Appalachian Trail - Day 129 - Hall Mountain to Bemis Mountain

Day: 129

Date: Thursday, 31 August 2023

Start:  Hall Mountain (AT Mile 1947.3)

Finish:  Bemis Mountain (AT Mile 1960.1)

Daily Kilometres:  18.9 (Ascent 4656', Descent 4465')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  3195.9

Weather:  Cool and sunny.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts 

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

Aches:  Dave - left knee sore and other niggles; Julie - head and neck injuries after she slipped going downhill and fell head first into a tree trunk driven by the weight of her pack resulting in a goose egg lump on her head, a bloody forehead and sore neck.

Highlight:  None really

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We got away at about 6:45am with a wet tent from rain overnight.  We were hoping to cover about 16 miles today but after the first 4.5 miles took nearly four hours we became more pessimistic.

We had two slow, steep and technical ascents and descents, the second over Moody Mt (2379'), and the ford of knee-deep Black Brook that cost time because Dave didn't want to get his boots and socks more wet than they already were, so crossed in his camp shoes.

After a breakfast break on the other side of the brook, warming up in the sun, we followed the trail steeply up to Old Blue Mt (3600'), another slow climb with some good views on the way up.  However, most of the time we were in mossy, gnarly and boggy conifer forest and there were no views from the summit.  It was on the descent from Old Blue Mt that Julie had a nasty fall (see above), though she resumed hiking almost immediately.

We took a mid-afternoon break at a lookout and reassessed our day's plan, deciding to head for some tentsites on Bemis Mt, which we reached around 6:30pm.  It was a cold evening and we set up camp, washed and ate as quickly as we could so we could get into the warmth of our tent and sleeping bags.  Autumn is coming!

Maine is wearing us both down and neither of us is really enjoying it so far.  Maybe we were too ambitious in our schedule, but it has also been historically boggy on the trail after record summer rains and this has slowed us down and made the hiking less pleasant.  From his position in the rear, Dave can hear Julie regularly cursing as she sinks ankle-deep in mud once again.  We may need to add a few days to our schedule to make life easier.

Appalachian Trail - Day 128 - Grafton Notch to Hall Mountain

Day: 128

Date: Wednesday, 30 August 2023

Start:  Grafton Notch (AT Mile 1931.0)

Finish:  Hall Mountain (AT Mile 1947.3)

Daily Kilometres:  24.8 (Ascent 5597', Descent 4459')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  3177.0

Weather:  Rained most of the morning and into the early afternoon then mostly cloudy with a late shower.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Muffins 

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

Aches:  Dave - left knee sore and other niggles; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  Maybe getting back into double figures in our daily mileage.  The day was a mix of reasonable trail and some very technical trail, combined with some slippery (in the rain) rock slab ascents and descents and a total elevation gain of over 5500', so we were reasonably happy with 16+ miles.

Lowlight:  Some very heavy rain in the morning had us both soaked for most of the day.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Kevin, the motel co-owner, was ready as promised to drive us back to the trailhead at 6:00am and we were hiking by around 6:30am on a grey, but dry, morning.

The ascent up Baldpate Mountain was more gradual than recent climbs and on better trail, which had us both feeling a little more positive.  However, the promised rain arrived around 9:30am and stayed with us for most of the morning with an occasional break.  Baldpate Mountain was largely bare rock, and a bit slippery, but despite the weather we did get some impressive views, made more so by the low cloud shrouding some of the surrounding mountains.

After Baldpate, we descended on reasonable, but very wet trail, passing the rushing Dunn Cascades en route before taking a late lunch break in a gap in the rain.  We then descended further to pass the picturesque Surplus Pond and begin our last climb for the day to the summit of Wyman Mountain where we hoped to find a tentsite.  But, alas, the only one we saw was already taken and we ended up hiking another 1.5 miles in diminishing light until we reached some tentsites near Hall Mountain Lean-to around 7:45pm, later than we would have liked.

We had pretty much set up camp by headlamp, washed and were ready to start eating dinner when it began to rain again, so we ate in the tent.  The last forecast we heard was for some dry sunny days ahead and we are looking forward to that.

Appalachian Trail - Day 127 - Mahoosuc Notch to Grafton Notch

Day: 127

Date: Tuesday, 29 August 2023

Start:  Mahoosuc Notch (AT Mile 1923.9)

Finish:  Grafton Notch (AT Mile 1934.0)

Daily Kilometres:  9.2

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  3152.2

Weather:  Rain overnight then some fog clearing to mild and mostly sunny.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  Trail mix 

  Dinner:  Bacon cheeseburger & fries, ice-cream & cheesecake.

Aches:  Dave - exhausted and the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  Finishing the Mahoosucs, a ruggedly beautiful mountain range, but very hard work for hiking.

