Saturday, September 24, 2011

Two weeks after we finish

I have been home on the farm for a week, and memories from the trail bombard me continually as I re-adjust to my life at Cape Trib.

As I wake up at 3.00am to visit the toilet, I revel in the fact that I am walking from the bedroom to the bathroom, and not crawling out of a sleeping bag, into the freezing cold and peeing behind a bush. Each night at around 3.00 am for the last 2 weeks I have given thanks for my new circumstances. Comfort is something that many people take for granted. I probably will in time too, but at the moment, I appreciate each night as it comes.

I am still wearing my trail clothes as nothing else fits me, apart from the new pair of jeans I bought in Boston - extra small size. Everything else falls off me. I no longer have a bum (or butt, as the Americans would say) to hold them up and I still haven't had a chance to get to town to go shopping.

Friends in our community are asking me ' did you enjoy your time in the US?'. I still don't know how to answer this question. There was so much deprivation during our 6 month hike that 'enjoy' is not the right word. Not yet anyway. Maybe in 6 months time I will be able to say that I 'enjoyed' our time hiking for 177 days. What I answer is to describe a specific situation on the trail to them so that they can get a glimmer of understanding of what life was really like. Each time I am asked, I provide a different example of deprivation. I don't have to search for examples - they pop into my mind. Everywhere I look a stimulus provides another memory or story of our adventure where we have been pushed to the limit.

It is great to catch up with friends in the community after 6 months, and to find out the latest news. I have some idea of what I have missed through following my Facebook page on my mobile phone, with postings about the Cape Trib news. I am really enjoying linking up with the young women in the community again. Digby says it is a 'mother/daughter' relationship. They are great company and it makes me think about the young women I met on the trail, especially my 'warrior princesses', Scatters and Stucco, who by now are back in normal life too, and going by names of Kate and Carrie. They are both powerful role models and how I envy them and wish I was as confident and strong and fit when I was thirty. I laugh when Carrie tells me that they think of us as their heroes.

Walking the trail gave us time to re-examine our lifestyle to see what we wanted to keep and what to change. We decided that we did still want to live at Cape Tribulation, and to continue running our farm business, but we realised that we were not taking time to smell the roses. One resolution we made was that we would not only work, but also play and enjoy life. So we are going to be taking more time off away from the farm.
As we sort through our photos, I find myself wanting to share my experience - to stand up in front of people and speak about our experiences. Maybe I have a new career waiting to unfold as an after dinner motivational speaker!!

I promised myself that I would cook nutritious meals when I got home, after eating all that rubbish and preservatives. Looking through the recipe book tonight for a chicken recipe to make from scratch, I found Chicken Pot Pie. This was the trail name for a group of young people hiking the trail, who we met many times over the 6 months. I stopped cooking the recipe and started wondering - where are they now? What has happened to Tiny Dancer and Salty, two members Chicken Pot Pie. They were 'yellow blazers', and would walk a bit of the trail, then get a car ride to cover some of the distance and then hike a bit more. All the time Digby and I would be steadily walking, every step of the way. They would appear, disappear, then reappear. A completely different approach to the trail and to life. Just do the good bits, and skip the bits you don't want to do. And yet they were so fit, so keen, so young and good fun. What a pity that they would not be able to call themselves '2000 milers', the group that walks the 'whole trail'.

Friday, September 23, 2011

The Aftermath

I have made several promises to myself.

I have spent the last 6 months eating completely processed food - instant oatmeal for breakfast, instant rice and pasta for lunch, salami, peperoni, peanut butter and crackers for lunch, and 'health' bars for snacks. Burning 6,000 calories per day, but only able to carry and eat 3,000 per day on the trail.

I need to bring the appetite under control. I have a dream that the 10 kg that I have lost, will stay off, at least for a few months, so I can enjoy my new skinny persona.

Resolutions
1. No more cans of lemonade.
2. No more desserts. I eat my last dessert in Millinocket - homemade rhubarb and strawberry pie, and a blueberry cheesecake. Both delicious.
3. No more breakfasts with 3 eggs, 3 slices of bacon, 3 pancakes with maple syrup and butter.
4. No more potato chips - this has been my favourite way of bulking up the calories.
5. Nor more 'Little Debbies', 'Honey Buns', 'Moon Pies' - or any other bulk packed processed cakes so full of a preservatives, that would 'embalm'  me if I died on the trail.
6. Only eat FRESH stuff, nothing out of a packet or bottle except for wine and yoghurt.
7. No more mayonnaise or salad dressing.

Day 176 - 23rd Sept - The Birches - Katahdin - Millinocket - 5 miles

We are up early and excited. This is the day we have been walking towards since April 1st. We head over to the ranger's office to listen to the weather report on the two way radio - sunny day with winds at 5-10mph. Great day.

There are quite a few hikers waiting to climb today. We leave our big packs and take a day pack courtesy of the rangers' office. The climb to the summit takes 3 1/2 hours. Above the treeline, large granite boulders make it difficult to negotiate. As I wriggle up through the cracks, I worry about how I am going to descend these boulders. We reach a large plateau, it is quite windy on the lip of the plateaur and then it is protected. We arrive to find about 30 people on the summit. Captain Slick is dressed in his full regalia of formal dresss marine uniform. Stucco and Boss are there with us. This is great as they have walked with us over the last few months. The climb down takes 3 1/2 hours and it is not so bad.

We are picked up by Jamie who runs the shuttle to Millinocket. We share the trip with Masterchief and Backwards, both of whom are up in the air about their future plans. We have a private room at the Appalachian Lodge - a huge rooom with a bay window overlooking the street. We have dinner at the Appalachian Cafe which is packed with hikers.

At last - we have completed the journey! We climbed Katahdin, the climax of the whole AT experience. A towering mountain with huge plateaus above the treeline and a rock boulder climbing approach which is daunting. It was a fitting end to day 176 on the trail. How do I feel? Initially it was relief that I had made it, and that it is over. Now 12 hours later, it is disbelief that we actually achieved it, that we actually did walk the whole way - 2179 miles. This is a major achievement - and by tomorrow it may be exhilaration and pride. But at the moment I still can't believe that we have actually done it.
We have 4 days booked in Boston in a small apartment in Beacon Hill, the historical downtown area, until we fly home on the 29th - Boston - Los Angeles - Melbourne - Cairns, arriving on the 1st October.

Day 175 - 22nd Sept - Abol Bridge Campsite - The Birches - 10 miles

We only have ten miles to walk on our last hiking day on the trail. We have microwaved crap at the petrol station for breakfast. A bear has been caught in the trap, last night. The trap is a huge drum on wheels and has a couple of peepholes. We lift the lid and see some black fur, 2 inches away from us. No eye looking at us thank goodness.

A mile down the road on the trail and we are welcomed by the bureaucrats of the national park. Having roamed the Appalachian mountains for 6 months as free-agents without having to book a campsite, we are now required to fill out a form to register for a spot at The Birches Lean To, with all sorts of threats if we don't. We dutifully fill out the form.

We walk along the river and have our last ford to cross. We are starting to feel sad - last river to cross, last hill to climb. At the park offices, there is a huge cake, left by another hiker. We eat the cake - a huge gooey concoction triple layered with cream and chocolate, and have grins all over our faces. Thankyou hiker! We buy a load of firewood so we can have a big fire to celebrate our last night with other hikers. In the late evening, Stucco and Boss arrive, plus a group of hikers we have never seen before, who must have been a day or so behind us for the last 6 months. We are counting down for our last day.

