Only 264.5 miles until Mt Katahdin, and this trail keeps getting better! I had great weather through the White Mountains. Every time I was above tree line, except on Mt. Washington, it was sunny and not cold (though it was usually quite windy). On Mt. Washington visibility was about 6 feet, which I think was even more fun than if I had a good view. It was also unusually warm (in the 60’s) and not very windy.
Hiking up to a ridge or peak in the White Mountains involves climbing up a band of small boulders which spill down from the top. Most of the climbs rose over 1,000 feet per mile, for a mile or three, which is much steeper than almost anything on the trail before. Although they are only 4,000-6,000 feet high, climbing up the mountains felt similar to doing a 14er in Colorado: the tops are piles of small boulders and windy with no trees. On Mt Moosilauke there were little stone walls to block the wind. I took a nap behind one and got sunburned, just like I’ve done on several mountains in Colorado. One night I shared a shelter with a guy from New Jersey who was out bagging the last few summits he needed to have climbed all 48 of New Hampshires 4,000 foot peaks. I only summited a few myself, because the AT skirts around most of the actual summits and you have to take short side trails to get up to them (which is just too much walking).
There are two principle differences between a New Hampshire peak and a Colorado peak: in New Hampshire when you look down, the valleys and towns don’t feel nearly as far down or away as in Colorado; and in Colorado there are no blueberries growing at the top! Colorado needs more blueberries.
The Appalachian Mountain Club runs a series of lodges, called “huts,” in the White Mountains. The huts cost about $100 per night per person, include two meals, and have no showers. They are very popular with weekend hikers, especially families. They are, of course, too expensive for thru hikers, and none of us know why people would pay that much for a wood bunk with no shower, but they sometimes offer work-for-stay opportunities to long-distance hikers. I took advantage of this at two huts, where I did a little work (cleared tables, washed dishes, swept floors, and answered guests' questions about thru hiking), and in exchange got left over dinner, got to sleep on the dining room floor, and got left over breakfast in the morning. The leftovers were quite substantial. At the Lakes of the Clouds Hut at the base of the Mt. Washington summit, I had all the ham and scalloped potatoes I could eat for dinner, and then all the pancakes with real maple syrup I could eat for breakfast. Colorado needs more maple syrup.
The huts also sold soup and baked goods for $2 each during the day. Many weekend hikers, who treated thru hikers like celebrities, would go out of their way to offer power bars and such to us. At one road crossing a lady had sandwich stuffs and cookies and soda set up on a table for thru hikers. In all, I left Glencliff with 3 days of food in my pack and 7 days later arrived in Gorham without ever having to get off the trail to resupply.
In New Hampshire I met four hikers who were currently taking a cycle of antibiotics for Lyme Disease. Two of them didn’t know they had Lyme until they developed Bell’s palsy, where one side of their face went numb. The most common early symptoms of Lyme are: flue-like aches, fatigue, back and neck pain. All of which also happen to be symptoms of long-distance hiking, so it is not unusual for it to go un-diagnosed for a long time. I developed a head cold the last couple days in the Whites, and by the time I got to a hostel in Gorham I felt pretty awful. But I took a day off there and got some pseudoephedrine from Wal-Mart, and felt much better. I think it may have been allergies. I still have a cough, but even my hypochondriatic evaluation hasn’t found anything indicating Lyme in it
[I never got Lyme! And I never felt sick again once I got to Maine.]
.
The highlight of Gorham, for me, was the Wal-Mart which the hostel offers a shuttle to twice a day. It is amazing how many calories can be had for so few dollars in that place. There is also a McDonalds and a Subway in town. I think it might have been the first McDonalds I’ve seen since PA. New England town’s are nice, I suppose, but they need more chain/fast food restaurants… or otherwise establishments with the trifecta: electrical outlets, WiFi, and inexpensive food. Karl and I are not impressed with the obstinate resistance of New England’s petit bourgeois towards the centralization of their capital. I don’t think I’ve even seen a Starbucks yet. Dartmouth’s bookstore sold Starbucks coffee, but it wasn’t a Starbucks. The only chain I can count on is Dunkin' Donuts, which are everywhere, but they usually don’t have WiFi.
And now I am in Maine! My guide describes Maine thusly: “Hikers in Maine encounter approximately 281 miles of lakes, bogs, moose, loons, hand-over-hand climbs, and a 100-mile wilderness that is neither 100 miles nor truly a wilderness.” I have been seeing their droppings and tracks since Massachusetts, but I still have not seen any moosies! If I don’t see one by the end, I think I’ll just keep walking north until I do.
If the Appalachian Trail were a video game, then Maine would be the final boss. So far, and I’m only 25 miles in, it combines almost all of the challenges from the previous states: mountains, rocks, roots, mud, and rain. The only thing it doesn’t have yet are clouds of mosquitoes or other biting flies. The first 25 miles in Maine have taken me almost 3 days. It started to rain exactly as I stepped past the sign marking the NH-ME border. The mountains in Maine are what I expected to find in New Hampshire: walking up (and back down) granite rock faces. When I got to the shelter at the end of my first day in Maine, the 3 thru hikers there were showing each other their newly acquired wounds. I was the only one who hadn’t fallen at least once, and I thank my Crocs for that: I am so aware of how inadequate my footwear is that I am extra careful to always find good footing on the rock.
The last two days in Maine have been sunny and dry. The views from Maine are my favorite so far: all you see looking down from peaks are trees and clouds… no towns or roads like everywhere else. It is the first time I almost wished I had a camera. (But then I remembered there are pictures of trees and clouds on The Internet which I could look at when I get home if I want to.)
On the second day of Maine the weather was perfectly clear and sunny as I went through the notorious Mahoosuc Notch. It is a canyon filled with a maze of large-ish boulders. The white blazes that mark the trail often give a choice of either crawling through a tunnel formed by two or three boulders, or climbing over. I am bio-mechanically inclined to climb up and over, which is the boring and fast way, but I went through the last tunnel. I had to take my pack off and pull it up behind me. It took me about 1 hour 15 minutes to get through the 1-mile notch. Someone (cough*sarahandlaura*cough) with an inclination for finding interesting problems and traverses on boulder faces might spend all day there.
Tonight I am staying at a hiker hostel in the town of Andover. I was going to possibly have to walk 8 miles down a very light-traffic road to get here, but right when I got to the road crossing a few hikers were being dropped off by a shuttle, and the driver offered to take me into town for free. A hiker, named Steps
[Steps and I followed roughly the same schedule through Maine and summited Katahdin on the same day]
, whom I met in NH is also here and we just ate dinner together. He is an electrical engineer, so we get along well because of my trail name.
Tomorrow I have what looks like a very difficult 18.8 miles planned. I’m so sore right now that I’m not even sure I will make it, especially if it is raining, but I’m going to try! My next update will likely be from the town of Monson in a couple of weeks, which is immediately before the 100-mile wilderness. About a week after that I should be in Baxter State Park where the trail terminates on top of Mt Katahdin. My dad will probably be able to meet me there and climb the final 5.2 miles to the Katahdin summit with me! I’m excited about that.
Diode