The Unpolished Princess

Start: Nauman Tentsite (AT mi 1854.1). Stop: Mount Madison Stealth Site (AT mi 1867.5) Today’s miles: 13.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 842.8 miles

Man oh man oh man. What a day. I got up at 6:25am, packed, ate my breakfast by the bear box and headed out to the hut. I got some fresh water and used their bathroom. Before I knew it, it was 7:20. My morning routine has gotten rusty.

I hit the trail and it immediately went straight up a root and rock obstacle course to the top of Mount Pierce. It was beautiful up there, and off in the distance, I could see Mount Washington. I still had a little ways to go to get there, but it was going to happen! The skies were blue and every head turn gave another view of mountains upon mountains in the distance.

Roughly 4 miles later, across more rocky, hand over foot climbing, craziness, I came upon the Lake of the Clouds Hut. I went inside and had a cup of coffee and a piece of coffee cake. The staff at this hut were so kind and chatted with all the people coming and going. The White Mountains have these huts for people to pay for lodging over night while hiking, but there are way more trails than just the Appalachian Trail going through there. So, these huts are also great places for day hikers, section hikers, thru hikers to stop in and warm up or have a snack or just take a load off for a few.

I waited until a cloud went by before heading out to start the summit of Mount Washington. It’s only a mile and a half from the hut, and it was the best part of the Whites for me. The trail was rocky, but easy stepping rocks at gradual inclines-no hefting yourself up and over anything ridiculous. I made it to the summit by 12:30 and stood in line to get my picture taken at the summit sign. Yes, there was a line.. there was people everywhere! Multiple trails led to this mountain, but also so did a road to drive up on and cog train, too.

I went inside the gift shop desperately looking for chapstick. My face and lips felt wind burnt.. I was wearing my visor, but it could be some sunburn, too. They didn’t sell any, so instead I decided on checking out the food. I dropped my pack by a table at the back of the room and proceeded to the line. I ran into a guy, James, I had talked to at the hut earlier this morning. I told him about the lack of chapstick, and I’ll be-he literally gave me his extra one! How flipping nice! I thanked him profusely and then went to the line for some chili.

I got a bowl of chili and a Powerade. While standing there, the lady behind me in line, who I now know is Vickie, started chatting and asking questions about what I was doing.. I tell her my story, and she lets me know that hiking the AT is a dream for her and her husband. When I get to the front of the line to pay, still chatting with her-Vickie pays for my stuff! Oh my goodness! Twice I’ve been met with incredible kindness within like 20 minutes! The trail most definitely provides, and it surrounds you with the people it knows your soul needs.

I ate my chili and basked in its warmth. It was getting close to 1:15 and I still had to go down Washington, up and over 2 other blips, and then up and down Madison-the treacherous one known for a dangerous sharp rock climb down. The trail right outside of Washington was gorgeous. Views upon views of the ridge lines, the mountains I’ve hiked and the ones I’m coming up too. This is the Presidential Range, and it is jaw dropping. My hands were numb, and potentially burnt either from the wind or sun or both.. but they stung and tingled so much my thumbs were having a hard time holding my poles.

I passed the people on the train and continued on. At some point I got off trail and only realized it when the cairns were so far apart that it didn’t make sense.. I thought I was slightly off trail, turned out I was about a mile down the wrong trail and going down the wrong side of Mount Jefferson. Oh hell. I boulder hop my way back to the actual trail, completely drained and mad at myself for making such a silly mistake. Sometimes when I’m rock hopping I keep my head down, focused on the next rock.. so more times than I’d like to admit I end up going too far one way or the other instead of straight with the turns of the trail.

It took me flat out forever to make it to Madison Spring Hut. It was the hut right before you go up and over Mount Madison. It was 6:45 at night and I was exhausted, my fingers were throbbing and stinging, and I was hungry to boot. I walk inside to ask about reserving a bunk in the hut. Most hikers don’t stay in them because of how crazy expensive they are.. $145 ish per person. And there are no showers. You get the bunk (no linen), dinner that night, breakfast the next morning, and bathrooms that have toilet paper already in them.

The girl asks her hut leader about me wanting to stay, and I’m told, “we aren’t allowing walk ins right now.” I make sure they realize that I’m not asking to stay for free, that I’m wanting to pay full price-and they don’t need to feed me, I have food.. “sorry, we can’t.” I offer to Venmo them specifically. Still no. She tells me I can hike down the valley 0.7 miles off trail and camp there. I tell her my tent is still soaked, it hasn’t had time to dry out yet. “Sorry.”

I was mind blown and so hurt that people can be so hateful to someone in need. I walked outside and start to tear up as I realize that it’s already 7pm, the sun is going to be behind Mount Madison soon. Very soon. As I’m getting my stuff, another thru hiker asks, “they turned you away, too?” I confirm and tell him I guess I’ll go to that campsite, another hiker chimes in, “it’s more like 1.5 miles, just so you know.” Jesus Christ.