Day 174 - 21st Sept - Rainbow Stream Lean To - Abol Bridge Campsite - 15 miles

Our second last day on the trail before we climb Mt Katahdin. It is an easy cruising walk and we only have two small bumps to climb. We do not see any other hikers, and arrange at Abol Bridge early. We eat microwaved burgers from the log cabin store at the camping ground. The pinnacle of plasticity in American culture and we stuff it down regardless. I hate to think how many preservatives and other crap must be in this food, so I don't think about it, and just eat it, and enjoy it too!!

There is a problem bear in the vicinity. The campsite we select is the furthest away from the store, and last night the people camping on this site ending up sleeping in their car, because they had a visit from the bear. We have not met a 'problem bear' yet, but we are apprehensive. We take all our food bags, and our toothpaste to the store to be locked into the building for the night. Our campsite has no food smells to attract the bear.

There are coin in the slot showers - they are hot but there are no towells and no soap. They obviously don't have many thru hikers stop here. I scrounge the showers and find an old scrap of soap which the three of us share.

Day 173 - 20th Sept - White House Landing - Rainbow Stream Lean To - 15.8 miles

We eat a wonderful breakfast cooked by Bill, seated at the table with the sun pouring in through the window, with a wonderful lake view. Eggs, bacon, muffins, and blueberry pancakes. We stuff ourselves as per usual. We have saved the left over pizza from last night for our lunch today, and Linda packs it up for us to carry.

Bill takes us right along the lake to save us having to retrace the 1 mile detour. The hiking is great today and we have lunch on a sandy beach out of the wind. We experience our second viewing of Mt Katahdin from Nesuntabunt Mt summit. We see no other walkers until we reach the shelter, as Uncas and Hat-trick have walked ahead of us.

The last 4 miles follows up a mountain stream with rapids - great walking to the shelter. We arrive at 6pm and there are 3 hikers in the shelter. We set up camp on the hill above the shelter.

Day 172 - 19th Sept - Crawford Pond - White House Landing - 16.1 miles

We have a very early start in freezing temperatures at 7.00am, and we hope with some fast walking to make the distance to the landing for a 'relaxing' afternoon at the White House.

We make it to the landing by 4.00pm. We sound a hooter horn which echoes across the lake so that Bill knows there is someone to pick up. It is a beautiful sunny afternoon, and watching the boat scooting across the water to us, dangling our feet over the jetty is a great scene to remember.

Digby and I have a 'private' room which turns out to be a whole house, minus the bathroom. If you want water you go to the edge of the lake and bucket it up. Life is simple. There is one shower for all of us based on a gravity feed which is very low. But we are very appreciative even if the shower fails to reach Aussie standards.

At 5.00pm we arrive at the main house for dinner. Linda cooks us gigantic burgers, plus a pizza. We meet two other thru hikers - Uncas and Hat-trick. They have covered a much bigger distance than us, and spent last night in a shelter with On the Loose.

Linda and Bill have an interesting lifestyle. They live at the White House for the summer and spend the northern winter in Florida working in the tourism industry down there, so their 12 year old son can go to school. The vegetable gardens here are huge. It would be an interesting way to spend the summer watching all the thru-hikers come through. I would be tempted to come back and work as a volunteer here.

Day 171 - 18th Sept - Sidney Tappan - Crawford Pond - 14.8 miles

We start the hike on 2102 miles this morning, so we are now counting down with less than 70 miles to go. It's hard to believe. It was a freezing night last night - glad that we are nearly out of the forest as the seasons change, as the temperatures are too cold for us.

We do 3 climbs in quick succession. The final climb to White Cape Mt provides us with our first view of Mt Katahdin in the distance. It looks magical, pale blue in the misty haze on the horizon. What a landscape.

There is a very long descent to a river which we have to cross on steppping stones. My walking pole gets stuck in between rocks and I lose my balance and plunge in to the water with both boots getting submerged. This is all captured on video by Stickbuilt.

We camp by the pond - a lovely camp - sun, no wind, beautiful reflections, and great sunset lighting on the trees surrounding the pond. We eat dinner on the sand. A French guy camps with us at the campsite.

Day 170 - 17th Sept - West Chairback Pond - Sidney Tappen Campsite - 13.4 miles

The weather clears after a wet night, and we have a beautiful sunny day. (Yes the tent leaked again). The steep drop to the river is really fast. We have to negotiate a 200m rock scree slope on the descent.

At the river we have to ford it - it is very wide. Once across we take off our shoes and socks to have lunch and dry our boots and our tent in the sun. We meet Kristin the ridge runner here. She did the AT in as a thru hiker in 2009.

We make the steep climb up to the campsite. This is a special campsite. The register is kept in the loo. There are problems with hedgehogs eating the door! Hikers have written in the register about moose wandering around the campsite in the middle of the night. Alas not on our night.

Day 169 - 16th Sept - Wilson Valley Lean To - West Chairback Pond - 13.9 miles

A rugged day with LOTS of climbing. There are great views from Barren Mt, which is a surprise since we have had such shitty weather over the last week and missed all the views from the summits.

The steep rocky sections are quite challenging for Stickbuilt, and he starts to conk out around 4pm from lack of food. Digby feeds him lots of sugar to get the engines started again, and we make it to a bush camp next to a huge granite boulder at 5pm, near the pond outlet. It is the only flat campsite for miles and we breathe a sigh of relief that we find it, just 10 minutes before a couple arrive from the other direction arrive also looking for a campsite.

Day 168 - 15th Sept - Monson - Wilson Valley Lean To - 10.4 miles

We have breakfast at 'Shaws', the other hiker lodge in town - where you can have 'all you can eat'. I stop at 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 slices of bacon, 2 pieces of toast, and a scoop of hashbrowns. We strip down our packs still further so that we can 'float' through the 100 mile wilderness, and mail a package on to the post office at Millinocket, the town where we finish. We visit the general store to see what other food options there are in Monson. Not much but we get a few extra things. The store is full of old timers sitting around a wood heater drinking coffee - it is a trip back in time.

Rebecca drops us back at the trail about 9.00am. One mile into the trail and Digby realises that he has left his camera behind - he thinks in her car. He leaves his pack with me and Stickbuilt and he goes back to the road to call her on the phone. At the road "On the Loose" emerges from the trail and says she will organise to send the camera on to Millinocket. Then he sprints back to us waiting at the pond. So we have no camera, we lose an hour of walking time and we only manage 10 miles. Stickbuilt is having trouble coping with the roots - the trails down on the southern AT are much more civilised. Digby and I think to ourselves - 'roots? what roots? if you think this trail is bad wait until you......' but we don't say anything. He will discover these things for himself in time. As we did. Now we don't even see the roots - we glide over the roots like lean, mean walking machines focused on an end point which is only 7 days away.

Day 167 - 14th Sept - Gravel Rd@2050.7 to Monson - 13.9 miles

An early start, and we are walking fast - its a town day! The trail is easier so we are practically running. We have to ford two rivers - this is the first time we have had to wade on the whole trail. Maine does not build bridges for hikers - you have to be tough. At the second river there is an icebox full of lemonade cans. We drink 2 each. Digby's shoes are torn across the front by a tree root.

We arrive at the road to Monson and call the lodge. Rebecca the owner is able to drive us to Greensville, 14 miles to the west where there is an outfitter so Digby can buy new boots. At Monson our hotel is 'Lake Shore House' with a pub and laundromat downstairs, with a lake lapping right at the building edge. Very picturesque and freezing. Stickbuilt is there waiting for us. We have dinner at the pub and try to do a resupply from the petrol station - we need 7 days food, and the choice is fairly limited.

Day 166 - 13th Sept - Pleasant Pond Lean To - Gravel Rd@2050.7 - 17.1 miles

A very steep climb - 1200' straight up to Pleasant Pond Mt in fog, drizzle and wind. Definitely NOT pleasant. Climbing wet vertical granite slabs is terribly dangerous - there is just one thing worse - descending wet vertical granite slabs, and that awaits us on the descent. We ring Stickbuilt and also Lake House at Monson to make a room booking on the summit. Quite surreal as the mist swirls around us and the phone pressed to our ear brings voices from civilisation into the wilderness. The descent goes forever.

