Date: 2007-08-18
From: Full Goose Shelter, ME

To: Speck Pond Shelter, ME
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: light rain

The anticipation builds as we contemplate entering the Notch, just a few miles out along the trail. But first we must go up 300 feet to the top of Fulling Mountain. Then instantly we tumble down an extremely steep section, losing 900 feet elevation in just a single mile of walking and sliding. This puts us at the southern end of the gorge, the start of the famed Mahoosuc Notch.The Notch is only 1 mile long and along its length it drops down 300 feet. At first the terrain is interesting, with some good sized boulders to climb over and around. It is unlike any other location on the A.T. A bit further along we come to the REALLY BIG ROCKS. Many of these are the size of houses, laying here in the bottom of the Notch, all in one unbroken mass. We crawl over, around and through for the 2 hours and 15 minutes it takes to complete. It is a bit rainy which does not help with the slippery rocks. Montreal does not complain at all about it. He has fun because we are not climbing on a cliff.A number of natural tunnels allow us to go under the big rocks, which is certainly easier than going over them. Only problem is that the backpacks must come off otherwise we cannot possibly squeeze through. Despite the claim by many hikers that this is the most difficult mile on the trail, I disagree. It absolutely is a challenge, and the perpetual wetness makes sure footings mandatory, but mostly the Notch is just plain FUN. There¢s nothing wrong with that.As we started into the Notch we saw Ernie the Dead Moose. His body was completely decomposed but his head was still there. The smell was overpowering. The story we heard was that other hikers were trying to take a photo of Ernie and they scared him into the notch where he broke his leg. I believe someone had to shoot him. Hikers set up a flag and flower memorial for the moose. Apparently the moose had no name until Montreal came along and gave him one. He named the moose Ernie. In the next shelter register Montreal wrote down the name and it stuck. Poor Ernie! But the fun is destined to go away ¢ and fast. We now face the extremely difficult climb up the Mahoosuc Arm. In a mere 1.6 miles we will gain 1600 feet elevation. This is really difficult. In many stretches the trail is situated on bare, wet, slanted rocks. Need I add that these rocks are extremely slippery? It is necessary to pull ourselves up by grabbing exposed tree roots on the side of the trail. The trees definitely suffer from this activity, but there really is no other way to move up the trail.The temperature is dropping tonight to 30 degrees, good thing I have my 15 degree down sleeping bag. We are the only two hikers at Speck Shelter. Because of the low temperature I think all the thru hikers went to town and all the weekenders canceled.Sunday, September 19, 2004, into the Notch, our final day on the Appalachian TrailAs April had reluctantly concluded, this would be her last day. We had spent the last two weeks hiking together and the experience had been memorable. But I had to return to Connecticut and get back to work. April did not want to hike alone for the remaining 270 miles, yet at the same time there was no way she could keep up with hikers like Broody, Statler & Waldorf, Jan and the Brothers. So later today when we reached the van parked at Grafton Notch, we would both head home together.It has not rained for twenty hours and the landscape is drying out slowly. Today we hike through the Mahoosuc Notch, a special place variously termed ¢the most spectacular¢ and ¢the most difficult¢ mile on the entire 2174-mile long trail. We are SO glad that it is not raining. In the first mile and a half after leaving the shelter we have lost about 600 feet vertically downward. At the bottom there¢s a stream, as always, and we follow it a few hundred feet further. Then all of a sudden we see the rocks, hundreds, maybe thousands of them. The smallest are the size of refrigerators, the largest are the size of houses, even multi-family dwellings! This is really amazing. The rocks apparently have sheared off the cliffs high above the notch for thousands of years. When they land they don¢t break up, they just kind of lay there. On this obstacle course you find your way by going over, under and around the boulders. Despite what we have read and what others have told us, we find the going easier than expected. It actually is a lot of fun. In one place the path under the boulders is so restricted that we must remove our backpacks to squeeze through. We envision coming back to this place again in nicer weather.The boulders cease just as quickly as they had appeared. It has taken us about an hour to scramble through the half-mile-long Notch. Abruptly, the path heads turns up the side of the mountain. We¢re on the Mahoosuc Arm Trail, just slightly to the east of where the rocks were falling straight down into the Notch. Needless to say this trail is steep ¢ and long! The vertical climb is 1600 feet, one of the most difficult ever, and it doesn¢t let up one bit until we get to Speck Pond campsite, 2 1/2 miles distant. We fully utilize our slick-rock-side-of-the-hill climbing technique. We notice that all the other hikers are doing the same; the trail-side vegetation is really mangled. Many small trees have been pulled completely out of the soil.The elevation at Speck Pond is 3400 feet and we are in the clouds. Atmospheric conditions have caused clouds to form at a low elevation today. Visibility is about 150 feet. That¢s unfortunate because the Pond would probably be a beautiful place if only we could see it. The campsite shelter affords us a place to keep dry while we gulp down a quick candy bar lunch. The last three hours have been so exhausting that we are hardly hungry. As we¢re eating Broody shows up; Statler & Waldorf is a few minutes behind.We can¢t stop for long, got to keep pushing if we¢re going to finish this adventure today. The guidebook indicates that we have only five more miles to go. Problem is that we never know in advance how long it will take us to travel an upcoming segment. Throughout New Hampshire and Maine we¢ve learned to set our mileage expectations a lot lower than we prefer. Generally a five-mile hike is no problem, requiring 3 or 4 hours. But in this terrain it could take us a lot longer ¢ and that would be a problem. Right now it¢s almost 1 p.m. Will we still be on the trail 5 hours from now, in the mist and dark? Can we expect to maintain at least a one