I ask the first hiker his plan. He had my original plan of hiking up and over Madison and looking for a stealth site at the tree line once off the ridge. I tell him my fears: I’ve never night hiked before, I’m scared of this descent, I’m freezing cold and my tent is wet, and I’m mostly afraid I’m going to make a go for it and either get stuck OR get to the tree line and have no stealth spots left. He takes in all my panic and tells me to just take it slow, watch my footing most importantly, and go ahead and get out my headlamp now so I don’t have to take my pack off in a sketchy section of trail if the daylight leaves me. The rest-we worry about later. He said he’d scout the tree line and try to find us both spots. Damn I love hikers.

I’ve gotten myself so worked up that I’m close to tears and out of breath from the ascent up rocks to Mount Madison. I had to actually stop myself and say out loud, “calm down, you’re definitely going to get hurt if you allow yourself to overreact. You’re fine. People night hike these mountains all the time. Slow your breathing and pay attention.” The whole time I was talking to myself, my breathing slowed and the tears dried. And then there was nothing else to do but get somewhere.

I got to the top of Madison rather quickly and thought I was going down the steep downhill, but it just kept turning into more ridge line. Rocks on rocks on boulders.. one wrong step and you can kiss your tibia goodbye. I had to use my hands so much and sit and slide down for better footing, that I put my phone in a zippered compartment to make sure I wouldn’t drop it off the mountainside. Wouldn’t that have been the icing on the cake?

I was going down the billionth “steep down to a new ridge line” thing, begging the tree line to appear, when a hiker came up behind me. We were almost to the point of needing our headlamps, just a slight greyish dusk was left in the sky. He said he was friends with the guy ahead of me, and that he was planning to either stealth, make it to the campsite at the bottom (another 2 miles) or potentially just hike all the way to Pinkham Notch (the road). After he heard my plans, I sort of think he purposely didn’t take a stealth spot to leave it for me.

This hiker, Hambone I think was his name, is a fast guy.. but for the most terrifying drops of that part of the trail in the almost dark, he slowed up to keep an eye on me. He never said this, and it’s not like he was close enough to talk with me, but when he could have easily sailed on those ridges, he’d slow to pace I was certain was only to make sure I made it off the last rocky bits to the ridge part safely. Even if it wasn’t intentional, I was so damn grateful for him. I knew if I fell, someone was nearby to hear me. That alone gave me comfort.

A little after 9pm I made it to the tree line. I had been hiking with my headlamp for maybe 30 minutes and I was thrilled to know it was actually pretty bright to see the whole trail and up ahead some too. I was starting to search for anything that looked remotely flat seconds after passing the first tree. At 9:15, a man’s voice says, “hey, is that you?” Lol.. uh.. I stop immediately and try to figure out where he’s at. Off to my left a little but I can’t see him.. “it’s PBS..” “ah, I didn’t know your name. Im Wolverine. There’s a site just big enough for one to your right.” I’ll be damned if he didn’t make sure to scout me out a site!

It was mostly flat, and as I pull out my wet tent, I realize it won’t fit there regardless of how wet or dry it is. I was starting to come to terms with the idea that I might be cowboy camping for the first time tonight, too.. which just means sleeping out under the stars without any shelter. Then, another hiker appears, Wolverine makes room for him over on his side of the trail. He had to cowboy camp, too.

So, I put my ground cloth down.. blow up my air mattress and quickly put on all my warm clothes. I was so cold. I get down in my quilt inside my liner, and then realize I haven’t eaten dinner. Ugh.. I ate some chips because I was far too exhausted to attempt to cook anything. I close my food bag and leave it just to the side of me, and prop my umbrella up over my head like I do in my tent to help shield the wind off the mountain.
And then I tried to sleep. Tried and tried and tried. My hands were cold but also burnt.. so when they’d warm up it felt like that were catching fire. Nothing could touch them. Trying to sleep on your side is difficult without having your hands wrapped up or wedged somewhere. They were way too cold to even pretend I was going to type this blog post up.. lol

I’m pretty sure every hiker that camped there regretted it. I moved all night long. I was literally so physically spent, but could not for the life of me let the sleep win. I did finally get some decent rest (off and on still) from about 2:30-6:00. But ya know what? I did two things I had never done before: night hiked and cowboy camped. I survived Mount Washington and Madison. I didn’t break anything or get hurt or succumb to the elements. As absolutely stressful and terrifying as it was, I’m damn proud of myself for getting it done and keeping safe thoughts while doing so.

