Finally getting mileage.

Got my 25 miles today, though it took me all day. Good hiking. Reasonably nice trail, only a little (relatively) elevation change. This is the stuff I think of when I think of hiking. Feet are killing me, though. It's late, and I'm at a shelter with Purpleblaze and Cowboy, and Cornwall is in a hammock. Lot of Quebec people around in tents. Long day, short post. 

Pretty. 

Lot of "ponds" in ME. 

Not so pretty. 

The Bigelows. And 2000 miles.

The Bigelows are pretty much the last big hurdle before Katahdin. There are some bumps in the terrain, but it looks mostly smooth sailing. Which is good, because I have to crush some mileage. 

This morning was still recovery for me. I had the room at the White Wolf until eleven, and I was going to maximize my investment. Lying in bed in the morning is such a luxury. I eventually went downstairs for breakfast, where I had an omelette and French toast. The omelette was great, the French toast okay. That stuffed me, so I went grocery shopping. Stratton is a rather tiny town, with 600+ residents. The area the hotels and hostel were located in was centrally located, and they all had chairs and benches facing Main Street. Hikers were in all of them, it seemed. 

I ran into a lot of people I knew this morning. Mr. Jingles and Dr. Zoom (who told me Naked Ninja was also there, but sick), and a bunch I hadn't seen in forever. Cool Hand and Stumbles were there, and very happily for me, so was Sunbear. I was pretty happy to see him. 

If you ever go to Stratton, eat at the "Diner." That's its name, but it's a little more sophisticated than that. They've got some sort of Cordon Bleu chef, or something that sounded snobby like that. In any case, great food. 

Sidenote, apparently whatever bug I had had also made a lot of people in Stratton sick a few weeks back. I blame sobos. I have no basis for that, but I'm going to anyway. 

Hiking today was pretty good. The Bigelows are quite lovely, and while steep and challenging, they're not quite as bad as southern Maine. Ran into Purpleblaze also, hadn't seen her since Elusive's picnic in Maryland. Eight miles today, but going to attempt 25 tomorrow. Should be okay if I get an early enough start. 

Oh yeah, 2000 miles today. 

Stunning view A

Stunning view B. 

Stunning view C. 

Stunning view D. 

Stunning view E. 

So I've been sick.

And lazy. And tired. And demoralized. Rough couple of days. Got sick leaving Rangeley. 

The morning started off great, I felt wonderful and the strongest I'd felt since the beginning of the Whites. I also ran into Tatianna and Lyons, and hiked with them all morning. Tatianna took a rather terrifying face first fall. Bloodied her nose and chipped a tooth, but she's a regular badass and walked it off. I like them and was looking forward to hiking with them for a while, but my stomach started hurting around lunchtime. At first I thought I was hungry. I was incorrect. 

Anyway, the second half of the day went rather poorly. I don't think you need the details, but I decided to call it an early day. Especially since it was gonna rain.  Except when I got to the shelter I'd decided to stop at, it was full of Sobos. A group of 9 of them who were hiking together. I was irrationally irritated. I blame it on my sickness. So I started hiking on. Like 5 feet from the shelter the rain started. I found an old abandoned tarp that was suspended, and I huddled under it until the hail stopped. That was the beginning of my low point for the trail, shivering, staring at the raindrops and hail stones splashing in the puddles. Freezing. 

When the rain stopped, I decided to move on. Mostly because I was freezing. I walked...or stumbled... about a mile before I found a spot to set my tent up. Which happened to be covered by moose poop. I sighed. Or would have, but my teeth were chattering too much. So I found a different spot, and dragged my drenched carcass inside my tent. Where I shivered uncontrollably for a while, mixed with cramping in my legs, since I hadn't been able to keep any water down. That was a bad night. 

In the morning, I felt much better, just drained. I didn't get out of my tent until after 0900. I felt much better, but so incredibly weak. I had to force myself to eat. I did about 15 miles, and had to call it quits for the day. The mountains were destroying me. I figured the next day would be okay. I was wrong again. 

I felt great, until that first hill. I couldn't get my legs to move. They were leaden, and I had to force them up each rise. These weren't tiny little hills. Not as bad as some mountains we'd seen, but still plenty bad. I did 8 miles into Stratton, where I had a bit of luck. Peppa's dad, who I hadn't met, was at the trailhead and gave me a ride into town. I got myself a room in the White Wolf, ate a Wolfburger (trail legend), took a shower and did laundry, and am currently feeling sort of human. 

Couldn't find any sewing shops or outfitters, so my shorts are going to stay ripped. Unpleasant for anyone walking behind me, I imagine. Also got some bad news, Hard-to-Kill is getting off the trail. I guess Maine has been rough on him, too.   He made it to Andover, which is a pretty impressive feat, anyway you look at it. I know a lot of people just skipped the next section of Maine by yellow blazing. It's been a demoralizing beast. 

If I didn't have a schedule, I'd be enjoying Maine. Some days. Other days, it's just "I can't wait to get this over." Almost there. There have been some great moments, they're just a little overshadowed right now by the less great ones. Really hoping I'm recovered by tomorrow, as I don't have time for any sort of recovery. 

