Month: July 2021

Start: Moose Mountain Shelter (AT mi 1761.9). Stop: Jacobs Brook Stealth Site (AT mi 1778.1). Today’s miles: 16.2 miles Total AT mileage: 753.4 miles

I’ve really been on a “good sleep” kick the last week or so, and I am 100% not complaining! I slept soundly all night until the sun peaking through my tent woke me up after 5am. I went back to sleep, but ended up getting up at 6:30 to pee. I handled that, then changed clothes and packed. They weren’t any dryer hanging outside than they were when I took them off my body yesterday, but I’m going to pretend they smelled better because of the whole airing out deal.

I was on the trail by 7:15am and had originally planned to go 17.7 miles to a shelter. I had 2 big ascents today, one was over 1000ft of elevation gain, the other was over 2000. Ha. Good times. Surprisingly, I actually felt good though! Don’t get me wrong, my hips are still bugging me, almost like I need to be adjusted by my chiropractor.. that type of ache, and my knees hurt on the downhills, but overall, I’d say today was a win.

On the first uphill I was happily chugging along. Over half way up I got great cell service and there was a beautiful look out equipped with the perfect sitting rock, so I sat down and worked on uploading yesterday’s blog. It was a glorious 20 minute break that I was thrilled I took the time for. The rest of the way up wasn’t too bad either, shockingly. I cruise along, hardly having to stop for breathers. The sun was shining and I just couldn’t believe my luck, that I’m feeling this much better already. Thank God and science for antibiotics!

I did however fall twice. In mud. One of the times it caused both feet to be completely submerged in thick mud up passed my ankles. Awesome. I also landed on my right butt cheek, so that was also soaked in watery mud. All of this happened well before noon, and I was so annoyed with myself for tripping up, stubbing my toes, and for the falls that the second I found a semi decent rock I stopped and ate my lunch. I was barely 11am. But whatever, clearly my body needed some fuel.

The trail also went through more overgrown grass and boggy areas where almost all of the wooden planks were broken. Thankfully I didn’t fall in the thickest of the overgrown mess. It truly would have been full body and pack soaked if I did. Not to mention what I did fall in stinks pretty bad.. like I purposefully walked through a creek to attempt to rid myself of the foul smell-to no luck.

The second ascent started out great. The way the trail went up Smarts Mountain was straight up, then a little flat winding for half a mile or so (maybe more) and then back straight up until you got to the top. So, the first part really wasn’t bad. I actually passed people.. like 6 people! I didn’t know any of them and a few looked like day hikers but some definitely had the bigger packs and were either section or thru hikers. I think I was riding a high knowing I was passing folks.

It was steep trail with lots of rocks and roots. Then, out of no where, it turned into those huge rock slabs. I was cautious because parts were slick and this is the type of terrain I rolled my ankle on in New York. Also, for some reason at that point on the climb, bees took notice to me.. some type of yellowish looking bee, it didn’t look like a yellow jacket or a hornet, but whatever they were I was careful not to piss them off. I literally had 2-3 doing zoomies around my head for almost 35 minutes, and I didn’t want to swat at them for fear of being stung (one of the women I passed even made mention, “those sure do love you!” Yeah.. I noticed..). There was no water to high tail it to and jump in like in “My Girl” so I had to keep my cool.

Once I hit the halfway mark and the climb stopped for a bit, the crazy bees left me. As sunny and pretty as it was, I didn’t stay and look out at the sites much at all, mainly because of the antibiotic warning to avoid sun exposure. I was a little sad by this, as it was gorgeous enough to just sit and stare at all the mountains surrounding me. Such is life.

I started the second part of the ascent and immediately wanted to turn around and go back. It was so muddy and slippery and nothing like the well maintained first half. Some sections were steep enough to require some serious effort to push up on.. and all of it was unnerving because of the slickness. It felt like it just kept going up and up and up to nowhere. The never ending climb through mud. Sheesh.

When I finally did make it to the top, I saw signs pointing to tent sites, and then I saw the firetower. It was a stunning day, and I suspect the view from up there was mesmerizing, but I was too tired and still had over 4 miles to go, so I skipped the fire tower. A few hundred feet past there was a cabin where Jola and another hiker were. He told me I should stay, but I knew if I did I wouldn’t make it to town the day I need to in order to get the rental car to pick up Andrea. I’m on a tight schedule here, sort of.. at least tighter than feeling ok with stopping there. Lol

The rest of the day was downhill. Literally. And it hurt. It always hurts the toes and knees. And parts were still super muddy. It was sometime around the beginning of this downhill that I decided to read the comments about the shelter I was heading to, as a distraction to my pain. Literally comment after comment mentioned how bad the tenting was..Shit. I don’t want to sleep in a shelter if I don’t have to, and I won’t have to until the day after my tent gets soaked by rain.. which would mean not today!