And with that, I’ll tell y’all goodnight 🙂

Start:US 302 (AT mi 1847.7). Stop: Nauman Tentsite (AT mi 1854.1). Today’s miles: 6.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 829.4 miles

Alrighty then, back to regularly scheduled blogging. Lol

Andrea and I had a wonderful time in Bar Harbor and Portland, Maine.. coming back to the trail after perfect red wines, oysters, beautiful Oceanside sunsets, and spending time with one of my most favorite people on earth was a bit sad for me. But overall, today was a good and successful day-even if I am writing that while listening to none other than RAIN on my tent. LMAO. Gotta love the trials of the trail, they humble you quite quickly.

I’ll start from the beginning though. I got up around 6:45am to a showered and mostly packed Andrea. She had gotten up earlier to get a workout in at the gym of the very nice waterfront hotel we stayed in while in Portland for the night. (For the record, I hiked one-less than 2 mile hike-and no other “workout” was had by me the whole 8 days I was “off” and I have no regrets. Hahaha). I got ready and we left the hotel by 7:15-maybe even a little earlier. Andrea was ok with me dropping her off early to I could attempt an earlier start to my day. I was (and am) so grateful to her for that.

I dropped her off to begin her almost 20 hours of travel time back to Reno, and then headed north to Littleton, New Hampshire. The almost 3 hour drive was another long drive of backroads and 2 lane highways. I thought for sure leaving Portland I’d be on interstate. I was wrong. Instead I was met with round-a-bout after round-a-bout for awhile, then slow small town roads with tractor trailers in front of me. I took it as a sign to slow down and enjoy the drive-so I started back listening to “The Book of Joy” by the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond TuTu, and Douglas Abrams. I had started in during our trip, and quickly became entranced by it.

I stopped at the Littleton post office and sent my mom the dress I bought while in Bar Harbor, and then headed to the grocery store to get fresh bread for my lunches and new water bottles. When I got to the rental car return, my ride was waiting for me. I was early, but Jerry with Ali’s Taxi Rides was earlier. Jerry chatted with me the whole 40 minutes to the trailhead. He’s from Ireland and was such a joy to listen to. I don’t know if it was from the book or just because Jerry is that great all the time, but I was sad when he pulled into the parking lot and it was time to get my day officially started. I could listen to him talk all day long.

After he pulled out of the parking lot, I sat on the ground and put my socks and shoes on. There’s something about not wanting to wear those things a second longer than necessary, and I was not about to either drive while wearing them or take the 40 minute ride wearing them either. With shoes on and pack packed, I had no real choice but to get a move on. It was just after 12, sunny, and in the late 70s. The trail started off nice enough, with slow rolling hills pretending to be switchbacks up to the start of what we’d expect in the White Mountains. After maybe a mile of that pleasant terrain, the trail turned back into the rock scramble I had been expecting.

It was 3 miles to Mount Webster and I had the most stunning views all around me. I was simply mesmerized. THESE are the views that the White Mountains promise! And I FINALLY got to appreciate them! The wind was whipping around and then, in the distance, I could see Mount Washington. The second highest peak on the trail, the highest I’ll have reached so far once I summit it tomorrow. All around it were clouds-and then came some sprinkles. Lovely. Who doesn’t just adore sliding down rock faces in the rain?

The sprinkles only threatened to become disastrous for about 2 hours-but then it actually started to rain. Luckily it was after I had gotten over the rest of the little summits and was walking through boggy areas before reaching the hut and campsite area. I took my time (as always), I stopped for pictures and videos and rest breaks. I didn’t make it to camp until almost 6pm. Lol-6 hours for 6.4 miles.. yikes! But, to be fair-it was my first day back to lugging a pack-full of food-and every muscle in my body was reminding me of the time off I had gotten used to. My knees were a bit unforgiving as well. I did end up finishing my audiobook, and I have to say, even with the struggles of the day and being sore on day one legs-I was happy and smiling through it all. I’m meant to be out here.

I set my tent up in the rain. And it’s already got some water in one of the corners. I’m pretty annoyed with my set up and I think I may need to consider splurging on a different-Dynema-aka waterproof-tent. And then just use this one until that one comes in. It’s becoming so increasingly frustrating that this tent won’t stay dry inside-now even minutes after setting it up. Ok-rant over-I never pretended I was enlightened or monk like-I just enjoyed the book.

I went to the hut and filled my water bottle, then ate my dinner on a log under a tarp by the bear box. Two young women came up and sat under there with me, chatting. I really love it when I meet people that are fun and interesting. LifeGuard and ShowMan are hiking from Maine to Georgia, so SOBO, and were full of useful and entertaining information. For instance, besides giggling about their commentary of a weird SOBO cult currently hiking and sharing money, they told me about the 21 mile slack pack over the wildcats. I had originally planned to do this. Then, with the increasing difficulty of the White’s, I decided not to.. Towelie had told us of some people that didn’t get back until 11pm! AT NIGHT.
But-all that said-these two made me think it might be a real contender again. That with the lighter pack it’ll be easier than splitting it into 2 days. I’m just so scared I’d be the one that doesn’t show up until 11pm. I’m going to see how tomorrow goes and then decide the following day if it’ll be a short hike to the road to go to the hostel that will slack pack me, or if I’ll just keep hiking on and camp 6 miles into the Wildcats, which is what Lizard ended up doing.