We lunch at Bald Mt Lean To out of the wind, and then we have another climb up Moxie Bald, which is another 1200' - and we thought we had finished the hard stuff!! The final summit is in mist and rain so we take the bad weather bypass, which means we avoid the exposed granite slabs on the last 200' climb, and we breathe a sigh of relief. Is this climbing finally over? There is a steep descent to the shelter. but it is only 3.30pm so we keep going.

We finally find a gravel road, with a clearing beside the fast flowing river. The clearing is covered with moose poo! We have to scrape the moose poo off the tent site. We wonder if we are going to have a moose walk into the clearing during the night!  We don't get run down by a moose - in fact we never see another one. Lucky that Sourdough pointed out that moose on the lake to us. Our only siting!                                                                                                                                                                                

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Day 165 - 12th Sept - Sandy Stream to Pleasant Pond Lean To - 17.1 miles

An early start - cloudy and cold. The 'Fall' season is starting to make itself felt - lots of red leaves starting to appear in the forest. We follow an easy trail to Pierce Pond Lean To right on the lake. A cabin nearby offers '12 pancake' breakfasts. A pity we midded that! It is already 11.00am - we would never have made it to here last night even if we had known about the pancakes.

We follow the stream down with good rapids and waterfalls until it reaches the Kennebc Rivr at 1.00pm. This is a canoe crossing. Hikers are under strict instructions to wait for the canoe to take them across the river. Hikers have been drowned trying to wade this river. We have to sit and wait for the 'ferry' which does not start again until 2pm, so we hunker down out of the wind and have some lunch and wait patiently. The canoe is paddled by the operator and we just sit in it with packs. After we cross the river there are lots of no camping signs. We dind a trail magic box. I eat two chocolate donuts and take an apple and packet of peanuts for later. We keep going over an easy path for the next 6 miles to the shelter.

This campsite is  classifed as one of our worst experiences on the trail - There were no good campsites at the shelter - all had a slope on them, except for a small flat area next to the path leading down to the lake. We started setting up our tent on this grassy spot about 40 m from the shelter. I eat an apple and as I go to take a bite, I notice a bad smell - familiar - human shit smell - and notice brown smudges on my fingers which are holding the apple. Closer examination - yes it is human faeces - on my hand. YUK. Capital YUK.
The tent poles had touched a pile of faeces. And yes you guessed it - I had threaded a pole with shit on it through the tent sleeve. Now this shelter did have a privy. But a few days before we arrived, a person staying at the shelter had preferred to do a dump on the only flat grassy spot instead of visiting the privy. We set up tent right in someone's poo! They were too lazy to walk the distance to the toilet and just find the flat spot - perfect for the tent. YUK!

Day 164 - 11th Sept - Safford Notch to Sandy Stream, Middle Pond Inlet - 14.8 miles

It takes us 3 1/2 hours to climb Little Bigelow and reach then descend to the shelter. We are so glad we made the right decision to camp at the notch last night or we would have been walking in the dark, with lots of tricky granite slabs. At least the sun is shining.

We arrive at the road to find a 'trail magic' camp set up by 'Old Fart', 'Walking Home', 'Hydro', and 'Mad Mike' - they do this every year at the same time, same place for 4 days. There are hamburgers, lemonade, chips, cakes, coffee. We stuff ourselves and take an apple for later. 

There are two more small climbs followed by a flat path following a series of lakes. We meet a trail volunteer who has been walking the boundary between private property and the public AT land to check for logging incursions. He is carrying a GPS - apparently poaching of public timber by neighbours who are logging their own trees is quite common.

This campsite is memorable - we arrive at the inlet and it is by a road and full of reeds, with no flat land for a tent and a bit of privacy. I leave Digby to collect the water and I go ahead to scout for a site in the forest. I find a reasonable proposition about 200 metres in from the road and about 20 metres off the trail. It is covered in moss and looks like the forest from Lord of the Rings. I start clearing a flat site for us. Digby meanwhile has collected the water, and has followed me along the trail, but misses seeing me 20 m off the trail and continues past. Luckily a bit of movement - me hacking into the forest - catches his eye at the last moment. We wonder how long he would have continued, carrying an extra 4 litres of water before he realised that he was 'alone'. We will never know the answer.

Tonight marks a great milestone - we have completed the 'hardest' 250 miles on the AT in southern Maine, and we breathe a sigh of relief and look forward to the trail getting a bit easier.

Day 163 - 10th Sept - Strattonn - Safford Notch Campsite - 10.4 miles

We all head down to the local diner for breakfast in Sue's car, stuffed with 6 hikers and packs.After a wonderful breakfast she drops us back on the trail around 8.30am. The weather is terrible - freezing temperatures, cloud, strong winds, and the peaks covered in cloud and mist.

It takes us all day to climb the 4 peaks of Mt Bigalow. It is quite scary on the exposed summit and very cold. The views would be fantastic on a clear day. We see an ermine witha mouse in its mouth on the summit. We have lunch in a shelter at the top near a pond with On the Loose and Sourdough.

We stop at 4.00pm at a campiste rather than try for the shelter which is another 5 miles and another mountain ascent over Little Bigalow - too much for us! On the Loose and Sourdough press on. We spend the night sleeping on a very wonky platform, surrounded by warnings about a 'hungry bear' in the vicinity. We don't see the bear.

Another special milestone - we have completed 2,000 miles today. No photos as the weather has been too lousy to bring the camera out.

Day 162 - 9th Sept - Crocker Cirque Campsite to Stratton - 7.3 miles

An early start to get to town as soon as we can. We always go like the wind, when civilisation is around the corner - more food to eat, a hot shower and a soft bed - nothing like these things to make the legs go faster. We practically run down the mountain to the road.

During the last half hour of the hike, the rain sets in, and we start to get quite saturated. By the time we reach the highway we are bedraggled and sopping. We stand like ducklings in the pouring rain trying to hitch a ride for half an hour. No car stops - can you blame them. On the Loose arrives and agrees to 'hide in the bushes' until we get a hitch out.

Then one of those magical moments of our whole hike occurs. A little old lady in her 70s in a huge pick up truck stops for us: "I don't normally pick up hikers but I felt sorry for you in the rain." She agrees to take On the Loose as well. While we are loading our packs, Sourdough emerges onto the road, sees us with the truck and sprints the 300 metres down the road in the pouring rain towards us. Our good samaritan agrees to take Sourdough as well. It is 15 miles into Stratton, and she drops us at the Stratton Motel, owned by Sue, who has a big poodle.

The motel has three carved bear hikers - life size out the front of the motel. We have lunch and dinner at the pub over the road.
Wizard, On the Loose, Tripper and Sourdough

Day 161 - 8th Sept - Poplar Ridge LeanTo - Crocker Cirque Campsite - 14.2 miles

Another typical hiking day in Maine on the AT - bloody hard! We have a climb over Spaulding Mt before lunch and then stop at a shelter where a southbound hiker 'Suicidal' is holding forth. He doesnt stop talking. On the Loose, Sourdough, and Digby and I eat our lunch in record time to escape him. We all felt suicidal after we left. There is a steep final descent which is quite tricky - a landslide has swept the old trail away.

We arrive at the campite just on dusk and take a platform for the tent. It is a special night - we have broken through the 200 mile barrier to the finish! HD Mama and Snowwhite also arrive to stay the night. It rains and yes the tent still leaks! Grrrrr.

