On the AT - Bennington to Black Brook, VT

September 16, 2007 | Miles: 10.1
Start: Rt. 9, Bennington
End: Goddard Shelter
Danielle:
After a late arrival at the Inn at Long Trail last night, we awoke to big breakfast and our 9am shuttle by Dot. Dot kept us entertained with fun hiking and trail maintenance stories until Bennington. We hit the trail at 11am, and started the 10 mile gradual uphill trek to Goddard Shelter. Beautiful hiking weather-cool, clear, bright blue sky. Wonderful! A few leaves are turning. We arrived at 4pm to the shelter with a pretty view out into the VT hills. 4 other hikers joined us – Tryn & Mary, hiking a SOBO section of the AT, plus Moxie and Carl, who are hiking the LT NOBO. All were tired, and it was cold, so we were all snug in our sleeping bags by 8pm. HOWEVER, we were awakened a while later by huge snores emitting from Carl’s bag. We had forgotten our earplugs, and so Snowman finally gave up around 9pm and went to find a tentsite! We needed to get some sleep! He found a small flat spot up in the woods and we set up quickly in the dark. Ah, peace and quiet…
Flora and fauna notes: 2 frogs, 1 orange newt, hairy woodpecker, lots of chickadees and juncos cavorting in the pines by the shelter, and 1 thrush (hermit, I think).

Ryan:
Full disclosure: I’m writing all the journal entries for this trip after it is over. I didn’t take any notes or anything while we were on the Trail. Oh well.
We had a long drive leading to a late arrival at the Inn at Long Trail, which was to be the bookend for this trip. On Sunday morning we took in breakfast at the Inn, and waiting for Dot to pick us up. Dot has section hiked the AT and the LT and now volunteers with the Green Mountain Club…along with helping hikers with shuttles. Thanks Dot!
We hit the trail just before 11:00 for the 10 mile trek to Goddard Shelter. I have to admit, I had some concerns going into this trip as my back has been fairly tight. Not really sure why, but I think I just need to work on my core strength. My knees have felt good, but I haven’t carried a pack for 8 days either. So, we’ll see.
Not much to report from today other than that the weather was perfect. Actually, it was quite cool. And by that I mean perfect for hiking. We had a fairly solid initial climb up from Route 9, but the rest of the day the terrain was reasonable with some nice brooks and a couple overlooks. Vermont is nice.
There’s 6 of us in the shelter tonight. Two AT Sobos, and two LT Nobos. Or are there...

September 17, 2007 | Miles: 11.5
Start: Goddard Shelter
End: stealth campsite by Black Brook
Danielle:
This morning Carl was quickly named Sawmill by Snowman and a new trailname was born! It was a cold night and there was frost on the grass in front of the shelter. A quick jaunt to the top of Glastenbury Mountain, and into the fire tower there. I didn’t make it to the top, but enjoyed the view from a platform just above the trees— great spot, as tons of birds were in the pines—goldfinch, redbreasted nuthatches, sparrows and others I couldn’t identify. The “it’s a small world” moment of the day occurred in the fire tower. Another hiker, Neighbor Jay, was up on the top taking photos. Snowman chatted with him and it turns out he hiked the PCT in 2005. We told him we’d done the AT, and he said we probably know some of the same people… and it turns out we do! Mr. Fusion, one of the first people we met on the AT, is now hiking the PCT and Neighbor Jay spent time hiking this summer out west with him. What a coincidence! Nice hike today, relatively mellow terrain. We ended at a great spot right by Black Brookand Snowman started a fire. Moxie, Sawmill, Neighbor Jay and friends Badmoon, Happy and Phantom set up camp across the river.

Ryan:
I’ve dubbed him Sawmill. Last night, one of the LT Nobos, Carl, started snoring. Then the shelter starting shaking. Luckily, it was only 9:00, so I climbed out of my sleeping bag (temps were in the 40’s), donned my headlamp and found a tentsite. We spent a quiet night in the tent. It was 39° in the tent this morning. Chilly, but that meant we’d have good temps for the day.
The summit of Glastenbury was only .3 away from the shelter, and I wish we’d gotten water at the shelter and camped on the summit. Oh well. Next time. The views from the fire tower were unreal. What a morning!
We had a short day planned, but ended up pushing it further, which was a great call. The site we scored by Black Brook is one of the nicest stealth sites we’ve ong the whole AT: great little flat spot for the tent, a bench and a fire ring. Good stuff. It turns out we’re hiking with about 6 other people out here: the aforementioned Sawmill, who incidentally is a really nice guy; Moxie, who has a great spirit; and a group of 4 who hiked the PCT together in ’05: Neighbor Jay, Happy, Bad Moon and Phantom. I got a small fire going, which is definitely going to help us keep warm on a fairly chilly evening.