I looked at the comments around the creeks I’d be crossing, starting from the shelter and working my way back. The one big creek had a comment about “stealth sites along the water” before and after the wooden bridge. Ok, new goal: get to a decent site before anyone else that reads this app does!

I crossed the bridge and turned left through the woods.. there wasn’t a trail, so I just pushed through the brush and limbs. Low and behold: a small campsite! Right by the water! It’s got a fire ring and space for 2-3 tents, although all of the spots are pretty root filled. I put my tent up in the most flat area I could find, and my pad will be over a root or two tonight, so I just need to be cautious when turning, that I don’t somehow cause my ground cloth, tent, and/or pad to rip. Haha-honestly, I’ve slept on worse.

After setting up, I went down to the creek, washed off and got water to filter. I soaked my feet for a while and then came back up to make dinner. My clothes are hanging out “to dry” again, and I’m about ready to head to bed. Another early night.. and another early morning, too. Because I shorted myself a mile and half, I have to tack that on to tomorrow’s hike.. so now that will be a longer day than today. But to be fair, the climbs don’t look as daunting tomorrow as they were today, so maybe this was for the best anyway.

I haven’t camped out completely alone since the beginning of this trek. It feels almost strange. But, I’ll be sleeping to the sound of the creek rushing by down below, so I think it’s going to be another night of great sleep. I hope so anyway 🙂

Start: Jacobs Brook Stealth Site (AT mi 1778.1). Stop: Hikers Welcome Hostel (AT mi 1794.2). Today’s miles: 16.1 miles. Total AT mileage: 769.5 miles

I didn’t sleep as well as I thought I should have..I had a couple nightmares about snakes which made no sense. I got up at 6:30 because I thought I heard rain drops. I packed so fast so my tent would stay dry, and then when I realized it wasn’t going to rain, I took my time eating breakfast. I some how didn’t leave camp until almost 7:30! Not sure how that happened, even now as I’m recounting what I did. Haha

The trail went right up immediately after leaving the brook. Mount Cube was the first ascent and it wasn’t terrible. Jola and a couple other hikers passed me early on, so much for yesterday’s success in that department lol. I met up with them on a gorgeous rocky out look half way up. They pointed out the fire tower on Smarts Mountain that we crossed yesterday. It was an impressive mountain from this view. An impressive mountain that I have already conquered. Boom.

The rest of the way up was more of the same, rocks and mud but also pine needles and moss. Stunning mixed with “what in the hell?” Before reaching the rock summit, I ended up walking back through the moss covered ground to dig a hole. Sorry Mother Nature, I couldn’t wait for a better place! Ya gotta go when ya gotta go!

At the top, I took pictures for a lady day hiking with her perfect golden retriever. Then I slowly made my way down the slippery slopes that are what we call the trail. Some how I did manage to keep my socks out of the mess today, but the ones from yesterday still stink. My shoes reek, too, FYI.

I crossed more boggy wetlands in between mountain, all with broken wooden planks.. and then more ups and downs but they were dramatically less daunting. I do remember thinking how sick of rock hopping over mud I am though.. and the sad thing is, I don’t think that changes any time soon. I ate lunch in one of the low spots today, after a road crossing, and knew it was a bad idea because once I stopped moving I was swarmed by bugs (it was definitely a bug net kinda day). I didn’t even finish eating because I was so annoyed with them.

I made it to a road crossing with 2 couples set up under a canopy.. giving out TRAIL MAGIC! It has been so long! Man, it was great. I sat down and they made me an excellent PB&J and I had a Mountain Dew, too! This totally made up for the crappy lunch I had. While I was chatting them up, they mentioned tomorrow’s “full rain” forecast. As they said it, I decided I was going to a hostel tonight instead of camping at the shelter I was originally aiming for. The hostel was only a mile before the shelter, and I could now slack pack tomorrow in the rain instead of hoofing over the “first mountain of the White’s” with all my gear.

I saw on the trail angel’s roster that a lot of my friends came through today.. Lizard, TBird, TownLegs, Smiles, DoubleDecker, and TieDye. So I sent out some texts to see if any of them were going to the hostel: they were ALL at the shelter I had originally been going for! Dang it! I already made my mind up to go to the hostel and be inside when the rain hits, but I did see if any of them were slackpacking.. TBird and TownLegs are! And.. one of my favorite people is doing their shuttling: Cholula! I messaged her, and she’s going to pick me up, too! Heck. Yes.

I made it to the hostel, and it’s super cute. I took a shower in the outdoor shower, and promptly picked a bottom bunk on the upstairs section of the “barn.” Then I hung out with everyone for awhile, mostly people I don’t know.. a SOBO, Doppler, gave me all the ins and outs of the whites and she looked over Andrea and my itinerary and agrees that it’s “more than doable.” She also seemed super impressed with our John Muir hike, especially when I told her how much weight we had to have been carrying back then.. we were backpacking babies. Oh, the things we learned!

