Date: 2010-08-21
From: Gentian Pond Shelter

To: Mahoosuc Notch campsite
Miles today: 12.2

21 Saturday August ¢ 12.2 miles to Mahoosuc Notch campsiteI was the first up but the last to get out of my sleeping bag. There¢s an excellent view of Maine from the front door of the shelter. I¢ve been staring at the open hills of Maine since the sun arose this morning. Chomping at the moment everyone gets up and I can get closer to the last state line I have to cross! Sticks sounded like he was break dancing up in the loft as he fought the urge to awaken. This shelter has the best view since Beaver shelter on the back of Moosilauke. It¢s late and Ewok doesn¢t think he¢ll make it to the post office in Gorham in time. Ewok say¢s ¢My legs are so short that I can¢t walk as fast as everyone else!¢ The PO closes at 12am and he still can¢t make it if he takes the blue blaze into town.We¢re all being slackers this morning because we¢ve realized you only have to average 10 miles/day to finish by September 17th! That¢s a better plan that 15 per day + vacation days. It¢s hard to make myself stay in town for long periods of time. I¢d rather spend shorter days hiking and stay in the woods longer.I goof off with Tree and Jenn by the New Hampshire/Maine border waiting on Conan and Backward but they never arrive. The trail proved to be difficult leading up to the border. There were lots of places where a person had to slide on their butt. I¢m starting to realize why the SOBO had torn clothing. The torn them sliding on rocks! The border sign has been uprooted and it¢s leaning against a tree. I stare at it for a while waiting for some kind of emotion or feeling that I¢d been expecting to hit me. Nothing really happens. I don¢t break down in tears but I think back over the last 13 states. Each state had good and bad points. Usually I feel like the last state was the hardest. This time that¢s not the case. PA rings in my memory and brings back potent emotions. Massachusetts had it¢s tough points. Nothing about Vermont seemed negative at all. I have wonderful feelings and memories of Vermont. NH is a hell of a lot of work! That state is relentless!There are lots of new and old concepts to a thru-hiker in NH. Rock climbing comes to mind first. Sunburn and windburn aren¢t anything I¢d concerned myself with in quite a while. NH has the most tourists and the most regulations. The AMC is a whole new challenge and entity in the world of the thru-hiker. The AMC¢s purpose is to make money and the thru-hikers purpose is to not pay them. I¢ve fallen at least 12 times in NH. No other state even comes close to comparing to that amount of clumsiness. No wonder the SOBO had busted shorts and holes in their pockets. NH has the most side trails you¢ll encounter. NH has less camping sites. I¢ve noticed large amounts of shiny micah here than anywhere on the AT. NH is the only state with metal traffic signs denoting where the liquor stores are located on the roadside. It¢s virtually impossible to find Lance crackers or white gravy in NH.Pony is the next person to arrive from the shelter. He immediately crosses over the state line and we pick on him for being in Maine so soon. Pony seems very quiet. Last night he cooked his meal and ate it alone beside the shelter. I guess we were being loud and clique-ish. Pony told Conan that he wishes he would have been a SOBO hiker so he could have spent more time alone. He¢s a really nice guy, just not social right now by the Maine border. We were loud last night I guess.All the Goose anatomy part trails were tough. I had to take several breaks to catch my breath. Kutsa is having a difficult time navigating all the giant rock crevasses. The rocks are bigger than humans and you have to suspend yourself by your arms to get through these things. Kutsa comments about me making it ¢look easy¢ as I pass, but I¢m not carrying 50lbs on my back. I get to the Goose Eye summit trail and bypass it because I see rain clouds in the distance. The way the wind is blowing wild causes the temperature to drop suddenly. It¢s about to rain when I¢m on the doorstep of the hardest mile of the AT! I practically run to the eastern peak of Goose Eye Mtn. I can still see the vistas but the rain is closing in on me the whole way to the Full Goose Shelter.When I¢m on top the peak of Goose Eye Mtn. trail I give in and commit myself to going to Bethel tomorrow. I eat the last of my snacks as I watch the clouds building up. Tree and Jenn are taking a break there also. Now that I¢ve decided to only hike 10 miles per day, I¢m not going to have enough food to make it to Andover.The trail between Goose eye and Full Goose shelter is excellently maintained. For practically an entire mile you walk across a wooden platform above the tree line. The land is marsh like and I¢m thankful I don¢t have to walk in the swampy moss. It¢s good for the moss to have these bridges. It¢s good for my socks also! I remember someone telling me there were no wooden bridges in Maine. BS, they¢re everywhere!I can¢t take my eyes off the area where I think the Mahoosuc notch will be located. I know it¢s in a valley and it¢s full of huge boulders! Tree pointed out the observation tower on Speck Pond Mtn. so I have an idea of where the fun part is going to be.As I approached the Full Goose Shelter a day hiker asks if I¢m the guy wearing a plaid shirt who¢s suppose to be catching up. I realized later that the day hiker was trying to deliver a message to either T-Funk or Strider, which means Poundtown is nearby!Sure enough Poundtown is at the shelter when I arrive. They want to keep going all the way to Bethel tonight because, ¢It¢s the WEEKEND BABY!