On the AT - Church Road to Williamstown, MA

September 10, 2007 | Miles: 14.5
Start: Church Rd., Cheshire
End: Rt. 2, Williamstown
Danielle:
Another gray day... Mom and Dad again acted as taxi service and got us to Cheshire for a 7:45am start. We knew we had a long day ahead of us, with a long hike and a long drive home, so the early start was necessary... and they were driving home to NC so they needed it too! Thanks again guys! Having you around this weekend made filling in these remaining MA sections much easier! We appreciate it :-)

We pretty much hiked in the clouds and mist all day, which made the woods seem sort of dark and spooky... the hike up to Mt. Greylock was long, but fair, and we managed to make the summit in time for lunch. The road is currently closed to cars as they're doing work on it, so the summit was pretty quiet, except for a group of guys working on some sort of weather/wind towers. Who knows? We sat outside the boarded up Bascom Lodge and ate lunch before heading off along the ridge... We had just made it to the Money Brook Trail with 3 miles left in the hike when it really started to rain. Not that we weren't wet anyway, from all the mist and clouds and humidity and sweat! The final few miles were steep, but not as bad as we had feared and less than 7 hours later we were back at Mim's, getting clean. The best thing about today is that now we are done with MA! YEAH! :-) Only took us 3 years to finish it off :-)
Flora and fauna report: 7 orange newts, 5 spruce grouse scared up, 1 bunny. Pretty quiet in the woods today...

Ryan:
A wet day. It only rained on us for about an hour near the end of the hike, but it was about 143% humidity all day. It was dark, too. And kinda spooky. The climb up Greylock from Cheshire is pretty nice. Nothing really hard, just a good steady uphill for 8 miles. We had heard horror stories about the descent off Greylock, but that wasn't that bad either. We moved right along, too, and finished in pretty decent time.
Best of all, we finished MA. It's the first state we've finished since CT in 05, so it felt good to put that one behind us. Our vacation is coming up, and if all goes to plan VT shouldn't be far behind.

On the AT - Pittsfield Road to Grange Hall Road, MA

September 9, 2007 | Miles: 6.9
Start: Pittsfield Road, The Cookie Lady’s House
End: Grange Hall Road
Danielle:
After getting a bit turned around on our drive to Pittsfield Rd., the hike went off without a hitch. This 6.9 mile hike took us 2:25 and was nice and mellow. The day was overcast and humid, with showers forecast. The woods were nice as was the treadway. Not much to say about this hike, except that we were done in time for lunch! Mom and Dad met us at Grange Hall Road (thanks guys!) and we went to Bob's Country Kitchen in Lanesborough, where we all enjoyed some yummy food.
Flora and fauna: 8 orange newts, 2 toads, 1 frog. An amphibian day!

Ryan:
Art and Cheryl acted as a taxi service, and they're pretty darn good at it. It was a gray day, and this was an unexciting section. So, we hiked fast, and we're done in about 2 1/2 hours. Then I ate a hiker lunch at good ole homecooking breakfast all day restaurant: Cheese and mushroom omelette and a grilled cheese with bacon and turkey. Delicious!

On the AT - Crawford Notch to Mt. Washington summit, NH

August 5, 2007 | Miles: 12.6
Start: Crawford Notch
End: Mt. Washington

Danielle:
Wow! We couldn’t have asked for a better day to hike, especially this hike! Ryan drove the car up to the top of Mt. Washington on Saturday afternoon and got a ride down in the shuttle. That way, we would have a car at the top to hike to. Brilliant! I woke up around 5:30am, and glanced out the window… the alpenglow on the mountains was gorgeous, and the sky was crystal clear. I knew it was going to be a great day! And it was…
We started out around 9am from Crawford Notch and began the climb up Webster Cliffs. It almost felt like fall. After a stretch of hot and humid weather, the system had finally moved out and we were left with bright blue skies, a nice cool breeze and no humidity. Wonderful. I could go on and on and on today about the views. They were as good as it gets. We had lunch at Mizpah Hut, filled up our water, and headed up Mt. Clinton. From Clinton onward, we were pretty much above treeline the whole way, with great views of Washington and the Presidential Range, not to mention everything else around. It was warm and the sun was bright but the breeze felt wonderfully cool. It made for great hiking.
There were lots of people out enjoying the nice day, and most of them were simply day hikers—Ryan got a lot of weird looks and one funny comment about his “skirt” :) Also saw a fair amount of wildlife: one HUGE toad (his body was at least 4 inches long!), 2 snakes, one vole, two gray jays at the hut, a white-throated sparrow, lots of juncos, and a brood of baby spruce grouse in the col before the hut.
We really enjoyed today. What a great hike! Took us 7 1/2 hours, with a good number of stops, and some slow moving in the last 1.5 miles uphill from Lake of the Clouds Hut to the summit of Washington after a long day.

Ryan:
At one point today Danielle said, “Man, this is sweet!” That pretty much sums it up. The Whites are totally different. We spent about 5 hours above treeline, and it was gorgeous. The weather was ridiculous…just perfect. I really can’t say anything else that would even come close to describing what a great hike this was.

On the AT - Rt. 4, Killington to Stony Brook Shelter, VT

July 29, 2007 | Miles: 10.0
Start: Rt.4 , Killington
End: Stony Brook Shelter

Danielle:
The first half of today’s hike was nice and mellow. After three quick miles we hit Gifford Woods State Park where we ate lunch in the nice picnic area in the shade, with bathrooms and a water spigot nearby. Then we went pass an idyllic pond where people were fishing and kayaking, the fish jumping and little ducks by the shore. Several hikers lounged on the grass enjoying the views. These first miles went by easily… then we hit Quimby Mountain, a steep climb which, combined with the heavy, humid weather, made us sweat! After a rest along the ridge, we made our way down to Stony Brook Shelter, arriving in good time by 4pm. We made ourselves comfortable, and enjoyed the evening chatting with the thru-hikers that wandered in throughout the afternoon. I made my way into the tent around 8pm, and had a good night’s sleep!