Day 160 - 7th Sept - ME4 Rangely to Poplar Ridge Lean To - 10.7 miles


We say goodbye to the luxury of the last two nights and Donna and John's wonderful hospitality.

It really gave us a chance to recharge our batteries as the walking has become quite relentless as we march closer and closer to the finish. Donna and John plan to visit Australia in a month's time, and we offer for them to come and stay with us - they are able to adjust their itinerary and they do stay with us. Not as luxurious as what they are used to, but they seemed to enjoy the experience!

A really hard day. We climb 3,000ft to the top of Saddleback Mt - windswept granite domes. At least the sun is shining and we hunker down behind a pile of stones to have lunch with On the Loose. It is an exhausting descent full of steep wet granite and tree roots exposed to trip you up at every turn. We arrive at the shelter to find Red Hat in her hammock and two new hikers, Stryder and Rainbow Man, both of whom appear very laid back.


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Day 159 - 6th Sept - ME17 Oquossoc - ME4 Rangely - 14.1 miles

Today we do a slack pack as Donna and John pick us up at the ME4. So we walk, hop and skip up over the mountain and down the otherside enjoying the experience without the full pack.

Donna picks us up at 5.30. Stucco and Boss appear as well - we haven't seen them for ages, and it is now apparent that they are teamed up as a 'couple'. We have a quick stop at the Rangely supermarket to resupply and then head back to the camp where Donna cooks another stupendous meal and invites Aunt Margaret and neighbours Bob and Joanne. We have a wonderful evening eating great food and enjoying great company.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Day 158 - 5th Sept - Andover - ME17Oquossoc - 13.3 miles

We have a great breakfast at The Little Red Hen in Andover - beautiful yoghurt with muesli and fruit. I can't wait till I get home to have decent food again. David drives us back to the trail, along with On the Loose and Red Hat. We clim up and over Beamis Mt. On the Loose joins us on the descent - big round granite domes, quite a lot of fun and good friction until it starts to rain and then it becomes a slippery, slow and steep nightmare if a descent.

We arrive at the road to meet John Wetzel, Scatter's father who has been patiently waiting for us to appear on the roadside. He drives us and On the Loose back to their summer camp which is located on a glacial lake surrounded with pine trees, near Rangeley. We stay in luxury for two nights.


The Wetzel summer camp in Rangeley, Maine

Tripper, On the Loose and Donna Wetzel
John and Donna Wetzel, On the loose and Wizard

Doona has prepared an amazing meal and we are joined by aunt Margaret who is 85 and a close neighbour. We are overwhelmed by the hospitality and thoroughly enjoy ourselves. We drink Mohitos and Australian white wine.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Day 157 - 4th Sept - East Hill Rd (Andover) to South Arm Rd (Andover) - 10.1 miles

Today we do our first 'slack pack' for the trail - we leave our packs at the hostel and head back to the trail to walk the section of 10 miles between the two roads, with a ride back to the hostel, so we get to stay two nights in the one place. Sourdough and Trooper join us. Trooper heads off at high speed and we don't see him again. We walk with Sourdough and we are very lucky - we have our first moose sighting - Sourdough sees it across the lake on the opposite shore and we watch it using Sourdough's binoculars. We would not have seen it if we were by ourselves. Up until this point we had seen lots of moose poo but no moose. It was to be our first and last moose sighting on the AT.

We have two very steep climbs and descents made easy using just the day pack. We get to the road 45 minutes early and so proud of ourselves. A couple in a camper offers us beer and cookies - they turn out to be the parents of thru-hikers that we had met in May, waiting to meet them at the road. These hikers were twice as fast as us, ding 25 mile days when we met them in May, so we are surprised that they are behind us. It turns out they have suffered from Lymes Disease as well as serious foot problems. We are still waiting at the road - and who are we waiting for - FOG - Friendly Old Guy - who is also doing a slack pack backwards to south Arm from further north. We sit in the car with David and wait and wait and wait. Finally FOG arrives very apologetic and we give him heaps!

Pine Ellis Hostel - Andover - David and Digby

Back at Andover we ring Donna Wetzel, Scatters mother and arrange to stay with them tomorrow night at their 'summer camp', which is located relatively close to the trail. We are looking forward to some home cooking. Scatters is ahead of us and pushing fast as she is now on a mission to summit Katahdin on her 30th birthday, so we won't get to see her.



Saturday, September 3, 2011

DAy 156 - 3rd Sept - Grafton Notch to Andover - 10.3 miles

An amazing climb up to Bald Pate, a huge granite outcrop dome. We use our mobile to call Pine Ellis Hostel from the top and arrange to be collected from the road at 4pm.


David meets us at 4pm - he is from Guatamala and a Mayan by ancestry. The hostel is a lovely old house, and surprise surprise - lots of familiar faces, including Tiny Dancer and Salty, who skipped this  last 10 miles. We are still pure and proud of our walking record. No detours, no shortcuts, no rides, no skipping bits. We have walked every step so far. We are in the bunkroom and have dinner at the local diner which doubles as the general store.


Friday, September 2, 2011

Day 155 - 2nd Sept - Full Goose Shelter - Mahoosic Notch - Grafton Notch

Full of anticipation today for the 'hardest mile on the AT' - the renowned Mahoosic Notch. We first have to negotiate a steep climb followed by a steep descent into the ravine or 'notch'. The notch is full of boulders, some as big as two story houses - as if a giant had scattered a handful of rocks through the valley floor, and the boulders have piled up on top of each other. There is no easy path. Someone has painted very good arrows to show hikers the path - one look at that crevasse - do we really have to squeeze through there???. We crawl through tunnels on our knees dragging our packs behind us, and then squeeze up cracks to get over boulders. It is a great gymnastic work out and the three of us - me, Digs and Sourdough really enjoy ourselves.


Half way through the notch we pass the older couple who had left extra early, with the bad hips and bad knees etc going at a snails pace, but determined to make it. Another hundred metres and we find a family with 2 children around 10 and 12 who have been benighted in the gorge and are travelling very slowly. I think - take the packs of kids and let your natural balance work for you, as we leap from boulder to boulder to get past them. It takes us an hour and a half to get through the notch and then we start the climb - called something like the Mahoosic Slabs or similar.



We were so psyched up to get through the notch that this climb has taken us a bit by surprise - vertical granite cliff faces with no hand holds to speak of, lunging from tree root to tree root trying to keep your balance. Parts of the rock faces are slimy and wet for some added excitement. This is a 2,000' ascent and we are exhausted by the time we reach the top.


We have lunch by a shelter on a lake, with trooper and sourdough and then decide to keep going and head for the valley 2,500' below where the road awaits us. At the road there is a car park and we toy with the idea of maybe hitching to a nearby town, but there are no cars and our mobile does not work. We cross the road and search for a good campsite along the creek, and settle in for the night. Sourdough continues on for another few miles. From inside our tent we hear a car, car doors slamming, and voices - it is Tiny Dancer and Salty who have arranged a pick up at the car park so they can skip the next bit of the trail. They head off by car into Andover, where we meet them a day later.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Day 154 - 1st September - Gentian Pond to Full Goose Shelter - 9.6 miles

A really hard day with lots of technical climbing up rock cliffs and descents. We walk all day with Sourdourgh and enjoy his company. We only cover 9 miles- it is a long day - 9 hours of hiking - so we have averaged one mile per hour. We have had some great views from the ridge tops. At the campsite, Trooper catches up with us, and we also see Salty and Tiny Dancer who have missed bits and caught up to us. There is an older couple in the shelter with bad hips and bad knees, psyching themselves up for the hardest mile on the AT tomorrow - the Mahoosic Notch.