¢ Within seconds of my arrival we¢d all decided to go all the way to Bethel by way of Grafton Notch. I¢d just caught Conan and here I am leaving them again. But it¢s Saturday! Duty calls! I grabbed water and took off behind Poundtown. I¢d picked up T-Funk¢s water bottle earlier today when he left it behind at the border. He was so glad that I¢d returned it to him. T-Funk is using an Arnold Palmer golf ball shaped water container.It¢s only 9 miles to US26 and its 4:30pm. The hardest mile on the AT is all that stands between me and a cheeseburger! When T-Funk and I get to the entrance of the Notch, Michigan and Wookie had just finished talking to a day hiker. They¢d already arranged a ride to Bethel with someone! If we make it!? They just met a man who would take us no matter how late we arrived at Grafton Notch. If we arrived!? Tonight in Bethel, Rocky is throwing a birthday party for his girlfriend. Rocky and Skidmark were the two guys wearing diapers at trail days.I stay with T-Funk to take pictures of us going through the notch. I¢ve noticed a lack of photos of this legendary place so I intend to document the entire thing. Everyone talks about its difficulty but no one has evidence besides hear-say. I could tell early on that our pace through the notch wasn¢t fast enough for us to make it to Bethel. Personally, I was in it for the long haul¢¦I was going as far as Poundtown would go. I¢m in it like Flint also because I was depending on resupplying tonight! I¢d eaten all my food in anticipation of making it to town. I really want a cheeseburger!T-Funk and I pass several college orientation groups going through the notch. They were all decked out in full rain gear and it¢s barely drizzling. It¢s not cold. There isn¢t even a breeze in the notch at all. Hell, if we can barely get through the notch, the wind sure isn¢t going to have it any easier. T-Funk and I both stand waiting for the traffic jam to pass us. We feel funny watching the kids pass by wearing all that plastic when we only have on collared button up shirts and shorts on. Poor things, they must be burning up inside those rain pants. At one point I slipped on a rock and only caught myself by one hand. I could have broken a leg if I fell. It wouldn¢t be the only time I could have found myself in trouble there. Three times I could have been seriously injured when the grip of my shoes wasn¢t good enough to help me stick to those slippery rocks. This is not the place to get injured. I can¢t imagine being evacuated through this mess. My worst nightmare would be to carry an injured person through here. It¢s like a jungle gym. They really should put in rope swings to make things even more interesting. A rope swing would be great if you could find a tree to suspend it from. The whole valley floor is one giant rock pile. We shimmy through cracks and I feel like a cockroach. We balance on pointy rocks and place a slippery toe on the next one and I feel like a ballerina.All in all, the Mahoosuc Notch wasn¢t the hardest mile for me. Butt chaffage is harder to handle than this pile of rocks. We get to the other side of the notch and its 5:15pm. Poundtown is starting to doubt their resolve to get to Bethel. No surprise there. I¢m not going the distance alone and there¢s a campsite right beside us at the foot of the notch. Michigan and T-Funk keep talking about how it¢s late until I give up first. I¢m camping! All this talking and not moving isn¢t going to get us there. I¢m camping at the bottom of the Mahoosuc Notch. Don¢t worry, there¢s plenty of camping space there.Tree and Jenn arrives and they give Poundtown a hard time because they didn¢t make it to Bethel like they said. I could have done it with some support but I¢m done. Finished for the day!I set up camp and Poundtown eventually comes over and does the same. It¢s relatively early so they discuss having an evening of ¢Man Games¢. The competitions include several categories. The categories are: rock chuck or stick chuck, furthest chuck, and highest chuck. They¢re insane. The point is to pick the largest rock to chuck. It¢s hilarious but I never see any of them do any of the competition, we just talk about it.Jenn is an Ivy League triple major who¢s considering pre-med courses at Harvard. She hiked with Poundtown for two days before meeting Tree. Jenn said, ¢I¢ve never seen men carry on the way they do!¢ Poundtown is legendary on the trail for being the roughest group of rag-tag ruffians. Last night they slept in the front yard of a house in Gorham without asking. They have stories that¢d make Satan blush with embarrassment. Most of them are lies, but they¢re entertaining! They¢re planning a trip across the US on bicycles after the AT. ¢Poundtown bikes across the US!¢ they all say in unison. Then it¢s ¢Poundtown floats the Mississippi!¢ they all grunt like they¢ve been practicing.We¢re all telling stories and laughing at fart jokes when Wizard comes out of the notch, practically in the dark. We all cheer and tell him, ¢Welcome Home!¢ I wonder if he¢s as relieved as me to hear that. I¢m glad to be home too. I¢m so excited that I¢ve caught all my old friends. Life is good again and it¢s great to be laughing at these numbskulls! As crazy as these guys are I feel at home around them. Michigan even remembered Lish¢s name when he asked how she was. It¢s good to be back!