Date: 2004-09-13
From: Gorham NH

To: Trident Col Tentsite
Miles today: 6.9

09/13/2004GatherI¢m here at the Barn Hostel in Gorham NH, a lot to do today. Have to pick up my package at the PO, re-supply and check out the new gear dad sent me.Eat breakfast, go to PO and pick up my care package, take it back to Hostel to sort out and pack up.Dad sent me a 6X8 ft ultra-lite tarp he got from Kurt at Blue Ridge Mountain Sports in Greensboro NC, along with some super light stakes. He also sent me a BrassLite alcohol stove that is about the diameter of a silver dollar and weighs only 1.2 oz! I check it all out, I like it. Now I will be able to get rid of around three (3) lbs out of my pack.I will be sending my MSR WhisperLite stove and my MSR Micro Zoid one man tent home. I know dad is not going to want to see the tent come home. I have to lighten up if I¢m going to make it to Katahdin. Got to get some weight off this knee. When I hit the 100 mile wilderness in Monson ME, I have to pack enough food for 5 to 7 days.Pack my tent, stove and some more junk up to send home, take it to PO and mail it home.Mom and dad sent me an issue of the Denton Orator. Sure is a nice write up Toni Ayers wrote about the Slimer and I. Thank you Toni, and all the staff at the Orator. I will carry this copy up the trail with me, sure is good to be able to read home town news. It gets awful lonely out here sometimes.I go call home, call mom, then call dad at work. He gives me the latest Thru-Hiker statistics from the ATC HQ in Harpers Ferry WV.As of Sept 3rd, 2004,Springer Mountain GA ¢ 1,535 - Left with the intention to hike to Katahdin MENeels Gap GA ¢ 1,305 - Made it to Neels Gap GA (distance of 30.7 miles) - 230 quitFontana Dam NC ¢ 864 ¢ Made it to Fontana ¢ (distance of 161.7 miles) ¢ 441 quitHarpers Ferry WV ¢ 660 ¢ Made it to Harpers Ferry (distance of 1,008 miles) 204 quitKatahdin ME ¢ 50 - Thru-Hikers have made it to Mt. Katahdin as of Sept 3rd, a distance of 2,174 miles.Many hikers have elected to do a flip-flop, that is to get off the trail, catch a bus / drive to Katahdin and come back south to where they left off at. At this point no one knows how many thru-hikers are still on the trail heading north. The officials at the ATC HQ in Harpers Ferry WV said it would probably be Jan or Feb 2005 before the exact numbers are known.Dad also tells me we have another nasty hurricane headed our way, Ivan the Terrible. He said this one was packing some punch. He said we probably won¢t get the winds, but get ready for some heavy rain off of it. He reads off the entries in my guest book to me.I tell dad I have faced, bear, mad moose, rattle snakes, skunks, porcupines, witch doctors, mad dogs, hail and lightening storms and the worst storm on Mount Washington since early June. Bring on Ivan the Terrible, he will just be another day on the trail.Thank you to all that have signed my guest book on-line, thanks to all who are following us via the on-line journal. Hello to all my friends around Denton, I will make it to Katahdin if I have to crawl, this I promise you.I finally get my act together and hit the trail heading north around 1:PM. Go by the Androscoggin river, climb up Cascade Mountain 2,631 ft. Make it to Trident Col Tentsite. Decide to call it a day. Guess I¢ll see how my tarp & stove works tonight.Set up my tarp, looks good, only problem with a tarp is both ends are open and no ground cover to keep you dry, that¢s the price you pay to save weight.My little BrassLite alcohol stove works great, I think it boils water faster than the MSR WhisperLite I had. I am not putting the MSR down, it has served me flawlessly all the way from Georgia, I would recommend it to anyone. Kind of a trick getting under the tarp. When you take a 6ft wide tarp and make it into a V shaped tent, there¢s not much room left. Cook eat, and go to sleep.Gorham NH ¢ to ¢ Trident Col Tentsite ¢ 6.9 miles09/11/2004SlimerGood nights sleep here in Gorham, have re-supplied. Pack up and hit the trail. Weather looking better for a change. Frances is now getting the hikers north of here, feel sorry for them.Good walking through here, lots of wetlands and bogs, very beautiful. Go by the Androscoggin river, Climb up Cascade Mountain. Pass by Trident Tent Site, keep pushing. Pass by Dream Lake and Moss pond, wish I had time to fish. I¢m thinking I¢ll come back here one day and sample these ponds.Pass by gentian Pond Campsite. Ran into Millipede, he did a flip-flop and is headed southbound, he give me some good information.Lots of big pheasants through here, those suckers will wait until you almost step on them and them fly up with this loud thunderous drumming sound, make you pee in your pants it will.Also lots of little red squirrels here, very