They were telling me about Hooty Hoo's recent shoe buying experience when I mentioned my own shoe woes. Hooty Hoo said one of her friends was going to REI and that she would take me there. She texted her friend who was already at REI but asked for my shoe details. REI didn't have my shoes so they went to the Merrell outlet which had my shoe in my size. What luck!  I went back to the Barn to eat my leftover sub and take a nap. Soon enough there was somebody holding a shoe box calling my name. I paid them and profusely thanked them for their kindness. Being hikers they understood my plight and reiterated something I've come to realize out here: you can't do this alone and current and former hikers are incredibly generous and helpful. Once again, the trail provides.Day 74Pinkham Notch to Imp Campsite AT Miles 13.0Miles Hiked 13.6This is the day we tackle the much talked about, often feared, Wildcat range. I mean, with a name like Wildcat it's sure to be tough. Right? We would soon find out for ourselves.The trail started off circling around a picturesque pond before starting the uphill walk. The walk soon turned into bouldering and rock climbing. No trekking poles required. This was the beginning of the steepest mile and hardest 4 miles on the AT. After a few miles of exhausting work the trail tapered off and then I was at the top of the Wildcat ski resort. While taking a break, an older couple came over and started asking about my hike along with telling me about some of their hiking adventures. After a while it was time to get moving. I still wasn't at the top of Wildcat Mountain but the hike up wasn't as technical or difficult as what I just completed. But it was still definitely a steep uphill.  Following that summit and descent was a lunch stop at Carter Hut followed by a somewhat difficult hike up Carter Dome. Then there was a stretch of nice hiking and nice views over Mt. Hight, South Carter, and Middle Carter. It was starting to get dark when I was on Middle Carter. I took the obvious trail to the left only to find out it was not the AT. After climbing back up I took the less obvious trail which of course, turned out to be the AT. Love your trail marking NH. By now it was beginning to rain and the climbs down were turning into ledges and sheets of slick rock. By the time I got to North Carter Mountain it was dark enough I had to put on my headlamp. Several ledges were big enough drops that my headlamp didn't always reach the bottom.  The rain was hard enough now that many were also turning into waterfalls.One particularly frustrating experience was when my phone was too wet to work to use the Far Out app and I was at a trail intersection with no markings. This is one occasion where a map and compass would have come in handy. Maybe. I finally figured it out after climbing up a ledge. Finally, the climbing was mostly over and I was on something that resembled a muddy hiking trail. One thing about hiking at night with mud bogs is that it's hard to tell where it's safe to step. Until you're in over the top of your shoes.After a long, slow struggle I made it to Imp Shelter at 9:45. I set up my tent, changed out of my wet clothes and decided to skip dinner. I was happy to have made it to camp unscathed and just wanted to sleep.Day 75Imp Campsite to Hwy 2 to Rattle River TrailheadAT Miles 8.1Miles Hiked 9.7Imp Campsite to Hwy 2 to Rattle River TrailheadI slept in after my harrowing experience on North Carter so was the last person out of camp. There was a tough climb up and over Mount Moriah then the steep descent to the much talked about cruisy section of trail. On the way down I met a couple of section hikers from New York who I chatted with for a bit before continuing my descent.  Just before crossing the Rattle River I encountered a woman who must be related to the Wood Sprite from Vermont. She was ill prepared to be hiking a trail this rugged and asked questions which made me wonder if she even knew where she was.  Just after crossing the river I passed Happy Feet, a thru hiker from Japan. Now on the snowmobile trail the hiking was easy and fast. I was at the Rattle River parking lot in no time. I was hoping to catch the 2:00 shuttle back to the Barn Hostel but no such luck. I decided to hike the 4 miles into Gorham with hopes of somebody giving me a ride. After about a mile I thought I saw Third Wheel pass going in the opposite direction in one of those three wheeled motorcycles. That didn't make sense. About a minute later an SUV with New York plates pulled over and it was my New York friends and Happy Feet. They dropped me at the hostel and wished me safe travels. I returned the sentiment and went inside to register.While I was setting up my tent, Third Wheel came over and said he had turned around to come get me but that I had vanished. He had rented the cycle to ride up Mt. Washington and do some sight seeing in the area while he was stuck at the hostel waiting for a package to arrive. I went to the Dollar General store to pick up my resupply to supplement the food shipment Lynn sent then grabbed some dinner. Happy Feet was there waiting on a ride so we talked for awhile until his ride came then I walked back to the barn to eat and get ready for the next day.Quiet hour came fast so I went out and climbed into my tent. Tomorrow would begin the final push to Maine.Day 76Rattle River Trailhead to Gentian Pond ShelterAT Miles 11.8Miles hiked 13.0We planned to hike to Gentian Pond Shelter then decide on whether we would hike further or stop for the night.The day didn't get off to a great start. Normally, I can be packed and ready to go in 15 minutes. My alarm went off at 5:30 but I was sleeping so good I cut off the alarm, rolled cover and slept until six. The shuttle departure is 7:00 which means I need to hustle if I don¢t want to walk to the trail. My tent was wet from last night's rain so I decided to let it dry a bit while I went in to get some breakfast and pack my pack. Breakfast went well. Packing was a disaster. My five days of food and additional cold weather clothing didn't fit in my pack. I tried all sorts of different packing strategies to no avail. This on top of the fact that I left my tent up hoping it would dry some before I packed it up. The shuttle left promptly at 7:00 which meant I missed my ride. I had no choice but to ditch some ramen, honey buns, and chips. I smashed my pack down until I could close it then went out to get my tent. Finally packed up I weighed my pack and to my horror it was 42 pounds. The heaviest it has been on the trip. This was not going to be a fun couple of days carrying all that weight.  