Gorham, NH to Rangeley, ME 7/1/2009-7/5/2009

7/1/2009 9:00 PM - Carlo Col Shelter – 16.9 mi today – 1897.3 mi total

Woke up at 7 to find the SoBos gone. Make breakfast, caught the weather forecast (crappy for a week), and packed up. Got dropped off at the trail at 9. Met four more SoBos. They are all bunched up right now. Androscoggin River is really high right now. Eased into the day’s warm and humid intermittent rain. The news said this was the second wettest June on record. Shoes were wet quickly. Trudged through the mud all day. Snack break at Tridet Col Tent site. Lunch at Getain Pond. Climbed Mt. Success, which was very anti-climactic (no sign at top!) Trudged through some more with soaking wet feet. Finally at 7:30, we crossed into Maine, great feeling! Took some pics and celebrated with Panama. Officially a GA-ME hiker. Got to the shelter shortly thereafter and met 3 section hikers. Cooked dinner, pumped water, and now to bed. Psyched for Mahoosuc Notch tomorrow! Only 281 miles to go and 17 more days!

7/2/2009 8 PM – Speck Pond Shelter – 9.5 mi today – 1906.8 mi total

Woke up at 7 and hit the trail at 8:15. SPOT is playing me up and won’t send OK messages, only tracking. Very frustrating. Cloudy, wet, windy, and cold today (again). First four miles were some of the worst of my entire trip. Had lunch at Full Goose Shelter and felt down and out. Read the shelter log and it sounded like a lot of other NoBos felt the same way. Panama and I stuffed ourselves and hit the trail. Mahoosuc Notch was awesome. Very narrow canyon with huge boulders that you have to climb over and around. There were some really tight spots, but we kept our packs on the entire time. Took about 2 hours to go one mile. Huge climb out to Specks Pond. We were in a pond so everything is damp. Getting to bed early and will sleep hard tonight. When will this rain end?

7/3/2009 9 PM – The Cabin – 14.9 mi today – 1921.7 mi total

Woke up at 7 feeling groggy. Slept pretty hard last night. Got on the trail at 8:15. Thick fog and wet trail to start out. Climbed up and over Speck Mtn. Descended to Grafton Notch where the sun finally broke through the clouds for the first time in 3 days. Didn’t last long. With this much moisture in the air, sunlight leads to heat lends to atmospheric destabilization leads to T-storms. Happens like clockwork. Ate lunch at Baldpate lean to 2 miles down the road and the T-storms rolled in. Moved on during a break in the storm. Climbed Baldpate Mtn. And got our first view in Maine. It was beautiful, but I knew it meant more rain to come. Called the Cabin to set up a pick-up. Pumped some water in Frye Notch lean to and climbed over Surplus Mtn. It poured on us. Every day I get more wet than I was the day before! Dunn Falls were flowing fast and hard so we took the blue blaze around. One false step would have been perilous. Met Earle at East B Hill Road and he had towels for Panama and I. Stopped in at the store in Andover and got some milk and cookies. Got to the cabin and downed all the beef stew we could have. Ate ice cream afterwards. Went to bed happy, warm, dry, and full. Looking forward to slack packing tomorrow.

7/4/2009 9:15 PM – The Cabin – 10.1 mi today – 1931.8 mi total

Woke up at 6 to an enormous breakfast. Cook our own omelets, blueberry pancakes, biscuits, gravy and of course bacon. Took some of the leftovers for an afternoon snack. Yum. Packed up the daypacks and hit the trail at 8. The trail was wet and muddy all day long (no surprise there!). We were cruising early, but got our directions mixed up and ended up walking the wrong way down a dirt road. Probably walked an extra 2 miles, very frustrating, especially when it started to rain. Its tough to keep your head up when you are cold and wet and homesick. In tough times you have to take it a day, a mile, and sometimes even one step at a time and just refocus yourself. To be out here is a blessing, but in tough times it is hard to see that. Trudged along behind Panama to Hall Mtn Lean-to. Had our snacks and talked with White Hat and ½ measure who were also slack packing today. From there it was 1500 ft down to Sawyer Notch, fording Sawyer Brook, 1500 feet up over Moody Mtn, and 1000 ft down to ford Black Brook, which was at waist height. Passed a couple that were rock hopping around the puddles and looked embarrassed as we plowed through the water. Met Earle at the road next to the Black Brook and decided to call it a day as it was already 2. Got back to the cabin and did some logistics. Planed my next week, but all is likely to change. Dinner was excellent. Cheeseburger for the 4^th. Here with EKG and 180 tonight. Big day tomorrow, so time for bed. SPOT is broken L Hoping for sun tomorrow.

7/5/2009 11 PM –Gull Pond Lodge – 26.4 mi today – 1958.2 mi total

Woke up at 6 and had another enormous breakfast. Packed up a couple of biscuits for the trail. Bid farewell to Maggie, Mollie and Earle and hit the trail at 8. Started with a big climb up Old Blue Mtn. Cold and windy at the top so I didn’t stay long. Trail was muddy as usual, but there were some spots that appear to be drying out a bit. Slack packing felt great and we were finally able to open our stride and crank out the miles. Stopped for lunch at Bemis Mtn Shelter. Slick descent from Bemis to the stream where we had to ford, but water was surprisingly slow. Next 13 miles were gently rolling. Had some nice views along a couple small ponds. Called Bob at Gull Pond Lodge and arranged our pick-up at 8. Drove to Rangeley and saw a beautiful sunset over Rangeley Lake. Hope this nice weather sticks around. Stopped by IGA to pick up some dinner (rotisserie chicken) and lunch for tomorrow (big sub). Got to the Gull Pond Lodge after dark. Ate, showered, and now to bed. Good day on the trail. Only one more town to stop after this one. Countdown is on!