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'.

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!                                                                                                                                                                                

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.