We clock over 1900 miles today and camp at 1902 miles. Still on track, despite the slow pace.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Day 153 - 31st August - Goreham - Gentian Pond - 11.8 miles

We head off for breakfast at the local diner, and both order 'the hungry man's platter'. Then we head off with packs and walk on to the highway to hitch back to the trail. Immediately a car stops heading in to town, with Sourdough and Spiritwalker, and they say - 'We can take you out to the trail,' so we had a quick return.

Sourdough hiked with us today, and it was great to walk and talk and catch up with all the news as we had not seen him for a few weeks. It is a hard slog - a climb of 2000' to the summit of Mt Success. We have lunch when we find a water source - water is scarce.

We arrive at Gentian Pond at about 5 pm and find a group of college students camping. We take platforms further up the hill and hope they won't be too noisy.  We fall in love with the college students when they present each of us with a chocolate bar which they say is 'surplus to requirements'. We also meet 'Trooper' for the first time - he camps further up the hill in a patch of scrub - very much the lone wolf. But he does eat his chocolate bar.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Day 152 - 30th August - Imp Shelter to Goreham - 8 miles

An early climb of a 1000' followed by a steep descent. The last two miles is an old road and we pick up speed to head into town as fast as possible. Crossing a small creek I slip and fall on the slimy granite and hit my head hard on the rock. Blood everywhere, broken glasses, and a gash about 1cm long. I was so eager to get to town! Now I have a throbbing headache.

The trail reaches the road and in the car park there is a 'girl friend' dropping off her partner, an AT thru-hiker. She gives us a ride into Goreham. We stay at the motel, and do laundry and resupply. Walmart is 5 miles out of town and we have the phone number of Bruce, a trail angel who thru hiked in 1987, so we call him and he drives us out to Walmart and waits for us while we do the shopping. Amazing character, and then he didnt want to accept any money, but we insisted.

We eat dinner at the motel restaurant - Mexican. And lo and behold, lolling by the pool, Neutron, Sandbagger and Zan, having bypassed the Wild Cat Range.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Day 151 - 29th August - Pinkham Notch to Imp Shelter - 13.1 miles


Today is a very hard, long day to climb Wild Cat Spur and do the full traverse of the Wild Cat Ridge.  It is possible to bypass this hike, and hitch straight into Goreham, and this has appeal for many of the young hikers. We find a big mob of them lolling by the pool at the motel the following day. Digby and I remain pure and are totally exhausted by the day.

The track visits a shelter by a lake at Carters Notch Hut which is very picturesque - we decide to drop in and have some soup for lunch, which turns out to be the worst soup we have on the whole trail.
We crawl into the campsite at 6.15pm after a very serious descent - a cliff rather than a trail. We wonder how non rock climbers cope with this. It would one of the hardest sections on the whole trail.

Day 150 - 28th August - Madison Hut - Pinkham Notch - 7.8 miles

We depart early immediately after breakfast. It is sunny but very windy and we climb the steep spur up to Mt Madison. It is almost a razor back ridge and we enjoy the views which extend right across the valleys. A steep descent off Mt Madison, and we arrive at the campsite at lunch time - we know Scatters is fit - but we could not have come this far yesterday. Another couple of hours and we arrive at Pinkham Notch - a large settlement - visitor information, shop with accommodation and restaurant. We eat and then decide to start along the trail to find a bush camp next to the creek.

We find a lovely sheltered tent site and then sleep away the rest of the afternoon. What a treat!

Day 149 - 27th August - Lake of the Clouds Hut - Mt Washington - Madison Hut - 7.1 miles

The weather report says that the winds will drop from 50 miles per hour to 20 - 30 miles per hour so we delay our departure until the dial shows the decline and we start hiking at 9.00am. It is a struggle to walk and climb the 1,000' to Mt Washington but we take it slowly and finally arrive. Mt Washington is swirling in mist, with occasional breaks in the cloud to view the ocean and valleys below.

We meet up with Donna, Scatter's mum, and her Aunt Margaret who have brought lots of food for us. We meet in the car park at the car and stuff ourselves with turkey rolles and then keep on going.

The clouds clear as we descend to provide some great views of the ridge we are hiking. There is a train which climbs Mt Washington, and we walk along the tracks and the see the train - something quite prehistoric. We follow the ridge to Madison Hut, and arrive around 4pm and decide to book in as guests. It is too late for us to try to reach the campsite.

Scatters decides to head on to the campsite with On the Loose - the things you can do when you are young and fit. We enjoy the evening at Madison, and meeting some of the 'paying customers'. A thru hiker called 'Golden Ray' who is deaf, falls on the summit climb to Mt Madison and knocks himself out. He is carried down to the hut, and looked after. A doctor happens to be one of the hikers. Golden Ray is very fit, but the doctor is worried in case he falls again, and gives him his phone number to call if anything else happens.

Day 148 - 26th August - Lake of the Clouds Hut - Zero Day

The weather outside is terrible. I snuggle into my bunk in my winter sleeping bag and read the novel I have scrounged from the library shelf - Danielle Steele and her character Lily: 'which one of you bitches is my mother'. I am really glad that we have become 'paying customers'. All the thru-hikers who stayed last night and slept on the floor of the dining room in return for doing a chore, are told they have to move on. Outside the wind is howling, the visibility is dismal, and the temperature is chilling. The hikers are faced with a three mile hike to the summit of Mt Washington along an exposed ridge, in terrible conditions.  The hundred dollar per person per night charge seems a small price to pay at this minute. I am not sure of the ethics of forcing hikers outside into hypothermic conditions, but all the beds are sold and they are probably expecting a new batch of arrivals and a new batch of bedraggled thru hikers. So the thru-hikers are moved on. If they make it to Mt Washington, it is possible to evacuate the mountain - there is a visitor centre and a bus which departs twice a day down to the valleys where it is possible to wait out the storm. But the bus costs money - and many thru hikers can't spare the cash.

Around 10.00am, a new set of room-mates arrive, dripping wet and hypothermic. This is a family of 4 from Boston, who have booked this night months ago - pity about the conditions. Lunch and morning and afternoon tea are available so we stuff ourselves. For one minute the clouds clear and the sun shines through. Digby rushes out into the freezing wind to take a photo. Early in the afternoon I hear someone calling 'Tripper! Where are you?' It is Scatters who has caught up to us doing another long day. This is great news - tomorrow we will be able to meet Donna, her mum on the top of Mt Wellington.

Day 147 - 25th August - Mitzah Springs Hut - Lake of the Clouds Hut - 4.7 miles

We wake up to foul weather. Our job is to sweep the bunkrooms so we have to wait for everyone to depart before we can start the job.The weather has really closed in. Luckily we are sheltered below the treeline for much of the hike. It is very cold, with high winds, so we move fast. With one mile to go to reach the hut, we come across a small older woman, in shredded poncho, cotton trousers which only reach to mid-calf, drenched to the skin, and not strong enough to stand agains the wind. Digby holds her and guides her to the hut. We wonder how many of the hikers will be hypothermia candidates.

At the Hut we are able to book in as paying guests for 2 nights to give the bad weather a chance to move on.I snuggle down into my bunk and sleeping bag and read 'Lace' - not a wide choice of reading material but it passed the time.During the afternoon bedraggled hikers start to arrive. The weather worsens during the afternoon and then clears for a few moments during the sunset. The staff take the opportunity to strip to bathers and swim in the lake. You are only young once.

Our bunkroom is awash with wet dripping clothers, and parkas.

Hamsteaks for dinner.
 A contingent of through hikers - we count about 15 - are allowed to stay and sleep on the dining room floor.I am glad we are paying customers. The interface between the thru hikers and the staff is fraught with difficulty. Some thru hikers have a sense of entitlement which staff need to manage - it is difficult to turn people out into the blizzard.

