#30 Gorham to Andover

9/7: We woke up in a hotel and ate leftover pizza and ice cream for breakfast! We didn’t get moving for a while but eventually we sucked it up and called an overly expensive shuttle to get back to the trail. It was 10:45 when we started hiking and the sky looked like it was threatening to rain. Sunshine and I kept joking about how easy the trail was going to be, and for the first little bit, it was! And then it went straight up. With rocks, a lot of rocks. I put my trekking poles away so I could better use my hands to pull myself up. At some points, we didn’t even know how to get up because it was just a rock slab with no obvious foot or handholds. So much for an easy trail. It took us a long, long time to make that first ascent. It was incredibly steep and technical, but at least we warmed up! The rest of the trail was also a lot of tilted rock slabs, and by the time I made it down Wildcat Mountain, it was about 4:30. I stopped in at the hut at the bottom of the mountain to get a pastry and fill up on water. They had 1 piece of chocolate cake left and it was delicious! The trail followed a ridge after the hut, and we didn’t want to sleep up high with the possibility of rain in the night, so we took a quarter mile side trail down to a little camping spot. A lot of other hikers had the same idea and we all set up camp and hung out together by a fire. Almost as soon as I was done eating, it started to rain, so I packed up my stuff and got in my tent to stay warm and dry for the rest of the night.

9/8: I tried to wake up at 5 to be out of camp by 6, but it was raining and when I checked the weather, I saw that it was going to stop raining at 7. So I didn’t get up. Sunshine and I planned to try and make it to the road to get to a hostel, but that was a 15 mile trek and depending on the terrain, it might not be possible. We started hiking around 7 though and were fueled by the thought of food and a warm bed. Sunshine got ahead of me, but I kept trucking along. The first climb was crazy steep and I only went about 1 mph. It didn’t help that the rocks were wet, so I had to make sure I had solid foot placement before I stepped anywhere. Of course this didn’t always work, and I fell a bunch on rocks and mud that day. It was a cold, wet, and windy day, and whenever I reached a view, I was in the middle of a cloud, so all I saw was white. It was pretty miserable, and I hit some low points when I fell and then out of spite, I sat down and took a break because I didn’t want to get back up. Luckily it was cold, so I had to get up and move to keep warm, but the process repeated itself many times throughout the day. It was not my finest hiking performance. At one point, I got low enough that I was below the clouds, and I got some beautiful views of the Whites! Some parts were even sunny!

Then, coming down from Middle Carter Mountain, I came across a ridiculous part of the trail. It was steep and long rock slabs and boulders that went straight down the mountain. I had already scooted down quite a few rocks that day, but these were so slick that I couldn’t stop myself from sliding and I went down the rocks like a playground slide. Except it hurt because it was rocks. 0/10 would not recommend doing the Wildcats in the rain. Anyway, after more technical ups and downs, I finally got to a trail with minimal rocks and I hiked as fast as I could. I knew I wouldn’t make it to the road, but I could get to a shelter 2 miles away from the road. I got there with my headlamp in the dark and set up in the shelter by myself. It was a little eerie camping all alone, but I certainly spread out my gear and I was glad I didn’t have to set up my tent. I had hiked for a little over 12 hours, and had only gone 13 miles. It was a brutal day and I was so happy to be out of the Whites and not deal with much more of that going forward.

9/10: Sunshine got to the hostel the night I stayed at the shelter, and we both hung out for the day while Otter slackpacked the Wildcats since he had been behind us for a few days. So after a relaxing Nero, I was ready to hit the trail again. Except I was sleepy so I went slow, but it was so, so nice to have a real trail again through the woods with an actual dirt path. The day started off chilly, but it warmed up to around 60 by the afternoon, and it was nice weather to hike in. I got some cool lookouts at some exposed areas of the mountains, and there were lots of ponds today. Moose like to hang out around ponds, but I have yet to see one. I took a short lunch break at a campsite, and even though I was hiking slow and the rocks and mud were still slick, the day went by fast because I was listening to a podcast called Hell and Gone which is about an unsolved murder in a very small town in Arkansas. So far it’s really good! Anyway, I got to the shelter 12 miles in around 5:30 and it had a cool view out to the mountains.

(This was taken in the morning when it was lighter out)

Sunshine was already there and we ate our ramen bombs together and then went to sleep early for a big day tomorrow.