mile per hour pace for the remaining five miles? We sure hope so.The guidebook lists only one more peak to go over, Old Speck Mountain at elevation 4200 feet. One more six-hundred-foot climb and we will be done! We slog on. The woods are still wet (I doubt they ever completely dry out in Maine), but we¢re fortunate that the water on the trail is a manageable 14 inch deep. Yesterday the water was probably 1 inch deep, far more than even the best waterproof boots could tolerate.As we near the summit of Old Speck we climb up on a long, steep stretch of exposed rocks and WHAM!, we get blasted by 50 mph gusts from the west. We¢re nearly blown off the rock face. Flashback to our Mt. Washington ordeal a week ago! The wind is furious but thankfully the precipitation is light. I grab April to keep her on course. We endure the windy conditions for five minutes, then we¢re over the top. Immediately the trail dives into a stand of short trees and the wind is gone. It¢s amazing how much protection is afforded by these scrubby evergreens, just barely taller than we are. Whenever the trail heads into them, we know we¢re safe from the wind.Trail conditions improve immediately. We seem to be on a tree-covered ridge; the trail is flat and smooth with no rocks. We move along at a fast pace for about three hundred feet when April (who has trained herself to notice these things) declares, ¢I haven¢t seen any white blazes lately, have you?¢ My answer, as usual (because I have not been trained to notice these things), is ¢No.¢ Immediately we stop and start searching. Soon we find a blue blaze. Close inspection reveals that it had at one time been a white blaze but for some reason it has now been repainted blue. Strict adherence to trail standards would indicate that we are no longer on the A.T. (Every time, without exception, that we have failed to follow the white blazes we have ended up being lost.) We must have missed a junction back there on the rock face, when all we could do was keep our heads down and watch our footsteps. We consult the trail guide and sure enough, it describes a junction with another trail on the top of Old Speck. Damn! I can¢t believe we have to go back into that mini-hurricane and look for an elusive turn off.It takes only three minutes to get back to the top of the mountain. We stop at the edge of the evergreens¢ protective canopy and peer out into the mist, hoping to see a marker that we had bypassed. We see nothing. The thought of venturing one more time out into the wind and rain is sickening. Guess we¢ll just have to put the raincoats back on. At that instant, up over the rocks pops a hatless Statler & Waldorf, looking bedraggled as ever in the dampness. We usher him quickly into the protective area and tell him of our concern.Statler & Waldorf has never hiked this part of Maine, but without a second¢s hesitation he flatly declares that this must be the trail, pointing in the direction we had just come from. We probe as to how he knows this, but he responds that he can just feel it. OK, sounds good to me, I think, as we troop off again down the blue-blazed trail. At least there will be three of us lost deep in the Maine woods, not just April and I. Our chances of being found have increased by fifty percent.Statler & Waldorf blasts down the trail with us in tow. Again we fail to find the elusive white blaze until about two-hundred feet beyond our previous turn-around point we spot a real, unadulterated white blaze. YES! The Force Is With Us! Our spirits uplifted, we continue, picking up the pace, assured that this hike will be successfully concluded. There are less than four miles remaining, all downhill.A short time later Broody catches up with us. From previous conversations we know that he and Statler & Waldorf intend to reach the Baldpate lean-to tonight. They¢ll be hiking about two miles past the point where we leave the trail at Grafton Notch. We explain to Broody that if he waits for us at the van we will give him some of our unused food and supplies. He thinks this is a good idea; it ought to save him a trip into town later during the week. Although our pace is not as fast as his, he slows down a bit to stay with us. The trail is much easier than most we¢ve been on lately, just a gentle downgrade for the last three miles to the van. It is an appropriate conclusion to our journey.Amazingly, and for the very last time, our vehicle has not been stolen after four days parked in the woods. Statler & Waldorf is also there, waiting for Broody to catch up. We insist that both of them take whatever they want from our supplies. Statler & Waldorf seems somewhat disinterested until I mention that, besides the freeze dried suppers and cheese crackers, I¢ve got a cold beer in there with his name on it. NOW he¢s interested! The guys load up everything they can carry. Despite the weight penalty of a glass bottle, Broody takes an unopened beer for later in the evening.We make a toast to their continued good fortune and to April¢s success in completing the 1908 miles to this point. We ask the guys to remember ¢Aprilshowers¢ when they reach Katahdin in three more weeks. They promise to offer her another toast from the summit. And with that they head off into the woods.In the van April and I aim south to Connecticut. We observe a spectacular sunset as we skirt the north side of the White Mountains. Dead tired, we arrive home at 10:30 pm. The adventure is over, at least for this year, but April will be back to complete the remaining 266 miles in 2005. The final chapter in her epic journey is still ahead.That, dear readers, is the end of my rambling discourse "A Parallel Universe." April did return in July and August of 2005, without me, but with her friend Nena, and together they made it to the end of the trail. April was thus able to claim the hiker's tag of "GA-ME 04/05." I did accompany her and Nena on the final climb up Katahdin, so I have a lot to say about what happened that day. When the 2007 postings get a little more caught up, I'll post a "Parallel Universe Part 2" for that final day in 2005.Going forward with 2007, I think the remaining postings will be a little short on photos and text. In her rush to finish April has sent in fewer pictures and even fewer daily text descriptions. She seems to have forgotten I have never hiked north of Grafton Notch in Maine, so for me to do my standard bit of ad-libbing will be VERY DIFFICULT. Perhaps when I see her (soon?) she will be able to fill in some of the communication gaps. Stay tuned.TRAINMAN, signing off the Parallel Universe, September 12, 2007.