Ryan:
Perhaps the most interesting part of our hike today was actually getting to the hike. It was a two part journey. The first part was a drive from home to the end of our hike on Rt. 12. On the way, we got a flat tire. Danielle’s first response was “Should I call Triple A?” Hell no! I can change a tire. 10 minutes later and we were on our way, and she was impressed with my manliness. The second part was a taxi ride from the crazy taxi lady. She talked the whole way about…I have no idea. She was insane. She drove slowly. It was painful. Then we hiked. Nice hike. 10 miles in 5 hours. Saw a great campground that we’ll perhaps stay at in the future. Hiked past a pretty little pond. Met a bunch of thruhikers. Another day on the AT.

July 30, 2007 | Miles: 13.7
Start: Stony Brook Shelter
End: Rt. 12, Woodstock
Another hot and humid day. Today’s hike was relatively uneventful, but a nice hike through the forest, with a short stretch through some fields at the end. The morning’s climb ended at The Lookout, a cabin on private property that hiker’s can use, which had nice views of the countryside and lots of raspberry bushes with ripe berries. Yum! The rest of the day’s hike had us wandering along through the woods, eventually dropping us out in the Vermont fields we know and love. All in all, a good, if sweat-soaked hike!
Flora and fauna report: Indian pipe, blue bead lilies, a few wood sorrel, 4 snakes, several chickadees flitting about the trees at Lakota Lake Lookout, and a Broad-winged Hawk calling for its mate from a tree branch near an old woods road where we stopped for a water break. Cool!

Ryan:
Today was fine. Really humid. Therefore, I was really sweaty. We hiked. It was fast, only about 6.5 hours. The biggest complaint was the totally wrong guidebook and even more incorrect elevation profile on the map. We had no idea where we were for most of the day. So we kept hiking. There were cows at the end. MOO!

On the AT - Pinkahm Notch to Rt. 2, Gorham, NH

June 19, 2007 | Miles: 13.1
Start: Pinkham Notch
End: Imp Campsite
Danielle:
A beautiful day for a tough traverse, with many steep ascents and descents, going over 5 of NH’s 4000 footers. We’ve done some of this section of the AT before, and it did not like us then… However, luckily this time, we had a better time of it, although that isn’t to say it was rough! There was lots of sweating (it was humid), and more than enough grumbling… It took us over 9 hours to do these 13 miles, with the first two miles rising up from the Notch to the start of the Wildcat ridge, giving us great views along the rocky ledges back over to the Presidentials. Then we descended into Carter Notch, stopping at the AMC hut to enjoy the luxury of filter-free water (yeah!) and lunch at their picnic tables, before quickly and steeply ascending up to Carter Dome. Ugh! That was a climb! Over Mt. Hight, Middle Carter and North Carter, where we began our final descent to Imp. I remembered lots of steep rocky slabs to descend on this section, and my memory hadn’t lied. It was indeed steep! Then finally, the spur to Imp, with yet another descent :) After a quick set-up, we devoured our dinner while trying to keep away the black flies that had descended upon us in droves. Needless to say, we didn’t have much success! Ah, hiking in June….
Overall, a tough section of trail, but with some nice views, lots of new bog bridges and some good wildflowers—bunchberries, gold thread, star flowers, rhodora, white violets and a few trillium—to liven up the woods.

Ryan:
A long hike to close out a long week of work—no rest for the wicked. Day started cloudy, but cleared out nicely, then got hazy. And we saw it all as it took us more than 9 hours to get from point A to point B. The initial climb up the Wildcat Ridge Trail was hard—really steep. But we made it to the top of Wildcat Ski Area and then onto Wildcat D in just about 2 hours. Then some more work to climb Wildcats C, B and A, followed by a huge descent to Carter Notch Hut. The climb out of Carter Notch to Carter Dome was even bigger, and slow after a tasty lunch. Then it gets a little muddled, we just kept walking over the Carters. It was long and rugged and warm and we were tired. Then came the descent from North Carter—reeeediculous. Eventually, we got to Imp campsite 13 miles after we started. I got tired just typing that. Overall, it was a great day. We were tired, but we had a blast. The views were great. The trail was beautiful. The company was even better. All in all good times. But then the 8 million black flies arrived at Imp, made it a little tough to eat my Teriyaki noodles. I muddled through.

June 20, 2007 | Miles: 8.0
Start: Imp Campsite
End: US 2, Gorham
Danielle:
In today’s episode of “The adventures of Sparkplug & Snowman,” we find our duo, tired from a long hike yesterday and not much sleep, continuing their traverse of the Carter-Moriah Range, ascending the slick rocky ledges of Moriah in the rain, hurrying along to get out of the wind, passing by the vistas now enshrouded in fog… the rain finally relents as they descend to the Rattle River Shelter, the trail mellowing as it follows the stream. As the rain relents, the bugs begin their attack, and the episode concludes with a shot of S&S running the last half mile of the now flat trail in an attempt to outrun and outwit the hordes of angry, blood-sucking mosquitos that have descended upon them… Yup, that pretty much sums it up.

