Month: July 2021

I slept incredibly well in my hotel bed.. they seem to be getting more and more comfortable, which may not be such a good thing, hahaha!

I was originally, pre Lyme’s Disease issues, planning to double zero here instead of the zero in Hanover. However, because of that blip, I don’t get to double zero now. The goal was to get the rental car early this morning and then slack pack over the last 17 miles to have me all caught up to the spot where Andrea and I will start the White Mountains together. I’m guessing this slack pack is going to take me anywhere from 10-12 hours, because of the terrain difficultly.

I got up and called the rental place first thing this morning. Actually, that’s a lie, I did it from the bed.. there was no “getting up” involved. I was told I couldn’t get the car any earlier (aka now) because the compact car they plan to rent me hasn’t been returned and cleaned yet. But it would be by 10am, like my reservation says. Ugh.
So, then I got up-and went and did my laundry (that I was supposed to do last night but got too tired after that dinner and margarita). I ate the free continental breakfast while my clothes washed, and decided today will be the zero. My new goal is to do all the things I need to do today, and then get up super dang early in the morning, and be on the trail by 5am for this crazy slack pack hike. There are 3 peaks I have to cross in that 17 miles.. it should be fun. Ha. Then, sometime before I finish I’ll message Cholula my timing.. when I get to the trailhead, she’ll pick me up and drive me back to the car. Depending on how long it takes me, I may get to go shower and change clothes before I drive down to pick up Andrea.. or I may have to haul ass and go straight there. Her flight comes in late-which is the only way this is even possible. So, it all works out.

After my laundry was done I put on my rain clothes and walked (under my umbrella) to the rental car place. It was pouring today, so maybe it was a blessing that my car wasn’t ready. I got there and the man tells me the compact car still isn’t there, but because of that, if I didn’t want to wait any longer, I could have the large SUV for the same price as the compact car. He put me in a Nissan Armada. It is a boat, so it makes sense that it was raining all day! Ha. That thing is HUGE, and I haven’t driven in months. It took me a little bit to get readjusted to vehicle life.. especially such a large one. I was happy about it though, I’d rather this than a dinky little car anyway.

So, I got the car and drove back to the hotel. I had a little bit of online stuff to do for mom to make sure her flights were right and whatnot.. she’s officially coming to Maine when I get there!! I’m super excited to see her! I miss her so much. Once we got all that squared away, I went to the post office to get a package she sent me. It went to a different business, but the post office manager was so kind to walk with me to make sure I got it without issue. Such sweet people up here in Littleton!

I had mom send me my birth control, the ground cloth from my old tent (I really don’t like the piece of plastic the new one has), my thicker weight rain jacket (for wind protection too in the Whites), and a compactor trash bag for Andrea’s pack. We can’t have her sleeping bag and sleep clothes getting wet! And these bags are like cents compared to $50-60 for a dry bag the size of your pack. Ridiculous.

With my goodies in tow, I drove to the hotel TBird and that crew was at.. I picked up DoubleDecker and Smiles and the three of us went to the shoe outfitter. They didn’t have a single pair of shoes that fit me well.. they were either too big, too small, smooshed my toes, or my heels slipped out when walking upstairs. Good God it shouldn’t be this hard to find comfortable shoes!

DoubleDecker got what she needed, socks and whatnot, and then we headed to another store for Smiles. He ran in and we sat in the car. I called REI when I found a store “close” by.. aka a little over an hour away. The lady said she had the shoes I wanted in my size and that she’d hold them for me! Alright alright alright!

We ran through McDonald’s and got all of us food.. $65 later, we were sitting on their hotel room beds about to eat, when we realized everything was there but my Big Mac. Haha. Of course. I hung out a few anyway, and ate my fries. TownLegs has been having shoe trouble too, and was planning to go with me to REI. She called them though and sadly they didn’t have her size in store. So, she ordered them and had them sent ahead.. but she’s still stuck in shoes over a size and a half too big! She was working on finagling them to get her though this next bit until she can get the new ones.