Some of us got shuttled to a deli and I got stuff to eat for dinner tonight and then to carry tomorrow. Nice and easy. When we got back, I ate, paid for my stay, and retired upstairs to my bunk. It’s almost 10:30 now and it feels like 2am! Getting pictures to load is a task that requires patience.. something I seriously lack.

Now that I have yesterday’s post uploaded, I’ll save today’s post for some time tomorrow. Cholula is going to pick me up bright and early, And then I’ll get to slack pack southbound over Mount Moosilauke.. which should be an adventure in its own right, especially if it rains like they say it will. But-and this is the highlight here- I’ll be in a hotel tomorrow night!

Alright, phone is charged, lights are out, so it’s time for me to roll over and do the same. Goodnight y’all!

Start: Hikers Welcome Hostel (AT mi 1794.2). Stop: Slack pack over Mount Moosilauke (AT mi 1803.7) Today’s miles: 9.5 miles. Total AT mileage: 779 miles

I think today has to go down as one of my favorite trail days.. top 5 for certain. Although, I didn’t sleep well-we’ll stay it’s because of nerves. Haha

It started raining around dusk last night and didn’t stop. Normally I sleep better with the rain, but I couldn’t shut my brain off. I got up before my watch alarm vibrated.. at a lovely 5:35am. I could have “slept” for 20 more minutes, but I was too anxious. So, I got up, grabbed all my stuff as quietly as possible, and tiptoed out the door and down the stairs. I used the outdoor bathroom, literally a toilet and a shower and a sink separated by curtains with a tarp roof lol.. and then I got to work on repacking my stuff so I could slack pack today.

I put absolutely everything inside the white compactor trash bag that I use as a liner (in my pack) to keep my stuff dry. The only things I carried on the slack pack was the pack itself with its rain cover on, my sandwich and chips from the deli, one full liter of water, a Gatorade, some skittles, my bug net and bug spray, my rain jacket, toilet paper, my wallet, a headlamp, and my garmin GPS tracker for emergencies. Everything else was in the trash bag, left on Cholula’s car.

I ate a quick breakfast of peanut butter mini bagels.. I’m so sick of those bagels already. When I resupply I’ll have to try something new again. And at a beautiful 6:27am, Cholula pulled into the driveway. I grabbed my stuff and headed outside, man I was happy to see her! It had been too long!
Once I was inside, we drove 5 minutes up the road and picked up TBird, TownLegs, and TieDye. Then began the trek to the other side of the mountain. Today, we slack packed the AT south over Mount Moosilauke, which means we basically got driven ahead and hiked back to where we just were.

I was a ball of anxious energy on the way there. Excitement mixed with concern, because everyone we’ve recently talked to had said that Moosilauke is a beast and it’s dangerous when wet and the climbs and descents are super steep and not to be taken lightly. Even the sign once we started going warned hikers of this part’s difficultly. Good gracious.

Well, it started off mesmerizing. And while it did rain all night and everything was saturated and soaked, it wasn’t currently raining. And it was cooler. And the bugs were in hiding.. so we were off to a great start! The first mile and a half was uphill and while it was tricky and required careful consideration for foot placement, it was beautiful! There was a huge waterfall that just kept going and going, so it’s beauty easily distracted me from the difficulty of the climb.
It was purposefully cautiously slow going for the whole bit up the waterfall section. Some of the rock faces were so slick that the trail maintenance people put up wooden steps and rebar in areas to safely maneuver. Wood is very slippery when wet, if ya didn’t know lol. Somehow I made it without an all the way fall, although I did trip up a few times.

The four of us made it to the shelter that’s a mile and a half from the summit. We stopped in to have a privy and snack break. Once I was stopped, I got super cold. It was misty and chilly up there. So, I cut my break short and decided to head on up the rest of the way to get warm again. I knew I wasn’t ready to put my jacket on with more climbing to do, so best to keep it moving.

Once I got back on the trail, a hiker I met last night at the hostel, IceBear came barreling up. The man is FAST. When he came up on me he asked if he could hike behind me to help slow up his pace, lol, otherwise he’d “rush through the whole thing.” I made sure he realized that I wasn’t planning on picking up my pace any just because he was behind me, and told him to let me know when he was ready to pass me. He said that’s exactly what he was hoping for. Cool.

We chatted the whole way up. That’s how ya know I wasn’t carrying a full pack! I could talk while hiking uphill with rocks and boulders and mud to dodge, climb, and maneuver around. It was such a free feeling! To be able to move without any restrictions! At a sign we realized we were 0.4 miles from the summit.. and then maybe 0.1 miles later, the trees dropped off and we were on a gorgeous mountain top with fine grasses and a rocky path marked with cairns! It was stunning! I was so overjoyed that I literally felt a flutter of happiness rush up through my chest.