Day 146 - 24th August - Ethan Pond Campsite - Crawford Notch - Mizpah Springs Hut - 9.3 miles

We are up and hiking by 7.00am and get a lovely view of the pond.It is an easy walk to the highway at Crawford Notch and we are there by 8.30am We hitch a ride with the sixth car to go by - a female post doc from Dartmought College doing research on water quality, from mercury leaching from the old mines.

We restock at the Crawford Notch General Store and eat microwaved food for breakfast. Five day hikers squash us into their car and give us a ride back to the trail. The weather is fine and we have a great ascent of a very steep climb to the main ridge. We enjoy the sunshine and take our time, drying off our boots and lunching on one of the rocky outcrops overlooking the hut in the distance.

We arrive at the hut and get 'work for stay' with 2 southbounders (SOBOs) and we meet up with FOG - Friendly Old Guy - who has paid to stay. A pleasant evening reading and sleeping in the library above the kitchen. We are woken by one of the staff singing at us - I am sure she thinks she has a good voice - but alas its not true. 

Day 145 - 23rd August - Galehead Hut to Ethan Pond Campsite - 11.8 miles

We wake early at 6.30am to pack up our gear and then set the tables for breakfast. For breakfast we have a big bowl of porridge, lots of pancakes and maple syrup. We finally manage to get away at 9.00am. The weather is still really bad - I am wearing all my layers. On the unprotected summits the wind is blowing to 50 miles per hour, but most of the walk is protected by the trees.

We arrive at Zealand Hut for lunch - and have lovely fresh baked bread and turkey and vegetable soup which is really yummy. I eat two serves. The track to Ethan Pond follows an old railway so we make fast time and arrive at the lake around 5.30pm and camp on a tent platform next to the lake. There are moose in the area but we have yet to see one. The Barbarians also stay here in the shelter.

Day 144 - 22nd August - Liberty Springs Tentsite - Galehead Hut - 10.4 miles

The weather has closed in, but we start hiking regardless. The campsite has been quite sheltered, tucked away on the side of the mountain. We head up out of the trees and are hit by very strong winds with gusts to 30 miles per hour.The mist swirls so we have a surreal experience with low visibility on a moon landscape of rocky ridges and boulders. We follow the ridge, cliimb the peaks, see no views, freeze to death, and then descend down very steep wet boulder cliffs, and wade through muddy bogs. I think of Scatters in town. The descent off Mt Garfield is one of the worst on the whole trail for us.

Finally we arrive at Galehead Hut - we can hear the wind turbines screaming a few miles before the hut. We are lucky enough to be accepted into the hut as 'work for stay' which means they feed us and we get to do chores andn sleep on the floor in the dining room. The hut holds about 50 people - most of them college students from places like Yale, etc, who have paid a $100 a night for dinner bead and breakfast. 

The Barbarians arrive half an hour behind us - Paul Molyneaux, Venato and Bluish - and they are accepted for work for stay as well. The noise from the turbines is deafening and the staff shut them down so they can survive the gales. We set tables andn defrost the fridge. We get to eat the left overs after everybody else has finished - potato soup, pasta shells in a meat sauce, and cake. We spread out our beds at 9.00pm and lights out at 9.30pm.

In the middle of the night the winds are so strong they blow open the front door - we are sleeping right next to the door and I struggle to close it against the force of the wind.

Day 143 - 21st August - Eliza Brook Shelter - Liberty Springs Tentsite - 11.4 miles

Lasr night is really cold and I am snuggled into my winter sleeping bag. We sleep in an extra half hour and start walking at 7.45am. It is a very steep climb to South Kinsman Mountain, with huge rock slabs to negotiate, which test our rock climbing skils. We find it very tiring. The views from the top are superb, and little do we know - they are the last views that we see for a few days, as the weather starts to close in.

We have a long descent down wet granite slabs and cliffs which takes forever arriving at our first 'catered' hut in the Whites - Lonesome Lake Hut - and there are thousands of people here. You can pay to stay here, and there is a lunch menu so we tuck in - the soup turns out to be like dishwater. So disppointing. We make a fast descent to the road at Franconia Notch. Scatters catches us here and decides to head into town - she has heard the weather is turning bad.  We climb another 2,000' to make it to Liberty Springs Campsite, which is nestled into the side of the mountain out of the wind. There must be 15 tents here, scattered through the trees, and a warden directs us to our campsite, and gives us the weather forecast - bad!

Day 142 - 20th August - Glencliff - Mt Moosilauke - Elisa Brook Shelter - 17 miles

An early start to climb the mountain which has been on our horizon for at least a week. It is a huge silhouette in the distance, which has psyched me out a bit. This is the first mountain of the Whites - the Whites are meant to be tough - I am nervous.

It turns out to be quite straighforward - cloudy, rain threatening and steep.We reach the summit in two hours. It is really cold and windy on the summit, with poor visibility - we don't hang around. Hikers loom up out of the mist. The descent is quite tricky. Once we are back into the treeline, the weather improves and we huddle together for a quick snack. Then another half hour of descending and the blue sky emerges - we wonder if there are now great views from the summit but we are not going back to check.

We follow a very steep track down alongside a waterfall - it is huge rockslabs with timber steps nailed to the granite to enable hikers to get a grip. I wonder how dogs get on doing this bit. Some of the granite is very slimy from the water flow - it is a serious accident waiting to happen here.

We arrive down at the road at Kingston Notch at about 1.30pm and stop for lunch. While we are waiting, Scatters catches up to us. We are still feeling good so decide to continue on to the next shelter even though this involves another climb, which turns out to be very steep and hardwork. We arrive at the shelter just on dusk, very proud of ourselves - we have completed 17 miles in very difficult terrain.

The shelter is packed. We seem to have caught up to hikers we have not seen before - the Canadian Geese, an older couple, and The Barbarians - a father with two children aged around 10 and 7. Both these groups are through hikers.

Day 141 - 19th August - Ore Hill Shelter - Glencliff - 7.5 miles

A relatively easy climb and descent through forest to the Glencliff Rd, followed by a 0.5 mile trip into 'town' to stay at the Hikers Welcome Hostel. At the road we are 'dicovered' by a film crew who want to film us to give a bit of local colour to their story of the AT. We are happy to oblige but when we ask if they can run us into town, they are suddenly too busy. So we start walking the half mile down the road. Not one car goes past.

The Hikers Welcome Hostel is a fairly ramshackle place - our first thought is that it would never pass council inspections in Australia and would not be allowed to operate with the toilet and bathroom facilities which are basically a tent, with one shower and one toilet for up to 50 people who are staying here in the dormitory or camping in their own tents. We pitch our tent on the lawn along with about 8 other tents, and get a ride into town with Red Hat and Lion King.We are able to have a nice lunch and do a resupply at the grocery for 4 days food.

Day 140 - 18th August - Perking Brook - Ore Hill Shelter - 14.4 miles

We start early and  climb for an hour, and climb another 1,000' to reach the fire tower. I am glad we did not try and do this last night. It would have killed us.Stucco and Boss have just left 10 minutes before we arrived. Then we have a long 4 mile descent to the road.

Another 2,000' climb over spectacular rock slabs to Mt Cube which is quite rocky. There are glorious views and we have lunch on top with some southbounders (SOBOS) asking them questions about the White Mountains, gathering as much intelligence as we can on how the hut system works.

We are feeling quite tired today - the combination of two full days of heavy climbing takes its toll. We finally staggger into Ore Hill Shelter just before 5pm. The first red oak leaves are starting to fall.

Day 139 - 17th August - Etna to Perking Brook - 15.5 miles

Karen drops us off back at the trail. There is some serious climbing today. Boss and Stucco catch us up around 10.00am having started in Hanover that morning. HD Mamma reappears and her husband provides soft drinks for trail magic on a side road, with north bounders (NOBOs) andn south bounders (SOBOs) sitting around together swapping tips.