I drove back to McDonald’s and got my Big Mac, the girl was practically waiting for me lol she knew it got left! Once I devoured it, I set the GPS to REI! An hour later, over gorgeous mountain passes with no service, I was in another cute ski town with a huge REI. This has to feel the same way that people feel when they get to heaven and see the pearly gates. Those big wooden handles on the doors just reassure you that you’re about to be saved. From foot pain that is..

The lady had my shoes, still Altras (wide toe box) but the style with more cushion.. I tried the 9 and it was still too big, but the 8.5 were perfect! I walked around the store and actually got so excited I hugged the lady. I know, I’m too much sometimes. But you know what? She said that was the best part of her day.. and mine too! Haha
I also got some stuff to spray on my rain gear to make them more repellent. I got Andrea her fuel (kinda can’t fly with that), and a water resistant pouch that hooks to my pack strap for my phone. Because I guess buying new shoes wasn’t enough.. I miss shopping! Lol

Driving back took an hour and 20 minutes. I was going to go meet Cholula, Curmy, and Derby for dinner, but I was wiped out after all that driving and doing all day, and I still had more to get done. Zeros are supposed to be relaxing, laid up, not moving. I definitely did not do that. Oh well.
I ran by subway and got a sub for tomorrow’s lunch on the mountain. I ate Taco Bell for dinner. Then ran into Walmart and a grocery store to get my resupply for the first 3 days that Andrea is with me. When I got back to the hotel, I sprayed my rain stuff outside (luckily the rain has stopped, for now), then brought it all in and hung it up in the bathroom.

I set to work organizing my gear, food, and stuff for the slack pack. I have a little pile of things for Andrea, stuff she wanted and stuff I hope she wants because I don’t wanna carry it or throw it away. By the time I went though everything, the stuff in the bathroom was mostly dry, so I laid the ground cloth out over a chair and hung the jacket and pack cover in the closet with the door open. I washed out the shower and then took one. I was aiming to take a bath, since I have the tub and I bought some epsom salt for sore muscles.. but sadly the water didn’t feel hot when it was filling up the tub, so I just drained it back out. I can’t sit in lukewarm water. I barely like baths as it is.
Now I’m clean, my stuff is laid out for tomorrow, and everything else is clean and organized so Andrea won’t have to walk into a disaster zone. I have an early early morning, and I’m nervous about it all. I pray it goes well and fast. The quicker I get done, the longer I have to relax before Andrea arrives. I don’t like the idea of rushing and being late to get her.

Anyway, thanks for following along, y’all. Sorry I didn’t take pictures today. I just didn’t think about it. Goodnight! When you’re reading this, I’ll probably be hiking over those mountains.. so, say a quick prayer for me 😉

Start: Kinsman Notch (AT mi 1803.7). Stop: interstate 93 (AT mi 1820). Today’s miles: 16.3 miles. Total AT mileage: 795.3 miles

I was going to come up with something clever to say about today.. but honestly, I don’t have the brain power to come up with something funny when it comes to such a difficult day. It wasn’t my worst day on trail, but believe me-it still sucked.

I got up at 4:10am and quickly got ready to go. I was pulling into the Kinsman Notch trailhead parking lot at 5:08am-and it was pouring rain in sheets across the boat I’m driving. I waited for the worst of it to subside before getting out and using the bathroom at the trailhead. By 5:30am I was on the trail. By 5:32am my new shoes were soaked through. Awesome. I can’t have nice things.

The trail crossed the road I just drove in on, and literally went up. Rocks and mud galore, and so slippery with the current rainy conditions. The sun was rising, but all it did was light up the white clouds I was walking through.. there wasn’t a single view to be had. And, unlike Moosilauke, there wasn’t a waterfall to distract me from the terrain.

Even still, I felt like I was cruising through it well enough. I wasn’t stopping for breathers, my pack was light (with only a sandwich, Gatorade, and water inside it). This couldn’t be as bad as everyone was saying. At 8am, a whole 2.5 hours after starting, I checked my app. I seriously felt like I was making the miles, so when I saw that I had only gone 3.85 miles total in all that time, I was flabbergasted.