We were in the clouds though, so everything had a white fog around it. Through that dense fog I could see a hiker walking towards us.. the person was far away, but I could make out the thin frame and the trekking poles.. as they got closer, I just KNEW it was Lizard! I squealed a little and IceBear thought I was losing my mind with all the noise I had been making up to this point.. you know, the sounds you make from pure delight. I waited until I was sure before I screamed her name.. once she recognized me back, she screamed mine, and we attempted to “run” towards each other for a hug.. I say attempted because the rock path was anything but smooth.. lol

We stood on that mountain top catching up long enough to where both of us had chattering teeth, IceBear left me, and we dropped our packs to dig out our rain jackets for warmth. It was so worth it! We talked about our plans for the whites, as she has family coming to do the same section with her that Andrea is coming to do with me. And we’re going to start the same day! I hope we all run into each other out there 🙂 maybe we’ll even stay at the same shelter!

Anyway. After we decided it was too cold to stay up there standing still, she headed her way and I continued on to the actual summit.. which is where I ran into DoubleDecker and Smiles! They got a picture of me at the summit marker. We chatted a few minutes, and then went opposite directions, too! Then I was going downhill, and shortly after I reached the tree line I ran back into IceBear and another hiker he knew.

After that chatty session, IceBear followed me down the mountain.. talking the whole way! He’s quite an interesting guy, with a unique but fascinating way of living life in the moment. His girlfriend was back at the hostel we stayed at last night, she flew in to visit him once she was out of school (she’s a teacher in the Bahamas) but didn’t want to hike this crazy of a mountain today. I don’t blame her! They met while he was sailing.. he lives on a sailboat in Key West. The man had me utterly entertained.

I felt like I was slowing him way down, but I still took my time with my foot placement. We’re talking 5 miles of rocky descent. It was definitely way easier to manage it while being this light though, truly. Each downward step didn’t put tons of pressure on my knees the way it does with a full pack.

We talked and talked and then, out of no where we were coming to a field and then a road. Holy crap! I was basically done! We did the road walk to the shelter that we picked up my other slack packing friends from. I used the privy and said bye to IceBear, he headed on to the hostel.. and then I walked back to the main road. Mainly because the bugs were eating me up now that it was warmer and the sun was starting to shine, the other reason being to make up the missed mile from not walking to the shelter last night.

I was walking back when TBird showed up, she walked to the parking lot and then came back to the road I was at. She didn’t want to shorten her hike either lol. We ate our lunches sitting on the side of a road. Maybe 30 minutes later, TieDye and TownLegs appeared. We hung out a bit and waited for Cholula to come get us.

Cholula picked us up and kindly drove us to our destinations.. TownLegs and TBird had a motel right by the post office they were headed to. Then TieDye had a hotel his wife was meeting him at just down the road from there.. and then there was me. Cholula had to trek me almost 30 minutes north by highway to my hotel. Haha
I chose this hotel because I could book it for free with my Hilton points, and it is a close walk to the rental car place I have to go to in the morning. Win win for me and Andrea, not so much for the getting there part. I felt bad for having her drive so far out of the way, but I paid her for gas & time so I do feel a little better about it.

I checked into my hotel and promptly took a long shower. I love it when they have the good shampoos! And it has a tub, too. So I see a bath in my near future. Instead of doing that then, I got out and put on my sports bra and undies and headed directly to the jacuzzi, which happens to be across from my room! Success!

After soaking in there until the timer went off, I came back to the room, dried off, and headed to get some stuff done. Next door is a strip mall with a Tjmaxx and a store like Sports Authority. I don’t remember what it’s called, but you get the drift. I got a visor from Tjmaxx (I think it’ll be less constricting than a hat-it’s actually the same one TBird has, color and all-we’re twins now lol), and then a lightweight Under Armor long sleeve shirt to hike in that will protect my arms from the sun.. everyone says the White Mountains have so much sun exposure, so better to be safe than sorry. When I finished shopping, I went to the Applebee’s in the same shopping center. Talk about convenience!

I sat at the bar and had a margarita, steak, shrimp, potatoes, and broccoli. It was delicious! It’s amazing how incredible everything in town tastes after you’ve been eating tuna and ramen noodles for days. I updated the blog there, while I was just sitting and trying not to eves drop on the other patrons conversations.. little hard not to when you’re not distracted. I chatted with Andrea and we made sure she was good to go with everything she’ll need for the trip. I came back to the room and was in bed asleep before 8:30pm.

Gotta love it when you can fall right to sleep! Today was such a great day. Now, let’s just pray the next slack pack I do is just as successful!