9/11: We woke up to a beautiful view of the mountains from the shelter. What an awesome way to wake up in the morning! Our goal was to hike 15 miles so we needed to get up and get out early. I’d been trying to ignore my sore throat that I’ve had on and off for the past few days, but today was the day where I got sick. It wasn’t super sick, but man, I felt bad. I woke up early with Sunshine and we started walking. Immediately I felt fatigued and creaky, which usually doesn’t happen in the mornings for me. There was a lot of boulder hopping and scooting down large rocks, and I did all of it in a fog. This is referring to both a mental and physical fog because when we climbed Mt. Success (successfully), the top was all buffeting winds and fog all around us. It got so bad that my pack got some new holes in it too on the way down from the rocks. We were about 1 mile away from the NH/ME border when New Hampshire wanted to make sure we didn’t forget about it and the trail dipped straight down with giant boulders and then went straight back up just as a nice little farewell. We got to the border and took a lunch break. We made it to Maine!

My guess is that I was running a low fever and I was so happy that I was hiking with Sunshine because the buddy system is important on days when you’re not feeling well. Our goal of doing a 15 mile day got knocked down to 12 miles at a campsite right after the Mahoosuc Notch, a notoriously hard mile on the AT. As we kept hiking though, and hitting walls of rock that we had to throw our trekking poles over to climb, we realized we were running out of time. Every time we hit a summit above the trees, wind whipped at us and we had to brace against it or be knocked over. Also my feet were wet because the trail was so muddy from the rain. But Sunshine and I played 2 truths and a lie, and kept ourselves entertained for the majority of the hike. I was in misery, of course, but at least I had company. By the end of the day, the clouds cleared and we got a cool view at one of the overlooks. By that point, our 12 mile goal shrank to 10 miles, right before the notch, because we didn’t want to do that part in the dark. We stumbled into camp, pitched our tents, and I grudgingly ate another ramen bomb with some Fritos thrown in before going to sleep asap after a very long day.

9/12: When I woke up, I felt a lot better! I was still sneezy, but nothing that would stop my hike! Sunshine and I took our time in the morning because we didn’t get to relax too much the night before. Then we set off! At first the trail was pretty easy and we cruised through it with no problem. But then we hit the Mahoosuc Notch. People had told us that it was the hardest mile on the AT, and I don’t think we could’ve known just how hard it would be. I spent most of the time either on all fours, or scooting on my butt, no exaggeration. There was very little walking involved. It was all boulders, boulders much much taller than me that I had to hoist myself up and over for 2 and a half hours.

It was hilarious and I tried to Mission Impossible myself out of many a crevasse, but by the end, my muscles were shaking with exhaustion- which really doesn’t happen to me that often after hiking 1,900 miles. Anyway, it was hard. Then we tackled the Mahoosuc Arm which is just a very steep mountain that is all rock slabs. At one point, I almost fell down one of the slabs until I grabbed onto a root, so after that I took the little dirt paths on the side that excel erosion, but at least I wasn’t going to slide down 50 feet on a rock. I got a cool view on top though! And by the time Sunshine and I got to the next shelter 5 miles from where we started, it was 4:30. We started to set up camp and just decided to eat my extra food, when our friend Maker came by and told us that her group, including Otter, were going to stay at a motel that night in town, and they had food and a ride. Sunshine and I packed up and hiked as quickly as we could to catch up. We ended up night hiking a little with Otter before getting to the gap while we played Disney songs on his phone and the motel shuttled us to the motel. They were so nice! Anyway, we all ended up in clean, warm beds and ate a lot of pizza!

9/13: Everyone got a late start today, but the motel we stayed at was so hiker friendly and they gave us a ride to the grocery store and then back to trail. I sat in the parking lot for a while to organize my food, and then set off hiking at around 1. And the trail went up, so I went slow. It wasn’t anything exceptional, it was just a long way to the top of the mountain, and the grade was pretty steep. The summit of Baldpate Mountain was gorgeous though! Views all around of the mountains and forests- and I could see a few trees turning, too.

Fall is on the way! Coming down the mountain was also slow but at least it was doable. I got to the first shelter and realized that if I didn’t start moving quicker, I’d have to night hike, so I picked up the pace and ended up at the waterfall we were camping by at around 6:30. I gathered water and then set up camp with Sunshine. By that point, it was getting dark and we both used our headlamps to cook food. I ate a Knorr Rice Side with a lot of cheese and buffalo tuna. Then it started to get really cold, so I tried to clean up as fast as I could and get warmed up in my sleeping quilt for the night.

Now I’m in Andover after a 10 mile day! Not too much to report except that Mt. Moody was a pain in the butt and I have yet to see a moose. I’m camping behind a hiker friendly restaurant- and a former thru hiker paid $10 off of everyone at our table’s meals! So that was super cool. Now that I made it through the hardest mile of the trail, I feel like I can do anything! 246.8 miles left and I hope I can make them count! :)

Happy trails!