Ryan:
So, I woke up feeling like I had been to Fight Club last night…and lost to Meat Loaf. Not pretty. So, a grouchy start. Then it started raining. Then we walked. Then we tried not to get hypothermia climbing over Mt. Moriah. Danielle was in the lead and yelled at me because “She felt rushed.” Of course, I was rushing her…it was miserable, and I wanted to get out of there. Once over the peak, it was all good from there. Off and on rain, but nothing too bad. Then it was all down. About 3000 feet down to the land of the ravenous mosquitoes. We ran/jogged the last half mile in order to not donate too much blood. A great 2 days.

On the AT - VT 12, Woodstock to West Hartford, VT

July 17, 2007 | Miles: 12.6
Start: VT 12, Woodstock
End: West Hartford

Danielle:
Today can be summed up as a day with 1) lots of steep, short PUDs (or unnecessary ups and downs) and 2) lots of overgrown, high field crossings that made nice red welts on my legs. While the field crossings did yield some nice patches of milk weed, black eyed susans and a good patch of raspberries at one point, as well as a few nice views of the rolling VT hills, overall, this was a section that was not super exciting and which elicited lots of grumbling! We were both dragging a bit and the miles seemed to go on forever… so, needless to say, we were very happy to reach the car at the end of the day!

Ryan:
Today kinda sucked. No one event to point to, just an off day. The weather was nice, so that wasn’t a factor. We were both feeling sluggish from our big day in NH yesterday, and it felt like it was taking forever. Plus, the trail wasn’t that great. A couple decent views, but lots of PUDS and a number of overgrown fields. It just wasn’t really fun. I’m glad this section is out of the way, and I hope the other parts of VT are better…they have to be, right?

On the AT - Lyme-Dorchester Rd to NH25A, NH

July 16, 2007 | Miles: 16.0
Start: Lyme-Dorchester Rd.
End: NH 25A

Danielle:
A gorgeous day to be hiking in southern NH. We really enjoyed this section. With two big climbs, it was the perfect Danielle & Ryan hike. The hike up to Smarts Mountain was pretty nice, with some great views from Lambert Ridge. When we got to the firetower on Smarts, a fast-moving NOBO was sitting, playing his banjo and singing. Very nice to snack to :) Then it was down to South Jacobs Brook for lunch. A great spot! Mount Cube was next on the list, again with some nice views along the ledges leading to the summit, and a few blueberries too. Yum! By the summit, we were pretty tired, but were still moving along well. The final descent seemed to go on for a while, but we soon arrived at our car, very happy with our hike! Saw quite a few thru-hikers throughout the day, and gave a ride to Pokey, a section hiker like us, back to her car at Lyme-Dorchester Road.

Flora and fauna report: Most of the wildflowers have passed, but we did see some nice wood sorrel, wild geraniums as well as the blue beads and bunchberry berries starting to get blue and red, respectively. Saw 5 snakes, a toad, a frog, one orange salamander (newt), a deer and Ryan saw two woodpeckers.

Ryan:
Today rocked! Of course, I started out a little less than thrilled to be up and out, but a Dunkin Donuts Supreme Omelet has just the right amount of disgusting to fuel the day. A great climb up Smarts Mountain. Hard, but fair. Great views from the summit fire tower, plus some tunes from Five String, a northbounder with a banjo. Mt. Cube was even better. A number of open sections and a great view from the top. The trail was busy today with a number of thruhikers, both north and southbound, which made it a lot of fun. It was a long day with the two big climbs, but it was a great one.

On the AT - Williamstown, MA to Rt. 9, Bennington, VT

July 7, 2007 | Miles: 6.9
Start: Rt. 2, Williamstown
End: Seth Warner Shelter

Danielle:
A visit with Hairball and Snowbunny made this morning great! They met us at the parking lot at Rt. 9, and we piled into Rhonda, Hairball’s Honda Civic with the two of them, the two of us and their two dogs—one Rat Terrier and one Chesapeake Bay Retriever. The car was stinky and full! We had a big breakfast and caught up before they dropped us at the trail crossing at Rt. 2 in Williamstown. Stomachs full, we started off, knowing we could take it slow as we were just planning a 7-mile day. And overall, it was a mellow hike. Easy treadway, a few views and the first blueberries of the season atop Pine Cobble (yum!) and then a wander through the woods to the shelter. We arrived at 1:30 and had a late lunch. We figured we were in for a quiet night, but people kept arriving… in the end there were 16 of us in the shelter and at the surrounding tent sites! Lots of Long Trail thru-hikers starting out! We took spots in the shelter and escaped the rain that came in the afternoon and during the night… that was nice… however, we were entertained by a fellow hiker who even before enjoying the bourbon he was carrying was a gregarious character. It was a bit noisy to say the least!

Flora and fauna report: Indian pipe, blueberries, wood sorrel, mountain laurel, one snake, lots of birds chirping in the woods.