So, now I’m laying in my tent listening to the people around me talking to each other about the trail and what to expect coming up. Tomorrow I’ll be going over Mount Washington and Mount Madison-and I’ll be able to gauge my timing and if I think I’m able to do the slack pack or if it’s not worth the stress. I’m happy to be back at it.. hopefully I’ll feel the same way come morning time.. haha. Goodnight, y’all.

So, I haven’t made it to day 82 yet, but I’m not planning on blogging while Andrea and I explore Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor and Portland, Maine. This is hopefully going to explain the last couple days and then I’ll have a little break from the blogging daily life.

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 7am and quickly got everything packed and ready to go. We were both ready to go by 8am, but our ride didn’t show. The trail angel, Ziggy, messaged me at 8:45am and said his vehicle was having trouble and he hadn’t been able to leave yet. He gave me another number for someone else to try. I took this as a sign.

While we were sitting and waiting, I kept compulsively checking the weather. That day looked great, but it looked like thunderstorms would be rolling in over night, temperatures would drop into the 40s, and the following day (the day I would be summiting Mount Washington-the one place known for wind speeds up to 200 miles per hour and quickly changing weather) would be raining and thunderstorms throughout the day. If I went up, I’d be camping that night, camping on a ridge the following night, and doing a boulder scramble down Mount Madison in slick conditions to town.

I had started to settle on the idea that this just isn’t a safe plan I was making, and definitely not an enjoyable one at all. I was only wanting to hike those three days to stay on a schedule, and the whole point of hiking the Appalachian trail is to enjoy the journey, not to create rules for yourself that must be followed or “else.”

I got a message from FarOut and then I called her. She agreed that the weather for the following day didn’t look good for Mount Washington. And not only because of the obvious danger of being caught in a thunderstorm on top of a 12 mile exposed ridge line, but because we’ve worked this hard, hiked over 800 miles to get to this point-the supposedly best views on the Appalachian trail- and I’d be making a climb to have guaranteed zero views. What’s even the point? She also made a comment that stuck with me: “Self Care is more important than your pride.” Nail. On. The. Head.

With all of that in my head, by the time I got the late text, I knew it was a sign that I needed to just take this time and enjoy spending it with Andrea while she’s here, and then pick up where I left off when I get back from our trip. Cholula ended up coming to pick us up and drove us to Gorham, New Hampshire, the town I was supposed to be walking into 3 days from now that Andrea had already booked 2 nights in-that was non refundable.

They let us check in early, which was nice. I decided to check my reservation for the rental car so I could see about getting it a day early. The number to the Avis location wasn’t a real number. The “map” didn’t correspond to an actual Avis location at all. I panic, realizing we don’t actually have real reservation. I call Orbitz, the company I booked the car through-they couldn’t find the reservation even though I was telling it to them while looking at it-and then I got hung up on. Cool.

Andrea and I kick into gear and start calling any and everyone trying to find a car. Otherwise the whole dang trip is a bust. The one and only place that has a car in the “area” is literally back in Littleton, New Hampshire where I rented the previous car. Ok, then. Cholula says she’ll take us there to get it when we can, but then it’s a matter of how to get back to the trail from there.

We start messaging and calling people. One taxi service quoted me $200 to take me all of 41 minutes to trail. Seriously? After almost another hour of making calls to disconnected numbers and taxidermists, I finally got a response from a lady that Ziggy had text me this morning.. she says she’ll put me in her calendar and only charge me $50 to take me back to trail from the Enterprise. I half think this will fall through, but I’m going to keep praying on it that this lady will show up that day and keep her word. Cholula won’t be an option because she will be up in Maine, and then DeepFried is going home for a few weeks while Trippin hikes to Katahdin before coming back to do the southern half of the trail with her. This lady is my only reasonable option.

Anyway. We ended up eating lunch with Cholula and she stayed and hung out with us. We had a great time, talking, sharing some wine, and watching movies. This morning we all went to breakfast and Beaver came and joined us, he’s unexpectedly having to zero here, too, because he’s waiting on a package that hasn’t shown up yet. We’ll hang out here today, get the car tomorrow, then head to the coast for some R&R, ocean views, and hopefully some puffin sightings.

So, this is where I’ll leave you guys for now. I’ll be back on trail July 27th and I’ll be updating once I have service following that day. This will be the nice reset I’ve been needing. I love y’all!