Date: 2009-09-20
From: Full Goose Shelter

To: Brook Before Grafton Notch
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: clear sky

Highlight: Climbing through the ¢most difficult mile on the trail, the Mahoosuc Notch, and its subsequent extension, the Mahoosuc Arm, with Jungli and Beechucker. This morning, we awoke cold as can be. It had been two straight mornings of frigid conditions and we were definitely in need of our winter gloves and hats. I still had some awful ¢Tullies¢ in the morning and I was beginning to wonder if it really was giardia. Hopefully, it will improve soon. The others headed on, while I made several trips to the privy. I found Beechucker and Jungli waiting for me at the entrance to Mahoosuc Notch (west end). MN is deemed the most difficult mile of the trail, as HUGE boulders inhibit one¢s ability to move freely in the notch. One must climb through many small holes and crevasses just to get into another section of the notch. Moose bones can be found in one section as a moose became stuck in the notch and was not able to get out. The climbs were INCREDIBLE! Beechucks made the rule that if you took off your backpack, then you would be cheating. On the very first difficult section of the notch, I entered into a small crevasse and became stuck, as my trekking poles were hitting the rock directly above, preventing me from moving through to the other side. I tried to budge free, but I was not able to do so and was forced to remove my backpack, prompting Beechucker to shout, ¢Cheaaaateeerrrr!!!!!¢ Truth be told, there were easier passes through the Notch, but we decided on taking the most difficult passage each and every time. It was probably a stupid decision on our part, but it was no doubt great fun. At lunch, we climbed up a large boulder to the left of the notch and sat together, enjoying the incredible views of the waterless gorge and the sharp rocky drop of the terrain. It was a clear blue day, warm, and without a cloud in the sky. There was, however, a strong breeze that started to blow on top of the rocks. Just as we were about to leave, a strong gust of wind came out of nowhere, picking up my hat that was on my head and throwing it 30 feet off the large boulder. Beechucks and I scampered down the large boulder where we were sitting and began searching endlessly for it. Fortunately, Beechucks did find it, but it had narrowly missed falling into a deep crevasse and would have been lost forever. We made it through the rest of the Notch without too many problems, except we were probably having too much fun and didn¢t realize that time was passing by so quickly. We then had to climb Mahoosuc Arm at 3,770 ft., which was ridiculously steep. I had to climb almost vertically on several occasions, in the process grabbing on to trees and rocks that were hanging over the edge. By the time we made it to Speck Pond Shelter, which was adjacent to a beautiful pond filled with brook trout, almost the entire day had passed. Beechucks was in the process of starting a fire, but only smoke was billowing out of the fire pit. The rest of the gang ¢ Odin and Chinese Tourist ¢ felt tired and sick. CT had a horrible case of the ¢Tullies¢, which he also attributed to the Chinese Buffet or giardia. We were surprised that CT had reached such a ¢low¢, as he considered getting off the trail entirely. He was missing his girlfriend back home and was tired of chasing his friends who were ahead of him. Having terrible diarrhea and feeling lethargic only exacerbated his condition. Odin, on the other hand, was in poor spirits because he just hated the trail. Odin cracked us up every day with his constant jokes that were dry, deadpan, and nothing but witty. In one of the shelters, when Jungli and I were talking about running a marathon, Odin asked, ¢How long is a marathon?¢ We replied, ¢26.2 miles¢, to which Odin quipped, ¢And how many days do they give you to run it?¢ I do, however, think that Odin met up with us at the right time on the trail and that he was able to begin to enjoy trail life again. We had hiked only 4.9 miles up to the shelter and, feeling the need to get some more miles under our belts, Jungli and I decided to leave camp late and hike on. The only problem was that I left camp without any water (I ¢cameled¢ up on water before leaving), knowing that we would be climbing a steep mountain and I wouldn¢t be sweating much, given the cold weather. We were able to enjoy another beautiful sunset on the way up to the Old Speck Trail at 3,985 ft. As the days had grown shorter and the terrain had become much more difficult, our daily mileage had decreased. For this reason, we knew that we had to night-hike more; Jungli was not very happy about this, as she hates night-hiking, but deep down, she knew that we had to keep moving. We kept trying to find a stealth spot on the way down the mountain, but it was bumpy, mossy, and rocky terrain and there were no feasible spots to camp. Besides, I was without water and I knew that there was a brook 2.4 miles from the Old Speck Trail at the peak of the mountain. So, we continued on, finding it some time close to 9:00 PM. Jungli set up her tent at the side of the brook, but I felt lazy and tired and decided to cowboy camp, right on the ground. I placed my food at the bottom of my sleeping bag to ward away any creatures or bears lurking in the darkness.