Ryan:
What’s the best way to start a hike? With a visit from friends and a big breakfast. Team Hairbunny, Hairball and Snowbunny, met us at the trailhead in Bennington, took us to breakfast and then dropped us at the trailhead in Williamstown. Good to catch up with those guys. That was really the most exciting part of the day. The trail was mellow and very nice. Overall, it was an easy day, and we were done by about 1:30. Short and sweet. Some thunderstorms, rolled in and we stayed in the shelter. It was busy with about 15 people. About half of them were just starting the Long Trail and on their way to Canada. The Long Trail runs about 270 miles the length of Vermont and coincides with the AT for a little less than half of it. Then the AT takes a right and heads for Katahdin. We had a good fire, talked trail with all the new hikers and had a great afternoon and evening. It got a little noisy later as one of the guys drank waaayyyy too much bourbon. A drunk 65 year-old imitating a barred owl is not how you want to go to sleep.


July 8, 2007 | Miles: 11.5
Start: Seth Warner Shelter
End: Rt. 9, Bennington
Danielle:

We awoke to rain, and didn’t rush to get out, but managed to hit the trail a little after 8am. Today Vermont lived up to its nicknames—“The Green Tunnel” and “Ver-mud”! It was very nice walking through the forest, nice and lush and green with lots of clearing with sweet-smelling ferns and hobblebush. But along with that, there was lots of mud! Squish, squish! We went by a few nice ponds/swamps today, including a very cool beaver pond. A quick 7 miles to Congdon Shelter where we had lunch, then a climb up to Harmon’s Hill before a steep descent down to Rt. 9. The skies cleared and things started to heat up as we headed down to the road. We were envious of those continuing on up the Long Trail as they all had that great combination of apprehension, excitement and wonder as they started on their hike, but it was a great 2 days out, and we’ll be out again soon!

Wildlife highlight of the day: 12 bright orange salamanders (newts) seen, including one that was only about an inch long. So cute!

Ryan:
Green tunnel and mud. That’s Vermont. So, we did a little over 18 miles on this trip, and here’s the best part: it was easy. We had a great two days. That’s really all there is to report from today. It rained in the morning, cleared, was really, really muggy and about 90 degrees. That’s July, though. Overall, we’re feeling really good about the progress we’ve made so far this year and reaching our goal. This AT thing has been pretty fun…I guess that’s why we’re still going.

On the AT - Grafton Notch to East B Hill Road, Andover, ME

June 24, 2007 | Miles: 10.3
Start: Rt. 26, Grafton Notch
End: East B Hill Road, Andover
Danielle:
A gorgeous day to be out! The air was crisp, the sky was blue and there was a nice cool breeze to keep away the bugs. Perfect! We had done the climb up and over the Baldpates before, but it was long ago, and we hadn’t remembered it being such a nice hike! The section from the West Baldpate summit down into the col where beautiful mountain laurel was blooming, as well as this cool grass with little puff ball tops blowing in the wind, and then back up to East Baldpate was gorgeous but breezy! The descent off East was steep, and we stopped in the notch for lunch, then headed up and over Surplus Mountain and wandered down through the woods on the other side to the road… the woods were nice and green with wood sorrel, ladyslippers, blue bead lilies, star flowers, Canada mayflower along the trail. It was a good 5-hour hike, and we enjoyed it!

Ryan:
Today rocked. We felt great. The trail was nice. Most of all the weather was perfect and the views were amazing. The Baldpates are one of the most beautiful stretches we’ve hiked yet. It was too bad we were only out for the day. A little more than ten miles in about five hours. Good stuff. And our extremely random and haphazard section hike rolls on.

On the AT - East B Hill Road to South Arm Road, Andover, ME

June 10, 2007 | Miles: 10.1
Start: East B Hill Road, Andover
End: South Arm Road
Danielle:
Bright and sunny, a bit humid
Aided once again by our friend Earl at the Cabin shuttling us from South Arm to the AT crossing on East B Hill Road, we were on our way by 9:15. The ascent to Surplus Pond was pretty mellow, and the woods were full of white and pink lady slippers, gold thread, bunchberry, blue bead lilies and Indian poke. A few trout lilies and trillium holding on too, but mostly their season is over. Anyway, as always, the spring woods are vsery pretty. At the pond, which is accessible by a dirt road, a large group had set up camp right on the trail, although friendly. From there we climbed up Wyman Mountain, wandering through pine forest and taking in a few nice views along the way. There were a few pesky blowdowns after the summit on our descent to Hall Mountain Lean-to, where we stopped to have our lunch, and then the trail went down, down, down into Sawyer Notch. Pesky notches! Sawyer Brook was running high, but we managed to get across without getting too wet! Thank goodness for goretex ;-) Then up, up, up Moody Mountain, with numerous ladders and scrambles along the way. We were surprised to see some moose droppings on the way up. It seems moose will go anywhere, even if very steep! The climb seemed to go on forever, but eventually we hit the high point with a nice scenic vista. We didn’t stay long as the long grass and brambles had irritated my legs and I was looking forward to getting down to Black Brook to wash off my legs… Silly sensitive skin! Luckily, the descent was much gentler and soon enough we were at the brook. As we pondered whether we could get across without getting our feet wet, a kingfisher flew by. Neat! Eventually we decided to just wade on through and I had fun splashing around in the water. It felt good on a warm day! All in all, a good 6-hour hike, and another 10 miles done ;-)

Ryan:
Earl said it best: “A great day to be out in the woods.” That pretty much sums it up. Another shuttle from Earl from the Cabin in Andover, and we were on our way. 6 miles of mellow climbing to Hall Mtn. Lean-to, then 4 miles of 1400 feet down, 1000 feet up and another 1000 feet down. Kinda hard, but not impossible. Not much to report from the day other than another beautiful section of Maine.