Lowlight:  Dave was struggling from the outset of the day's hiking with fatigue from yesterday's hike which culminated in the energy-sapping traverse of Mahoosuc Notch.  Compounding his misery, he had a fall near the end of the day which took some skin off and slightly bent the bottom of one of his new trekking poles.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

After the blog was completed last night, as we were settling down to sleep, someone approached our tent with a headlamp and asked who we were.  It turned out to be a young South African thru-hiker we have got to know (along with his Swedish girlfriend … they met on the trail) over the last week or so who was camped a quarter of a mile further up the trail at a designated tenting area and was concerned when we had not turned up there after our transition of the Mahoosuc Notch.  They had seen that we were slow and that Dave was struggling with the difficult technical trail and were worried about our welfare.  How thoughtful and kind was that!

It rained from soon after we went to bed until the early hours so we woke to a very wet tent fly sheet and sopping wet surrounding vegetation.  On the plus side, it was not raining as we packed up and we were hiking before 6:30am and straight into our first climb of the day up to Mahoosuc Arm (3765'),  It was steep long and technical and Dave was soon lagging behind, still fatigued from yesterday.

We took a break at the top, from which there were excellent views, after 2.5 hours to cover two miles and discussed our situation.  We had another big climb soon, after a steep descent, to the shoulder (4026') of Old Speck Mountain, so it seemed likely to be another low-mileage day, especially with Dave struggling.  We resolved to continue on and make a decision after Old Speck.

Before climbing Old Speck, we descended to the beautiful Speck Pond, crossing a beaver dam at its outlet.  Our timing was good because almost immediately thereafter cloud blew in and  the pond was covered in fog.

The climb up Old Speck also seemed endless and steeply technical, so no increase in hiking speed (and no views at the top).  On the way down, we decided to call a motel at Bethel, 20 miles from Grafton Notch where we would soon cross a road, to see if they had a room available.  Not only did they have a room, but they offered to pick us up from the trailhead.  Our thinking was that a short day and soft bed would help Dave recover and it also allowed us to augment our food, which we had been rationing because of the decision yesterday to take an extra day to Rangeley (and our next day off) because of our slow progress.  Also, rain, heavy at times, is forecast for overnight and tomorrow morning, so avoiding starting the day with a wet pack-up had a lot of appeal.

We reached Grafton Notch after a very long, but not so steep, relatively, descent at 2:00pm.  Unexpectedly, there was some "trail magic" treats being offered to thru-hikers by three "trail angels".  We were reluctant to eat/drink the treats because we were heading into town, but did spend a pleasant 30 minutes chatting to them in the sun until our ride to Bethel arrived.  Kevin, the motel co-owner, also offered us cold drinks, and turned out to be a great fan of Bluey, the Australian animated series, from which he retold funny stories which had stayed with him.  He was also a fan of, and knowledgeable about, Australian movies so we had a good chat on the drive to the motel.

We checked in around 3:00pm and gave our laundry to Ruthie, the other co-owner, who insisted that she would do it.  The motel is excellent value and located in the centre of the small town which is a ski resort in the winter with the Sunday River ski field nearby.

After showers, sorting out our laundry and drying our tent, Julie went to the pub for a drink with the South African/Swedish couple who were so concerned about us last night and who had come into town to resupply but are returning to the trail this evening.

Later, Julie bought some take-out hamburgers for dinner and we had an early night.  Kevin will shuttle us back to the trailhead at 6:00am tomorrow so that we get in three full days hiking to maximise our chances of getting to Rangeley in good time on Friday.

Appalachian Trail - Day 126 - Mt Success to Mahoosuc Notch

Day: 126

Date: Monday, 28 August 2023

Start:  Mt Success (AT Mile 1915.1)

Finish:  Mahoosuc Notch (AT Mile 1923.9)

Daily Kilometres:  12.6 (Ascent 2438', Descent 3442')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  3143.0

Weather:  Mild and sunny all day

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts 

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

Aches:  Dave - exhausted and the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  Crossing into Maine, our last state on our Appalachian Trail journey.

Lowlight:  Only 8.8 miles today, despite our best efforts.  The trail has just been too hard, twisting and turning, up and down, roots, rocks and bogs.  And it took us three hours to cover the one mile of trail through the infamous Mahoosuc Notch, where you have to navigate your way through, around, under and over massive jagged boulders that have fallen from the walls of the gorge over the eons.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We were hiking by 6:30am with some apprehension about the difficulty of the trail and particularly Mahoosuc Notch (see above).  But first, we passed the New Hampshire/Maine border which was a cause for minor celebration as we entered our last State on our long journey.