pretty fellows. Make a loud chattering noise, very friendly they are.Make it to Mt. success 3,565 ft, decide to call it a day, 14.3 miles. Not bad for a late start out of town.Set up my stove, cook eat and go to bed. I¢m cowboy camping under the stars by myself tonight.Gorham NH ¢ to ¢ Mt. Success Cowboy Camping - 14.3 miles09/12/2004SlimerWake up, good nights sleep. Nippy this morning, feels like it¢s in the 30¢s. Hard to get out of the bag. Get up, eat some bagel¢s with peanut butter, pack up and hit the trail.Pretty soon I see a sign on a tree, get closer, it¢s the Maine State Line!! Hot Damn, I¢ve made it to Maine!! I just stand there and stare at the sign. There were times down the trail I thought I would never get to see this sign. I touch it, yep, it¢real!I¢ve Made it to Maine!!!! Katahdin here I come !!! Yahooooo, Happy, Happy, Happy!!I¢m by myself, so I rig my camera up and try to take a picture of myself standing beside the sign, not sure I got it. I set here a while and soak this in, I¢m in Maine at last, this is the last state I have to go through.Get up and start digging, I can feel the energy flowing now. Climb over some 3 and 4 thousand foot mountains, I¢m kicking these suckers in the butt, keep digging north.Pretty soon I come to the dreaded Mahoosuc Notch Trail, I look down into the ravine. I don¢t like what I see! One great big jumble of boulders, huge things.I start down, colder and colder it gets, I stop and put on my fleece jacket, it¢s cold down here. I see big slabs of ice down in the cracks of the rocks. I¢m told ice stays here year round. Natures on refrigerator for sure.The Notch is pretty bad, I take my time. You slip and fall here, you will get hurt!! This is downright dangerous. But I can tell you now, it¢s not as bad as the White Mountains. It¢s gonna have to get baaad to beat the Whites!!I have to crawl through tunnels under the rocks in places. In the tunnels are dangerous looking pits you could fall into. Not worried about snakes, below freezing here, unless there¢s such a thing as ice snakes! I¢m very careful here as I go through. About a mile of this and I¢m through it. I whoped the Notch!Keep digging north, go across Mahoosuc Arm 3,770 ft. Very beautiful through here, this is mother nature at it¢s best. Once out of the Notch it heats up again, start pulling off my jacket and cap.I¢m thinking of Mt. Moosilauke, when Paparazzi and I descended the north side, there was this beautiful stream cascading down the mountain right beside the trail, one huge continuous roaring beautiful waterfall all the way down the side of Mt. Moosilauke.Paparazzi had me pose for a picture there with the falls in the background. Paparazzi is a professional photographer. He made a comment that this shot was going to be the best he has shot the entire trail. The falls probably looked great, not so sure about me. I¢ll have to remember to ask him for a copy. Paparazzi is a very nice person.Make it to Speck Pond Campsite, decide to call it a day and cowboy camp again. Set up, cook, eat and go to bed with Katahdin on my mind, still a long way to go, but not as far as it has been.Mt. Success ¢ to ¢ Speck Pond Campsite ¢ 12.1 miles09/13/2004SlimerWake up, cold again, frosty it is, but I had a good nights sleep. To tell the truth I sleep better out here than in a bed, I¢m finally getting used to this, I think?Pack up and hit the trail heading north, always north toward the big ole red sign on the summit of Mt. Katahdin.Come to Grafton Notch Trail Head, Me Hwy 26, the road into Andover. I¢m planning to hitch into town and re-supply here. I see PaceMaker get out of a truck. I stop and talk to him. He got off the trail to go to a wedding. They have lots of food in the back of the truck, cooler and boxes of food. He says to help myself, man I re-supply right there. They have everything I need. I have just gained a whole day by not having to go into Andover.I push on, come to Dunn Notch Falls. Big creek with waterfalls, very beautiful place. I decide to cowboy camp here.Cook, eat and go to bed. During the night I hear a noise! I set up straight to see what it is! Something bumps into me pretty hard, knocks me over and keeps on trucking!! Whatever it was is pretty big from the noise it¢s making going through the trees. That¢ll get your old ticker pumping for sure!! I lay back down, hear another noise! But whatever it was went the other way. I¢m about ready to find me another spot!! I think maybe this is a popular watering hole for the critters around here. I really don¢t even want to know what that was that bumped into me. Sometimes it¢s better you don¢t know. Lay back down and finally get to sleep about two hours later.Speck Pond Campsite ¢ to ¢ Dunn Notch falls ¢ 14.1 miles