Time to say goodbye to the Barn and Paul and head down the road. I think Paul felt bad that he had to leave me but there were no hard feelings. I knew the departure time and should have been better prepared. I had about a three mile walk to the trailhead. Thankfully, a good samaritan picked me up about a mile down the road and dropped me at the trailhead.  The first part of the hike was a road walk putting off the inevitable climb up Mount Hayes on the way to the Gentian Pond shelter. At the parking lot before the climb I saw Cliff, the former Army Ranger who had to get off the trail for a while due to a torn calf muscle. Desperate to finish the trail he went home and got his van and motorcycle and he's leapfrogging his vehicles, hiking shorter sections.  There was also a local guy out for a day hike. Cliff went off to tackle the Wildcats going southbound and the day hiker and I headed up Mt Hayes. About 30 minutes into the hike I heard what I first thought was a tree falling followed by what sounded like a horse running through the woods. The day hiker said we probably just missed seeing a moose. Dang! Sometime later when I stopped for a snack I saw moose scat all over the place. Ever vigilant for the rest of the climb I saw absolutely nothing.At the top of the mountain the day hiker and I ate a snack then said our farewells. Turns out he's a snowbird who winters in Ft. Myers.  Who knows, maybe I'll run into him again in Florida. The rest of the hike was pretty uneventful as it was more of the same mud, roots, and rocks all the way to the shelter. On the bright side the weather was awesome so it turned out to be a great day for hiking. I arrived at Gentian Pond shelter around 5:00 and we decided to call it a day. I quickly set up my tent on a tent platform then went to the shelter to fix dinner, check the weather, and plan the next day's adventure. Given what I know now I think we would have made different plans.In the meantime, the shelter had a nice view and was located close to Gentian pond. After eating I went back to my tent so I could put my food in the bear box. While I was away an enterprising chipmunk had chewed a hole in my hip belt pouch trying to get at a candy bar. I was not pleased but should have known better. The biggest threat to the food bag isn¢t the bears. The smaller critters like mice, chipmunks, porcupines, and racoons are the more common problem. Oh well, lesson learned.I stored my food then went down to the pond to soak my legs and hopefully see a moose. No luck on the moose but my legs felt great after soaking in the cool pond water.After sunset I went to sleep knowing I had to wake early to pack before the rain started in the morning.Day 77Gentian Pond to Full Goose ShelterAT miles 9.6Miles hiked 10.0Today we enter Maine.New Hampshire - Maine borderIt was supposed to start raining at 6:00 so I woke up at 5:15 to pack before the rain. Just made it. It's not often the weather forecast is that spot on. I went to the shelter to fix some breakfast and watch the clouds. The rain stopped during breakfast but I knew it was of no use to hope the weather forecast would be wrong. Mountain Forecast seems to be more accurate than lower elevation forecasts.I wasn't hiking for more than 15 minutes when it started raining. Nothing to do but put my head down and keep on steppin'.The last Mountain in New Hampshire is Mount Success. Maybe it's recognizing that I survived New Hampshire. About .2 miles before the summit is a side trail to a plane crash. Despite the rain I wanted to check it out. The weather and my Far Out app had other plans. As I neared the summit I periodically checked my location so I wouldn't miss the trail. Before I knew it I was somewhere near the summit of Mt. Success in driving rain and strong wind looking at the blue location dot still telling me I had a half mile to go before I got to the place I was currently standing. Even better, there were no blazes to mark the trail. I wandered around in circles until I found a white blaze. I followed it for about 5 minutes when I realized I had just gone in a circle. Wandering around some more Silver Back showed up. His blue dot knew where he was and soon we were wading through mud crossing disintegrating bog bridges. Once through the bog there was a rock climb up and over the summit of Mt. Success then it was on to Maine.About 2 miles past the summit was the Maine-New Hampshire border. My 11th and final state on the Northbound leg of my journey. Silver Back and I quickly celebrated then slogged on.  We were soon made aware that if we thought New Hampshire was hard, Maine was going to be brutal. Our first challenge was climbing down an 8 foot chasm between slick rocks. This was followed by a challenging rock scramble.We stopped for lunch at the Carlo Col shelter and water. Blessed relief: the rain let up while we were eating. We took our shoes off to allow our feet to dry out a bit. After lunch and putting our wet socks and shoes back on we hike up through the stream/trail.The rain was just resting and waiting for us to resume our hike. Now it was really coming down accompanied by strong winds and poor visibility. This made for some serious Type 2 fun going over the Goose Eye Mountain range. Hikers, including me, were slipping, sliding, and falling all over the place. Terrifying is too mild a term to express what many of us were experiencing. Walking on some of the granite surfaces was like walking on ice. The winds made it difficult to balance. By the time I got to Full Goose Shelter I was truly done for the day.  There were a lot of hikers at the shelter and I felt lucky to be able to snag a tent platform. Piper, a Canadian guy hiking with his dog said he was ready to bail but there was no place to get off the trail. A girl hiking with a college outing club just layed down in the middle of the trail saying she had had enough. They had to get somebody to come take her off the mountain the next morning.I set up my tent and cooked dinner in the vestibule.  During dinner the sky thankfully finally ran out of water. I put my food bag in the bear box, changed out of my wet clothes and literally passed out.Hiking the Dream!