It was a beautiful day for hiking and we had some fantastic views from the open summits of the mountains we crossed, but the difficulty of the trail dominated our thoughts.  It was just very hard and quite stressful in places.  Many times we had to ascend or descend steep rocky slabs hanging onto whatever roots, branches or rocks that were available and hoping that our shoes did not slip from their toeholds.  It was an exercise in risk management and our risk appetite was low.  Neither of us, and particularly Dave, is as agile as we used to be, so great care was taken but, even then, we had our little slips and gasps.  Mahoosuc Notch was extremely taxing and exhausting.

We set out yesterday with five days of food and plans to have Friday off in Rangeley but, as the day wore on, we became increasingly skeptical that we would make it on time.  In the end, Dave called the inn where we had a booking and deferred, by a day, our booking with some difficulty because it is a long weekend.  Ultimately, the Australian charm worked and they found a room.

That took the time pressure off our hiking, but it now means we have to stretch our remaining food for an extra day, which we can do, but Dave will be hungry.

We reached Mahoosuc Notch around 3:00pm, a bit later than hoped and then it took three hours to traverse, also longer than hoped.  We found it all a bit demoralising.  We feel like we are in the home stretch with our hike and are keen to log up the miles, but terrain and trail like this never lets you walk normally and the miles pass very slowly.

At the end of the Notch traverse we found a tentsite near the trail and set up camp around 6:15pm, somewhat relieved to have the Notch and some more mountains behind us, but fearing we have more of the same ahead this week.

Appalachian Trail - Day 125 - US Route 2 to Mt Success

Day: 125

Date: Sunday, 27 August 2023

Start:  US Route 2 (AT Mile 1900.0)

Finish:  Mt Success (AT Mile 1915.1)

Daily Kilometres:  22.5 (Ascent 5951', Descent 3550')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  3130.4

Weather:  Mild, humid and partly sunny with some light showers.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Motel continental breakfast 

  Lunch:  Ham & cheese subs

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

Aches:  Dave - left knee sore and some other niggles; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  When we finally reached the summit of Mt Success (3565') in the late afternoon we had great views to the east, south and west, including to Mt Washington.

Lowlight:  So many candidates.  Our booked shuttle for 6:30am never turned up and wouldn't answer their phone, so we had to hitch-hike back to the trailhead which cost us some time.  The bogs were deep and unavoidable all day with Julie going in up to her calf on several occasions and Dave managing to go into mud that came up to mid-thigh.  We had 6000' of climbing on mostly steep technical terrain with packs loaded with five days of food.  When preparing our late dinner, Dave managed to knock over the full stove water container as it was about to be heated, saturating most of the dinner items along with some of his clothes.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We turned up for the motel's continental breakfast right on 6:00am, when it opened, and were ready for our shuttle pickup at 6:30am.  The driver didn't arrive and wouldn't answer his phone.  We gave up and began hitch-hiking with little optimism given it was a quiet Sunday morning in a small town.  After about twenty minutes, a girl who had passed us returned and offered us a lift which was very kind (though her back seat was sopping wet so Dave started the day with a wet butt).

We began hiking around 7:30am with the expectation that the trail would be challenging based on various comments we had read and heard. Initially, it wasn't too bad as we climbed onto the Mahoosuc Range, but soon we were dealing with twisting eroded trail covered with slippery rocks and roots and sharp ups and downs and that's pretty much the way it stayed all day.  The forest was pretty and we did notice that some of the foliage is starting change to yellows and reds. We also passed a couple of attractive ponds and had views from rock ledges on occasion.

Dave had a couple of falls on the slippery rocks and mashed a couple of his fingers, while Julie caught a tree hard with her knee as she manouevred around a tricky section of trail.

All in all, we didn't have a great day and only managed to cover 15 miles when we had hoped to do 17 or 18.  Around 7:30pm, after crossing the summit of Mt Success, we found a possible tent site beside the trail and squeezed our tent in, not wanting to continue on in the looming darkness.

Appalachian Trail - Day 124 - Day Off in Gorham

Day: 124

Date: Saturday, 26 August 2023

Start:  US Route 2 (AT Mile 1900.0) but staying in Gorham 

Finish:  US Route 2 (AT Mile 1900.0) but staying in Gorham 

Daily Kilometres:  0

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos from her walk around Gorham this afternoon.

Total Kilometres:  3107.9

Weather:  Mild, mostly overcast with a late shower.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  MacDonalds Breakfast Platter

  Lunch:  Ham, chicken & cheese subs

  Dinner:  Chinese buffet 

Aches:  Dave - left knee sore; Julie - nothing reported 

Highlight:  None really 

Lowlight:  None really 

Pictures: No photos today.

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We had a good sleep-in then walked half a mile to the town McDonalds for breakfast before shopping for supplies to see us through the next five days at a small grocery and outdoor store.

