Date: 2007-07-20
From: Gentain Pond Shelter

To: Carlo Col Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: light rain

Coyote and Road Runner were up and on the trail early and I left a little after 8:00 a.m. It looks like another wet day. It was over a 1,000-foot climb up and over Mt. Success. I have noticed that the bog bridges are in worse condition on this section of the trail, and they sink as I walk across them.Came to a section that had some big boulders and could not believe that the trail went down them. Shortly after that, I came to the New Hampshire-Maine border. I have hiked through 13 states now, with only Maine to finish. So here are my thoughts about New Hampshire. It has been the most difficult trail to hike and one of the wettest. It has been more like an obstacle course than a hiking trail. Climbing up and down cliffs, over big boulders, walking through deep mud and over narrow, sinking bog bridges.As I started into Maine, I knew the trail was not going to get easier. I fell three more times on the wet rocks, all on my left side. At least my right side is not hurting. There was a boulder cliff that was really hard and scary to climb down but at the bottom was the trail to Carlo Col Shelter so I hiked down it to get water and eat a late lunch at the shelter. After lunch, when I got back to the A.T., I could see and hear the Russians coming down the boulder cliff. The two dogs refused to come down it, so the men had to drop their packs and go up and carry the dogs down this section. I asked myself, ¢who was smarter, the dogs or us?¢I was about two miles from Carlo Col Shelter and almost to the top of East Peak Goose Eye Mountain when I just stopped in the middle of the trail, pulled out my map and saw that I had two more miles to the next shelter. A feeling hit me that it was time to go home. It was that sixth sense or intuition that hikers develop from being in the woods for a long time. I had fallen five times in two days and for almost two months I had not fallen once. It was like someone was trying to tell me something and I was not listening. I was also thinking about a trip that my wife and I have planned to go see our son for three weeks in Japan when I get home at the end of August. If I fall and get seriously injured then we might miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I stood in the middle of the trail for about ten minutes looking back and looking forward trying to decide what to do. But my gut feeling was telling me to turn back. I never thought that I would quit, it had never crossed my mind before, but I knew it was the right decision. It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made because I am not sure I will come back to finish this journey on the A.T.After wiping away a few tears, I turned and started hiking back. It was over a mile before I ran into the Russians, they were scattered for at least a half mile. In this terrain, I would have thought they would have stayed together.It was about 6:30 p.m. when I got back to Carlo Col Shelter. Dan Moore was there, I had met him once in Gorham a couple of days ago and on the trail today when he was hiking south. He is from California and had been on the trail for a month but had run out of time and was headed home. It was good to have him to talk to since I was feeling a little low. He is hiking back to Gorham too, so we are going to hike together. A young thru-hiking couple came in after supper. I was feeling better and surprised at how fast I fell asleep.