A couple miles later, I made it to the top of Mt. Wolf.. at least I think I did because there was no sign and then I saw a little side trail pointing to a “lookout”— seeing how I wouldn’t actually be able to see anything from a lookout, I carried on without making the side trek. I walked through puddle after puddle, slipping and sliding and completely starting to lose hope that I’d finish this slack pack in any type of decent time. The downhills are so hard when they’re wet and muddy, each step is a guess to whether or not you’ll fall to your butt, or roll and ankle, or break a leg. I am happy to announce I just fell to my butt-a whole lot.

I passed a shelter and then some pretty waterfalls off to my left. This was the nicest section of trail. And it was covered in gnats because the rain was finally letting up some. I stopped at 11:45 to eat my lunch by some water.. during that time, 3 people passed me! The first people of the day! I even knew 2 of them! Jola and Towelie! Towelie stayed and chatted with me a bit. Then I followed him up South Kinsman Mountain, “followed” is a loose term here.. I attempted to keep up with him while we talked-but that didn’t last long. The trail turned back into a rock climbing expedition and caused me to pump my breaks. I truly wish I had the right words for you to feel and see what I felt and saw.

I let out quite a slew of cuss words over the course of the day. Frustration mixed with worry about being able to pick up Andrea on time. Coming down South Kinsman was short lived, less than a mile later I was at the top of North Kinsman. The clouds finally started to dissipate right as I was back into the tree line. I’m sure if I made the effort to find the blue blazed trail to the full summit I would have enjoyed it, but I was too focused on the time it was taking me to get anywhere.. no detouring allowed today!

On that five mile descent, somewhere along the way I ran back in to Towelie, he had stayed at the top and enjoyed it, and then we met up with Trippin, the flip flopper I met at the overlook cabin when I had to call a doctor for the Lyme’s disease. Towelie has definitely recovered from his ailments and was flying down trail. I couldn’t tell if Trippin was really struggling as much as me or if she was just being kind to hike slower to stay at my pace-but either way I was so grateful for her! She completely raised my spirits and we chatted and fussed about the terrain together.

We came across our first Hut of the White Mountains. These are places with bunk rooms and huge common areas that the Appalachian Mountain Club staffs. People pay close to $150 or more a night to stay in a hut. You get breakfast, dinner, a bunk and a toilet. The toilets are nicer style privies but you do get clean running water to wash your hands. Most thru hikers avoid staying at these because of the expense, but they definitely are nice! We filled up water, Trippin and Towelie got some baked goods for $1 each. I wasnt feeling up to eating. I just wanted to be done.

So, I headed out without them, knowing they’d both catch me soon enough. Which they did. Towelie kept going and Tripping stayed with me. I had already updated Cholula so she was going to hang out in the parking lot and read until I got to her. I tell this to Trippin, she mentions that there’s a mile side trail I have to take to get to the parking lot.. ugh.. and that her hubby was picking her up on the side of the highway, so she’d have him take me over to Cholula and save me the non AT mile. SWEET!

Towelie came with us, and we walked up to the side of highway 93 and started walking down the ramp exit. Two cars pull up and over.. Cholula and DeepFried, Tippin’s husband! Cholula had decided to come over to try to catch me before I made the trek to the parking lot! Hahaha it worked out perfectly! She took Towelie to his hostel and me back to my car. Trippin and DeepFried headed back to their hotel. It was 5:30pm. It literally took me the whole 12 hours to complete that hike! Jesus.

I was worn out but on a mission. I headed straight back to the hotel, hung up stuff to dry, took a shower, and then walked down to the Applebee’s for a quick dinner. It was already almost 8pm by this point.. the driving to pick up the car and to get back ate away at time like I didn’t expect. I had some chicken tenders and mashed potatoes. It was so stupid good. Trail life really makes you appreciate any food thats not dehydrated.