In the mid afternoon we walk through a field and there is a signpost saying 'ice-cream' so we follow it to a house 50 metres away. Bill, the owner of the house presents us with a chocolate paddlepop and asks us to sign the register. He has collected signatures from every hiker both NOBO and SOBO who have stopped for an icecream. We are #410 and #411. There have been twelve hikers through that day. We have been hiking today with 'Red Hat', an older woman of 63, whose husband died in December. She has hiked many sections of the trail in previous years and this year is doing her version of a thru hike. She decides to stay and sleep at Bills house on the verandah with her hammock.

We leave her to it and start the climb up Lamberts Spur to the fire tower. We climb 1,000', find a small water source with a flat spot nearby and decide to call it a day as it is 6.00pm. The fire tower can wait until tomorrow.

Day 138 - 16th August - Hanover to Etna - 5.9 miles

My boots have separated the sole from the top, so Karen drives us to a large outfitter to buy new boots. On the way we cross back on the bridge to Norwich and see Stucco and Scatters and Boss arriving on the bridge to enter New Hampshire.

Karen then drops us back in Hanover and we have lunch, do our food shopping and then walk the 5 miles back to Etna which is a very tiny village close to Tiggers Treehouse. We had spoken on the phone to Tater Chip, whom we had not seen since Virginia. He decided to 'flip flop' - after reaching Harpers Ferry, the half way mark he then headed to Maine to the end point of the trail to start walking back south to Harpers Ferry. He was worried that he would not complete the trail before the cold set in if he kept heading north. So Tater is heading south to Hanover and the plan is that we will cross paths with him on the trail today as we head north from Hanover. And can you believe it - we actually do meet up. He is as hail and heary as ever - keen, talking at a hundred miles an hour, with a strong southern Alabama accent. We sit and chat for half an hour and share recommendations. He has been sick and had to take a week off the trail to recover. He is walking with two young guys, who seem to fit in with quite well.

We turn off the trail to the general store at Etna and drink Mountain Dew and eat blueberry cake and potato chips and wait for Karen to pick us up. Another hiker arrives, who we meet for the first time - On the Loose - and we walk with On the Loose for the next 5 weeks and share the summit with her on our final day.

Back at Tiggers Treehouse we cook bacon and eggs for dinner in the microwave. It is very cramped and Digby and I restrain from killing each other.

Day 137 - 15th August - Thistle Hill Shelter - Hanover - 14.9 miles

We walk 5 miles into the small village of West Hartford and settle in at the Village Deli/General Store which is serving breakfast and is really busy. As we eat, everyone from the shelter last night arrive to have breakfast. We meet up with Wallflower who we have not seen since Virginia.

There is a sense of anticipation as we hike through the woods with the tall firs, as town gets closer. The first town is Norwich - there is a house with an esky at the front gate with watermelon slices and fruit cake for hikers. We love you Norwich! Then a car chases us down the street to give us a bag of freshly picked blueberries. Yum. We eat as we walk. and feel really special. We cross the bridge and leave Vermont and enter New Hampshire and the town of Hanover, the home town of Bill Bryson, who first introduced us to the AT with his book ' A Walk in the Woods'.

This is a university town for Dartmouth College. Accommodation is really expensive. We arrange to stay in a caravan with a family who come to town to pick us up - they are 6 miles out. We leave our packs at the Dartmouth Outdoor Centre, and wander around town and eat pizza then Ralph picks us up at 6.00pm and takes us back to 'Tiggers Treehouse'. This turns out to be an interesting experience. We sleep in a Winnebago - two nights in this space is enough for Digby and I to decide that we do not want to spend long periods travelling in a a caravan. Karen has 5 dogs - she is a very kind lady but has no idea how to make the dogs obey her. We will always think of 'barking dogs' as the main memory of Tiggers.

This is Sunday and we tally up how much distance we have covered for the last week - a total of 105.8 miles with a daily average of 15.1 miles. We are very pleased with our progress and think that we are still on target to complete the hike within our visa time which expires on September 30 - 6 weeks to go and 400 miles still to cover - and those 400 miles are renowned as some of the hardest on the whole trail.

Day 136 - 14th August - Locust Creek to Thistle Hill Shelter - 16.4 miles

We climb to a mountain look out which has a private shelter owned by Look Out Farm. The cabin has a tower on the roof with a great view of Mt Moosilauke to the north. This is our first view of the 'White Mountains'. We arrive at a highway to discover a shop just down the road so we take detour to 'On the Edge' Farm where we can buy cheese, milk, soft drink, fruit and bread for lunch. We sit at a picnic table and watch a whole mob of cyclists heading past - a weekend ride.

The track has lots of climbs and descents - the climbing for the day adds up to 3400' - no wonder we are so tired. We find two cans of coke left in a net bag in the river as trail magic - we drink one - the other has leaked and is flat.

There are ten people at the shelter - and they are all new faces. We are wondering what has happened to our own 'cloud' of hikers. Camped next to us is 'Fog' standing for friendly old guy. He has hiked the trail before. This time he has decided to travel really light and fast. His pack looks like a day pack. He is covering over 20 miles every day so we dont expect to see him again. But surprise surprise - his face keeps reappearing over the next month, and we enjoy his company.

Day 135 13th August - Inn at Long Trail - Locust Creek - 13.2 miles

A wonderful breakfast in the Inn dining room at the hikers' table. Digby orders 2 breakfasts, but the waitress doesn't believe he will be able to eat such a big feast, so only brings him 1 pancake not three, much to his annoyance. We eat breakfast with two hikers, one doing a section of the AT and one walking the Long Trail which overlaps the AT for several days.

Our first stop on the trail is at Mountain Meadows Lodge - at 2 miles. We ask if they can give us a 'packed lunch' to take away. They have obviously had lots of hungry hikers ask this question. They provide us with an amazing lunch - a turkey wrap, an apple (what joy!), corn chips and 2 cookies in a brown paper bag. While they make up our lunch we meet the star attraction of the lodge - the pet pig - it has a scrunched up face and when I scratch it behind the ears, it groans.

After the night eating and drinking we are feeling sluggish, especially with a lot of steep climbing. We finally call it quits at around 5.30 at Locust Creek where we find a patch in the bush just off the fire trail, above the creek There are two crews working on Quamby Mt trail and it is in very good condition. We watch a track worker using an axe - it was so painful  I was waiting for Digby to rip the axe out of her hand do it for her. But he resisted!

Today we clock over the 1700 mile mark and feel very pleased with ourselves. Our campsite is at 1706 miles.

Day 134 - 12th August - Clarendon Shelter - Mt Killington - Inn at Long Trail - 18.3 miles

An early start - we are psyched up to climb Mt Killington, the  highest peak in Vermont. We have seen it on the horizon when we get mountain views for over a week and now the time has come to climb to the summit, at 4,000 ft. We start at 1190', so it is a long climb. We get into a rhythm and pound up the hill. The traverse on the contour is hard, for about a mile, with tree roots, rocks and steep steps to slow us down. We make good time and are sitting on the summit by 1pm along with 'the gang' - about 10 other hikers who we have been walking with including Scatters and Stucco. Everyone takes the opportunity to use their mobile phone on the summit, as reception is so good. We call Inn at Long Trail and book a room for the night - we get the last 'hikers' rooom'.

It is a long descent, and it seems like it is going on for ever. The Inn at Long Trail is actually a mile off the trail so we have to take a detour which is also full of tree roots. The Inn used to be on the trail, and then the powers that be decided to reroute the AT away from the Inn. Sad story? The owners tell us that it has actually worked for them - they dont get the hiker dregs anymore - the ones who want to dry their tents and gear all over their front lawn etc.