On the AT - Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to to Rt. 4, Rangeley, ME

June 5, 2007 | Miles: 9.4
Start: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to
End: Rt. 4, Rangeley
Danielle:
It poured overnight, but we awoke to what looked like clearing skies, which was nice. As we were packing up to leave, a grey jay came in to check us out. Ryan took a few peanuts from our GORP and held them out in his hand; the bird swooped right in, scooped them up, and then kind of cocked his head as if looking for more… We also saw a hummingbird fly by! And down by the pond, a snowshoe hare hopped by. Later we scared up a hairy woodpecker; also saw a hermit thrush and a black-throated blue warbler. Still no moose, but again, lots of droppings and hoofprints. The terrain was relatively mellow today, although with the additional rain last night, it was the wettest day yet! And of course, I managed to slip off almost every root or rock that I used to get through the water on the trail. Finally in frustration, I stomped in a puddle and felt a bit better! I think the trail would have been better described today as a combination stream/bog/pond with a few small patches of dry ground thrown in… I don’t think we’ve ever been on a wetter trail. At the final stream crossing, with really no good way across, we simply stomped right through, which was a nice change to attempting to keep dry by hopping around the water! All in all, a good, if wet and rough, three days of hiking. And better yet, the skies cleared and we had blue skies for the last few hours!

Ryan:
It rained pretty hard last night making everything wetter. The Trail today was underwater. Pretty much everywhere. It’s our third and final day and I’m feeling pretty good. My body has felt great, and I’ve yet to mention my new pack. I just purchased a Six Moons Designs, Starlite. It’s awesome, get one. It maxes out at carrying 35 pounds, which is about as heavy as I want to go. My base weight is just under 15 pounds, so add food and water, and I’m in good shape. It carries great and these three days were a great test. It hasn’t quite reached legendary status like my sleeping bag, Western Mountaineering Ultralite, but it’s pretty sweet. Oh yeah, we hiked today. My body felt really good. No pain in the knees at all. I think I was moving a little better than Danielle at the end of the hike, which is rare. Then again, she was carrying about 10 pounds of water in each boot after falling into pretty much every stream today. And, by stream, I mean trail. The trail was pretty much all water. There were a number of bog bridges, but we literally could have used about 7 miles of them. Water everywhere. It was a bit ridiculous, but that’s late spring in Maine. Hopefully, our boots will dry in time for next weekend. At least the sun came out today. It was nice to not be getting wet from above, even if we were being saturated from below. All in all, it was a great trip, and out first foray onto the AT in Maine. We’re slowly piecing it together, and it’s always nice to be in the woods.

On the AT - Bemis Mtn Lean-to to Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to, ME

June 4, 2007 | Miles: 8.3
Start: Bemis Mountain Lean-to
End: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to
Danielle:
After a night of snoring, we woke up to a chilly, wet morning. Ryan’s watch was reading 46 degrees in the shelter. So on with the raingear, and off we went, heading out at 7:45, last to leave, as usual… the hike up over Bemis Peaks 1 and 2 was up and over some rocky ridgeline, the blooming rhodora were nice purple highlights amidst the green and grey that dominated the rest of the landscape. However, the rocky ledges continued as we descended, and boy were they slick! We had a rough go of it, and it took us forever to navigate the slippery rocks. Ryan was not amused, and wanted to stop hiking once we reached Rt. 17. However, we finally got down off the Bemis peaks, and hit what Wingnut called a “ford.” We were relieved to find that the river was crossable on a nice log and with a few rock hops—much better than a ford on a cold day! That perked Ryan up a bit, as did the rest of the hike, which was much more mellow, winding along through some nice forest, adding Indian poke and wild oat to our list of flora seen on the way. We even had a bit of trail magic! Along one of the ponds, there was a small stream with orange sodas and a few PBRs left by a 2006 thru-hiker. We picked up a PBR to enjoy with dinner. Nothing like a cold PBR on a cold, rainy day :-) Toward the end of our hike, we hugged the shoreline of Long Pond, which had a nice beach, and then ended up at Sabbath Day Pond, with the shelter a bit removed from the pond’s edge. It was pretty early, but with no other shelters along the route, we decided to call it a day and hang out for the afternoon. Stickman and Faithful joined us, and we had another evening together, once again happy to be in the shelter and out of the rain, which picked up significantly overnight!