Once I finished my meal, I started my road trek to get Andrea. It was a 2 hour drive south to Manchester, New Hampshire. It was a straight shot for the most part and I got there just after 10:30. Lauren talked with me on the phone while I drove to keep me awake. I let Andrea know I was in the cellphone lot and going to close my eyes for a while until she called to say she got her bag from baggage claim. I crawled through to the back seat and laid down, set an alarm for 11:11, and fell into a semi-sleep. I got to snooze my alarm a couple times. I was so nervous I’d fall into one of my deep sleeps if I didn’t set that obnoxious alarm.. so this guaranteed I could rest but not go all the way out.

Andrea called at 11:30, I woke up startled and confused.. and then hopped back in the front seat and drove around to get her. I was SO HAPPY to see her standing there with her pack on.. naturally I squealed lol. Once the boat was in park, I jumped out to hug her. I cannot believe that she is here after all this time! I haven’t seen her in forever, and all of our planning finally has come together and we get to hike the White Mountains! Andrea is an ICU nurse, too, so this is just the kind of reset our brains need with such a physically and emotionally draining career.

We talked and caught up on each other’s lives the whole way back, and time seemed to both slow down and speed up.. we picked up right where we left off, and then suddenly I was pulling into the hotel parking lot. We both agreed that we should rest tomorrow (as it’s already almost 2am), and then start the trail the following day. I think after that brutal hike this morning, my body could use the recovery.

We settled into the hotel room, and the time difference had her much more awake than I was. While she wound down and watched some TV, I drifted right to sleep. What a long day! I was almost awake for 24 hours, which is why it’s taken so long to get this post written and uploaded. It was all worth it though. I have my friend with me 🙂

We got to sleep in some this morning, not officially getting up and getting ready until after 9am. It felt so nice to sleep in! I went through the Burger King drive thru for a biscuit and then we took the car back to the rental place. We went in and attempted to bribe the man into agreeing to take us to the trailhead in the morning, instead of today. He said he couldn’t do that without us currently using the rental, but that if wanted we could have the rental another day, then when we return in the morning we could be driven to the trailhead free of charge. Well, ok then.

We kept the car. We drove down to the little downtown section and found a coffee shop/bakery to go in. Afterwards, we walked around a little bit before heading to the grocery store to grab some stuff for today and in the morning. We were back at the hotel and getting into the jacuzzi before 11:30am.

It was fantastic. We relaxed, floated, swam in the pool a bit, then got back in the jacuzzi. Today was just what my body needed. A real recovery day. Stretching and soaking. Soaking and swimming. I could have stayed in there all day. Except, we did have some stuff to do. We did a load of laundry so our stuff we swam in would be clean and dry.. along with the clothes I hiked in yesterday-especially those socks. Yikes.

We laid around the room and then sat outside awhile. We walked to Walmart across the street so I could get a new sponge. Then came back and decided we might as well have an early dinner.. so we drove over to the Mexican restaurant downtown. It was cute, but the food was bland. Don’t get me wrong, I ate all of my enchiladas regardless, like it was definitely doable, for sure, but not somewhere I’d want to back to. I would say I wouldn’t write home about it, but here I am writing to you about it now. Ha.

We got to the hotel and started packing and organizing our stuff to make tomorrow morning easier. We took turns showering. I got some Irish Spring soap because my Aunt Faye showed me a thing on Facebook saying it helped keep flies away. I’ll try anything to make that happen! So, we bathed with a new bar of that, and I cut some off to take with me on the trail. I’m planning to rub it behind my ears to attempt to keep those boogers away!

Now we’re laying in our beds, chillin. And sort of getting hungry again and debating on putting forth the effort to go get something else or not. LOL. Also, I’ve forgotten to take pictures, mainly because I’m so happy Andrea is here that I don’t like turning my attention to my phone, so I’ve just not picked it up much. It’s actually pretty nice, you know, to just enjoy the moment.

Anyway, I may fall asleep before we decide on getting more food. We’ll see what happens. Wish us luck tomorrow, it’s going to be a doozy Im sure.