When Dave returned to our motel they were cleaning our room which was a total mess.  We hadn't expected the room to be serviced and there was damp gear spread all over and hanging from every conceivable place to dry along with a bathtub covered in leaf debris that was coming off the drying tent, fly and groundsheet.  While waiting outside he could hear muttered curses, but they were polite and friendly when they emerged from the room and Dave apologised for its state.

After lunch we had a quiet afternoon on admin and packing stuff.  Julie went for a short walk but got caught in a rain shower.

The small town of Gorham seems to be an ATV centre and they are roaring up and down the street, for sale or rent at multiple stores, and parked in all the motel carparks.

For dinner, we went to the All-You-Can-Eat buffet at the Chinese restaurant next door to our motel and ate all that we could eat.  A couple wearing guns sat at a nearby table.  Maybe it gets a bit rough at the buffet some nights.

Back on the trail tomorrow, with a 6:30am pickup booked from our motel for the short journey back to the trailhead.

Appalachian Trail - Day 123 - Imp Campsite to US Route 2

Day: 123

Date: Friday, 25 August 2023

Start:  Imp Campsite (AT Mile 1892.2)

Finish:  US Route 2 (AT Mile 1900.0) but staying in Gorham 

Daily Kilometres:  12.9

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  3107.9

Weather:  Overcast and cold with rain periods.

Accommodation:  Motel 

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  Cheeseburgers & fries

  Dinner:  Penne pasta & meatballs/Calzone, apple turnover & ice-cream.

Aches:  Dave - left knee troublesome; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  The last four miles of this morning's hike was following the Rattle River on a good, relatively flat, hiking trail.  It was nice to be able to walk normally after a week of careful foot placement and steep climbs and descents.

Lowlight:  Shortly after we started our last two miles of the day, having dried out somewhat after the earlier rain, there was a roll of thunder and then a torrential downpour.  We were quickly saturated and the rain continued when we reached the highway along which we hoped to hitchhike to Gorham.  Bedraggled in the rain, we began hitching.  It was miserable and seemed hopeless when we were so close to our motel room and dryness and warmth.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

When our alarm went off at 5:30am it was raining heavily on the tent and it was very cozy in bed.  Very tempting to stay there.  But, we knew there was a good chance that by the time we had packed as much as we could inside - pretty much everything since we had kept our food and bear barrels inside the flysheet overnight (don't tell the ranger) - the rain might have stopped.  And, that proved to be the case, though water continued to drip from the trees.

We ultimately packed up the very wet tent and were on our way soon after 6:30am on a very gloomy, misty, windy, cold and occasionally rainy morning.  As we made the gnarly climb up Mt Moriah (4049'), our last peak in the White Mountains, we were passed by a succession of thru-hikers, many of whom had stayed at the same campsite as us.  There were maybe 15-20 overall, all keen to get to Route 2 and town and out of the miserable weather (no views) like us, but spirits were high, probably because we all knew we would be warm and dry by tonight.

The descent from Moriah started out steep and technical but, the further we went, the gentler the gradient until, with about four miles to go it levelled out and followed the Rattle River to US Route 2 (see above).  We took a delayed, because of the rain and cold, breakfast break around 11:00am at a shelter with two miles to go.  The rain seemed to have cleared at last but, not long after we left the shelter, the heavens opened (see above).  Although it was our fastest two miles in the White Mountains, as Julie pointed out, it wasn't fast enough to avoid getting saturated again.

We arrived at the highway earlier than we expected and started hitchhiking in the rain with little optimism at 12:30pm.  We walked down the highway towards Gorham with our thumbs out until the rain eased somewhat and we stopped to hitch again. Miraculously, a young Californian guy on his way to do some day-hiking in the Whites over the next week, pulled over and picked us up.  I think we were lucky he was in a rental car and didn't care whether we were wet and dirty.  He kindly dropped us at our motel where the friendly owner let us check-in early.

By 1:00pm we were showering and changing into dry clothes with the room heater going full blast.  Heaven!  Later, Julie walked down to McDonald's to get us some lunch while Dave got the laundry going.

Julie's hiking shoes have taken a battering in the Whites and now have bad holes worn in the uppers.  During the afternoon she walked down to the local sports/hardware store to see if they sold any shoes she liked.  They didn't, so will be wearing her spare/camp shoes to the next town in a week's time.  On her walks around town she kept bumping into thru-hikers we have become friends with over the last few months.  It has been like a reunion town and quite a coincidence to meet so many in one place, especially when most of them are much younger and hike much faster than us.  As we were walking into the car park of a pizza place where we had planned to have dinner, a van pulled in front of us and in the passenger seat was a thru-hiker we used to see frequently 1000 miles ago.  We figured he was way in front of us, but apparently not.

A day that started pretty miserably has finished OK and we have a day off tomorrow.  The forecast is for rain, so our timing is good.