Ryan:
Well, another soggy day on the trail. In fact, the trail is underwater. Everything is soaked. It hasn’t really brought a full tilt rain, but the mist to almost rain has been constant. We started the day continuing along the Bemis Ridge, then with a thousand-foot descent to Bemis Stream. It sucked, and I was not a happy camper. I was sucking my thumb and wanted to be home with my woobie. Plus, I was dreading the advertised ford of Bemis Stream. I hate, hate, hate cold water. Needless to say, I was not a fun person to be around. Once again, Danielle put up with my whining, and convinced me we shouldn’t just pack it in at Route 17, which was a mile or so away. Anyway, we made it off the ridge and we reached the stream. Stickman and Faithful, after starting out from the shelter before us, were already there. Referring to the ridge, Stickman said very matter-of-factly, “That was kinda tough.” This guy’s attitude was light years ahead of mine. So, after an hour of pouting, I smacked myself around and got it together. Plus, the ford was super easy. One nicely placed downed tree and a simple rock hop later, we were on the other side. Actually, on many parts of the trail we got a lot wetter than on this ford. I was planning to have to take off the rain pant and don the Crocs, but it was really easy. Then we had the steep climb up to Route 17, and I was feeling good. I like climbing. I’m sick. The rest of the way was pretty mellow, but wet, wet, wet. June in Maine is very soggy. We passed a couple beautiful ponds, which I love hiking past. Really some of my favorite scenery. Best of all, we found cold beer in a stream left by a past thruhiker. PBR with dinner? Absolutely. I’ll definitely tote a beer to the shelter. I turned it into a mousehanger for the shelter. It’s nice to give back. We had a couple walking snacks since it was so rainy, and were eating lunch in the shelter by about 1:00. Then it was into the bag for a relaxing but chilly afternoon. Stickman and Faithful showed up about 2 hours after us, and we spent the night chatting about the Trail. I tried to convince Stickman to keep his wet t-shirt on. “Just throw a warm layer over it, and then sleep in it. It will be dry by morning. It works great. I’m doing it right now.” He wasn’t buying it.

On the AT - South Arm Road to Bemis Mtn Lean-to, ME

June 3, 2007 | Miles: 8.7
Start: South Arm Road
End: Bemis Mountain Lean-to
Danielle:
We had planned to do the Franconia Ridge this 3-day weekend, but due to forecasts for thunder, lightening, wind and rain, we thought another option might be best… So, we thought that this Maine section would be a good one. We called Earl at the Cabin in Andover on Saturday night, and arranged for him to shuttle us from our end point at Rt. 4, Rangeley back to the start at South Arm Road. During the whole 1 1/2 hour ride, Earl kept us amused with stories of hiking and hikers, as well as little bits of trivia. We also saw some white lady slippers on the back roads. Cool! We started off at 10am, and although we had a few views on the steep climb up Old Blue, things quickly clouded over and we were in the fog and mist for the rest of the afternoon. The woods had a Tolkien quality to them, very rugged, old and moss covered. And things were very wet and slippery, with the wet rocks and roots making for some rough, slow going. Thrown in were a few blowdowns to make life interesting too, of course :-) And lots of moose poop! We finally made it to Bemis Mountain Lean-to after 6 hours, to find three guys holed up there out of the mist and rain. Bookworm was on a NOBO hike, but he started in October! Now that’s a different way to do a thru! And Stickman and Faithful had just started out there hike, heading north to Katahdin and then flopping back south from Andover. Inexperienced, but seem to have good energy. We’ll be thinking of them as they head along the trail! It was an early night in the bag for us, as it was pretty chilly!
We saw lots of spring flowers on the way- trillium, goldthread, trout lilies, blue bead lilies, violets, starflowers, wild sasparilla and bunchberries.

Ryan:
Earl is the man. Who’s Earl. Earl owns and runs the Cabin in Andover, ME, and he agreed to shuttle us from our car at the end in Rangeley to the start of our hike on South Arm Road. (Oh yeah, we planned to hike from Franconia Notch to Crawford Notch, but forecast of rain, lightning, death and destruction changed our plans.) Earl told us stories the whole time, and it was great. Then we climb up Old Blue. Old Blue flat out brings it. Steep climb. And, we were climbing into the clouds. It never really rained on us, but it was very wet, soggy and misty all day long. Earl warned us about blowdowns, but we saw very few until we saw a lot. From Elephant Mountain (or near it, anyway) to the Bemis Stream Trail, the blowdowns were crazy. Up, over, around, through. You name it. We climbed Mt. Bemis, but didn’t bother with the viewpoint…since we were in a cloud. Maybe there were other views. No idea. See aforementioned cloud. We rolled into Bemis Mountain Lean-to at about 4:00, and there were already 3 in-residence. Bookworm, an ’06-’07 thruhiker who started in October of ’06, took two months off, and now is only a couple weeks from Katahdin. Good stuff. The other two, Stickman and Faithful, who are ’07 southbounders who are doing a northbound section to start just to get rolling. They’re going from Andover to Katahdin, and then they’ll head south. Stickman just turned 50 and has been dreaming of hiking the AT since he first heard of it at age 15. Faithful just turned 21 and is very, very quiet, but he did try to set the shelter on fire. He wasn’t quite sure how to use his stove. They are very green, but happy to be on the trail We talked to them a ton about our AT experience, and we wish them all the best. Hopefully, they’ll take some of our advice, especially since, like most new hikers, they are carrying way, way, way too much stuff. All in all, a great day on the trail, but I must admit, I was pretty tired by the time we got to the shelter. It was nice to curl up in the bag.