We settle into the bar - and what a surprise - it is an 'Irish' bar and they have cider - we are quite excited. Digby has Guinness on tap, this is the first pub in the US which has sold cider . We spend an enjoyable evening. On the TV Rugby League - Rabbitohs playing the Bulldogs - an Australian sense of deja vue.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Day 133 - 11th August - Big branch - Clarendon Shelter - 16.9 miles

A wet tent and wet flor when I wake up. We have some great views today at Little Rock Pond. We stop at White Rock Cliff for lunch. The viewpoint is 0.2 miles off the trail with a steep descent, so have lunch at the turnoff, amongst all the rock stacks built by people. We share a lot of the trail with skidoo tracks - it must be snow covered in winter. We hit a road and detour half a mile off the trail to have dinner at the Whistlestop Cafe, an old railway station. Boss,Powerpak and Deetz join us. Chicken in gravy with mashed potato - pretty yummy.

The last two miles to the campsite are exhilarating rock climbs - quite chak
Llenging to swing out on a hold wearing a full pack

Day 132 - 10th August - Bromley Ski Resort - Big Ibranch Shelter - 16.5 miles

An early start with a wonderful breakfast of make your own waffles. Dig by eats a huge breakfast. The receptionist gives her carkeys to her daughter who drives us back to the trail

We are climbing by 8 am and reach the summit of MtBromley via a trail across the ski run. We climb the fire tower and have great views looking down on theresort.

There is a shelter here and the log book Has an entry from Masterchief who stayed last night.
We follow a granite rige and climb Mt Baker. On the descent we meet Flgying Squirrel, and an all girls team moving boulders and upgrading the track. We met Flying Squirrel in the Smokies. As a ridge runner. Super tiny and super strong - wiry, and muscles, only five feet tall.

We meet three young men cutting logs,using only a chisels to shape them and leversto to place them. It is a designated wilderness area and no chain saw a are permitted. Bureaucracy gone mad. I appreciate the athleticism and muscles of the young men working bared to the waist. An unexpected joy to see their enthusiasm. We have seen more track workers today working on the trail, than for the whole rest of the trail. We discover the reason is that Vermont has funded this section which overlaps with the Long Trail,so gets lots of hikers doing both trails.

We camp across the Rivera re they are building a new bridge and put the tent tp on a small sand bar. There are great swimming holes amongst the boulders and even I have a swim.

We catch up with stucco and scatters and the rest of the gang. It rains in the night and the tent leaks.

Day 131 - Winhall R. - Bromley Ski Resort - 9.6 miles

We hike for a half day and then have the afternoon off at the ski resort. The manager from the resort picks Us up from the road after we call on our mobile phone. We have a room without a balcony which feels like a cave. The ski resort has mini golf,fun rides,cahairlift with a toboggan run.

There is a small general store and we do resupply from their shelves. Some great local cheese. There are crowds of people at the resort doing all the activities.

We find books to read and settle in for some reading therapy for the afternoon.

Dinner at the tiny bar. Prawns on skewers and pizza, and meet the locals. The manager let's us use his laptop to check our mail. On the computer, drinking margaritas.

Day 130 - 8th August - Kid Shelter - Winhall River - 17.1 miles

Today we reach the exact three quarter point of the hike at 1632 .8 miles. We climb Stratton Mountain today - 2,000 ft climb - we pound up the trail - very fit and fast. We meet daytrippers who have come across from the ski village by gondola. We see our first "moose poo".

We join Scatters, Stucco, Boss, Miles, and the two girls - Powerpak and Deetz - in a stealth camp by a swinging bridge over the river. We wash our clothes and bodies
in the river - a great treat.

Day 129 - 7th August - Congdon Shelter - Kid Gore Shelter - 18.7 miles

Today we have 2,000 ft climb to Mt Glastonbury, with a fie tower on the summit. At the first fire tower, there are 50 tourists waiting to climb the tower. A Jewish orthodox family with five young children dressed in old fashioned clothes, with the msles wearing ringlets.

On the summit, the winds are cold - we need to keep on the move.Most of the day we are walking ahead of the group, but they catchup in the last mile to the campsite, and then Boss races ahead got get the best campsite.

We camp on the dress circle balcony with stunning views back to the shelter. Stick walker and Belle the wonder dog.

Day 128 - Wiiliamstown -Congdon Shelter - 14.1 miles

We leave the motel early and have a steep climb to the Vermont border. It's very exciting to be crossing into a new state.

The track is very boggy and the water is flowing down the track - it reminded me of Tasmania.The trail follows a major river for several miles.

The night at this shelter becomes part of the trail folklore. A young predatory weekend hiker tries to pick up 'Boss' who turns her down, but Xan accepts her offer and moves into her tent. The campsite is crowded - all the campers get to listen to the giggling, and the talking goes on into the night. Nobody gets much sleep, and I feel cranky. On the trail that morning, every body debriefs - everybody is pissed off.

Day 127 - Cheshire - Mt Graylock - Williamstown - 14 miles

A late start after a beautiful BnB breakfast of French toast. Rain during the night and there is still heavy mist and as we walk through the forest,the forest is dripping and it is cold and spooky as we climb. Many of the young hikers have decided to slack pack today and do the walk in the opposite direction because it easier. As we climb up they are running down past us.

The weather starts to close in as we near the summit. We find the summit through the fog. The lodge provides a warm refuge. There is a large group of hikers inside playing cards,waiting for the weather to clear. Some are no wearing enough warm clothes, others are saturated and shivering.

Wehead out into the fog and cloud. It is difficult to find the right trail off the mountain. The signage is poor and the steep descent in the bad weather makes me anxious about being on the wrong trail.

We arrive on the Jain road into Williamstown and walk half a mile to the supermarket to shop. Then we make a bad mistake and decide to stay at the motel over the road - Redwood Motel. This is a BAD decision. The room is dirty - there is pubic hair on the top of the toilet bowl and used soap in the shower. We still stay but I am angry with myself for the next week that we just accepted it.

Day 126 - 4th August - Kay Wood LeanTo - Dalton - Cheshire - 12.3 miles

An early start to get to town for a big breakfast. The younger hikers plan to stay with Tom, who offers an open house to AT hikers. Having twenty hikers eating you out of house and home, lolling around in your lounge rom watching movies on your TV - we wondered how he could put up with it. He is one of the legends on the trail. We hear on the grapevine that Beaverchief has got Giardia, and Tom takes him and looks after him. We walk on past Tom's house into town and find the local diner for breakfast. This is one of the best breakfasts we eat on the trail. I order two plate size blueberry pancakes smothered with butter and maple syrup followed by three fried eggs, three slices of bacon and a pile of home made has browns, washed down with an orange juice freshly squeezed, and a coffee. As we eat, the tables fill up with hikers.

We shop at the local petrol station - not a great choice but we manage. We visit the post office to collect mail - the next set of guidebooks and maps. Mike and Theresa have sent us a card to encourage us and to congratulate us on our progress. We meet Beaverchief collecting a food package - loads of small packs of meal size serves of dried food, sent by his parents.

We walk through town, mainly old wooden buildings,and rundown gardens. There is a huge mountain we have to climb up and over to reach Cheshire. we slog it out, step by step, and the hikers pass us. There is some stunning views from the granite ridges.

Our first stop in Cheshire is the ice cream shop. At th picnic table in front of the shop, all the hikers gather. Miles needs new boots but there is no outfitter here so he rings the nearest outfitter to ask them to pick him up. They decline, so he hitches.

We are staying at Harbour Inn BnB - we call them and they pick us up. The inn is a wonderful old two story weatherboard mansion. We have a large room and the bathroom has an old clawed bath. Takeaway Italian is delivered and we eat out on the verandah.