On the AT - Rt. 112, Kinsman Notch to Franconia Notch, NH

May 28, 2007 | Miles: 7.5
Start: Rt. 112, Kinsman Notch
End: Eliza Brook Shelter
Danielle:
After pouring rain last night, things cleared up pretty well! We had beautiful blue skies and a nice breeze to keep things cool. The spring flowers were everywhere! Violets, trout lilies, painted and purple trillium, the blue beads were starting to flower, bunchberry, star flowers, wild oats, bluets, the hobblebush were blooming and the woods were nice and green! The views from Mt. Wolf were nice, with Franconia Notch in clear view. The trail itself was rough—lots of rocks, roots and many blowdowns made for slow going all day long. The 7.5 miles took us 5 hours, but we made it to Eliza Brook Shelter before 3pm. What a nice spot! The Brook was running well—don’t we wish all water sources were like that! There was one other hiker at the shelter—“GG,” a great grandmother attempting to finish her hike of the AT—good for her!—who we hung out with until about 6pm when the bugs got too bad. Then into the tent we went, and to sleep EARLY! We should get 12 hours of sleep every night J Two older gentlemen rolled into the shelter around 8pm, but we were already half asleep…

Ryan:
First backpack of the season and real test of the old bones. OK, maybe not that old, but in words of Indiana Jones: “It’s not the years. It’s the mileage.” Short story: some grouchiness in my right knee of late. My plan for the day was to just take it slow, which is tough to do with Danielle cracking the whip, but she was cool with just moseying. The climb out of Kinsman Notch is a good way to wake up, and it was humid…therefore, I was soggy. Nothing of great interest to report from the climb up Mt. Wolf. Overall, it’s a pleasant journey, and a hike I wanted to do for a while. It’s definitely worth it to take the side trail to the view. The trail after Mt. Wolf down to the junction with the Reel Brook Trail…well, it sucks. Down, then up, then down, rocky, puddish, more rocky, no flow, no rhythm, just not that fun. Plus, along the whole way there were blowdowns a plenty…should have carried a chainsaw and a team of horses to pull out the logs. Eliza Brook Shelter is a really nice spot. It was just us and a 70 year-old woman, GG, section hiking the AT. She seemed really happy to see us to have someone to share the evening. But the evening didn’t last long as the black flies were overly friendly, so we climbed in the tent about 6:30. So, we decided to just go to sleep. Ah, life on the trail. Best of all, no pain in my knee today, just general fatigue from, you know, walking.

May 29, 2007 | Miles: 8.9
Start: Eliza Brook Shelter
End: Franconia Notch Bikepath
Danielle:
Amazing how early you can get up if you’ve gone to bed at 6pm :-) We were all packed up and on the trail by 7:30, but of course, as always with us, everyone else managed to get out of the shelter before us! Beat again… The trail wound up and along Eliza Brook, treating us to some wonderful cascades and the nice sound of water for a while. Then, it was up, up, up. Again, the trail was rough, and there were a lot of blowdowns. Only a few sections of snow, but nothing much. Wingnut wasn’t kidding about his description of the ascent/descent of South Kinsman involving many rock scrambles! Finally caught up with the pair of gentlemen staying at the shelter. One of them started his thru-hike February 26 and was planning to finish on Katahdin by June 17. Wow! Impressive… After a steep, wet descent of North Kinsman, we had lunch by a nice stream on Fishin’ Jimmy Trail and finally made it down to Lonesome Lake, where we were treated to gorgeous views of Franconia Ridge! The final 3 miles were a breeze, and we made it to the car in good time. After a stop for brownie sundaes in Lincoln, we made it home in time to shower, get groceries and be eating pizza by 7:30pm! Not bad… All in all, a wonderful weekend!

Ryan:
Early to bed, early to rise to start this entry with a cliché. Cloudy and cool start at 7:30, but the trail along Eliza Brook is beautiful. The trail follows the brook for a couple miles up the side of South Kinsman…really nice. Couple grouchy blowdowns along the way, and then it gets steep. This trail is not messing around. We caught up with GG not far from the South Kinsman summit. She was moving pretty slowly but was still in good spirits. I was very impressed. The clouds had almost lifted by the time we hit South Kinsman. Enough to look sunny, but still kind of in the clouds. The wind was movin’, so we didn’t linger. The section between South and North Kinsman is your typical high, wooded ridge in the Whites…in other words, it’s beautiful and pretty much my favorite type of hiking. On top of North Kinsman, we met up with a duo, one out for a couple days, the other had started in Georgia on Feb. 16. Dude is movin’. Good bet he’s staying at Garfield Ridge tonight. The sun was full out now, and the wind had died so we chatted with them a bit before moving on. The trail down North Kinsman is the trail down North Kinsman. Rocky and rough. It doesn’t get much easier on the Fishin’ Jimmy Trail although psychologically, it feels like it should. Oh yeah, my knee has felt great the whole time. Let’s see…beautiful view at Lonesome Lake, sunny along Cascade Brook, eventually made it to Route 93. A great hike on the AT in NH. (The walk on the Franconia Bike Path to our car at the Flume Visitor Center wasn’t great, but that mile doesn’t really “count.”) No snow to speak of anywhere along any of these trails. The dominant features were blowdowns and trilliums—take the good with the bad. The trails are very wet and muddy, but it’s May in the Whites.