The Mahoosuc Notch. Ate my water bottle. It was this tough the whole way. 

All you can eat and drink pizza night at the Little Red Hen. Rugby and Big Tex suitably stoic for Brits. 

Caribou's sketch of me. I look Greek. 

Yep. Weather's great in ME. 

This was possibly the best view of the whole trip. Wish the photo did it justice. Of course, a whole lot of people drove there. 

Look who I ran into in Rangely!

Tatiana and Lyons. 

When I thought I was hungry. 

When I thought I was dying. 

Maine

The end of NH was rough. A little easier than the Whites, but still rough. I know this is a short post, but I've been busy. 

The wind blowing through your beard. 

The old shoes. 

Nice place. 

Caribou

Maine!

The Whites continue.

To kick my butt. But on the plus side, saw a moose. Thought it was a donkey that had gotten loose. Then realized it was a moose.  Good start to the day. On top of Wildcat Mt, Geared Up and I caught a gondola ride down to the ski lodge for lunch. Trail Bunny was down there, so we hung out with her. We stayed for too long, really, almost 3 hrs. 

At the last hut of the Whites, ran into Chef, and then Machine! Hadn't seen her in quite a while, so I was pretty happy. We talked for a while, but she was staying there and I intended to do a few more miles, so we bid adieu. I was very tempted to stay, though. 

Of course, I hadn't backtracked yet today, so had to keep that up. So I came to this intersection, and the AT wasn't marked. I stared at the signs. Stared down the trails. Stared at the signs. One sign said Zeta pass. I knew Zeta pass was on the trail, so I went that way. Sigh. The next intersection, I noticed that the trail that came from the direction I was not coming from had a remarkable number of white blazes. Sooo... instead of walking back the way I came to reacquire the trail, I walked back the blazes. I figure that way I couldn't miss the right path. But that meant I ended up climbing Mt. Height from the wrong direction, heading south. So when I finished that challenge, I turned around and climbed it again, this time heading north. Lot of extra climbing. And it was now getting dark, so I camped on top of Mt. Height. Did see the biggest jackrabbit I've ever seen. 

Moose

Gondola. 

Mt. Washington

Coconut and spice Kit left early. Very early. No way. Gear and I stayed a couple hours later, but still left at a decent hour. The summit of Mt. Washington was only a mile and a half or so away. We have definitely been blessed by lovely weather, and the streak continued today. 

We arrived around the time the employees were showing up. We had breakfast there, which consisted of a grinder and an ice cream. We stayed there a couple of hours. Well, Gear and I did. Trail Bunny drove up, and volunteered to slack pack everyone, which everyone took her up except us. And Ironwill, but he had a hook up and had spent the night in the observatory, and didn't seem too motivated to move on by the time we saw him. 

So Gear and I hiked. All bloody day. Still gorgeous, but the Osgood trail, at least the descent of it, is now my least favorite section of trail. It was not fun. Pure uneven and unbalanced rocks. It was just not fun. 

We passed the Madisin hut, but they were having the annual Madfest, the hut crews' big party. We got some free food, and pushed on. Eventually we hit Pinkham Notch, where we were surprised to see an AMC lodge. We got ice cream, learned some facts about Mt. Washington, and charged our devices. We also ran into Spice Kit (they were staying there) and found out about a campsite a few tenths of a mile down trail. So we hiked down to Lost Pond and racked out. 

Lake of the Clouds morning

We persevered!

Pretty high up. 

The Cog Railway. 

I mean, it's pretty nice. 

Guess who?

So many bloody rocks. 

Dip in the Lake

So had a good breakfast at the AMC place, but even better I received a call from Mrs. Sparkle. Talked to her for quite a while, and was a great way to start the day. 

Spicy Mama gave us a ride back to the trail, and we were off. Sort of. It was sprinkling, so I had to stop to adjust my pack, making sure everything was waterproof that needed to be. Spice Kit and Coconut started off, though. 

So they weren't with me when I saved the kid's life. Ish. Or not really would be more accurate. As I was walking up the mountain, I came across a little boy curled up in a ball, hidden in an alcove just off the trail. He was curled up completely in his sweatshirt, and there were obvious tear stains on his face. Oh crap. 

"Hey man, you okay?" The kid nodded. "What's wrong?" It took a lot of coaxing, but he eventually told me he'd ran into a tree, and a branch had hit him hard in the neck. I told him I was an old army medic, and asked him if I could check it. He acquiesced, so I looked at his neck. There was a rubbed spot, looking a lot like almost a rug burn. I was sure if had hurt, but didn't think it was dangerous. 

So now I was in a quandary. Do I leave an 11 year old boy alone in the woods? He told me his family was ahead, and that they would eventually be coming back this way. Ironwill came walking by. I stayed with the boy while he hiked on to find his family. I wasn't planning on too many miles anyway. 

Eventually his family came back, preceded by Buddy the dog. So off I hiked. Spice Kit and Coconut were waiting on me on top of the mountain. There was a lot of serious scrambling to get up there. It was pretty fun. I'd put my hiking poles in my backpack for the Whites, and was very glad of that decision. 

We hiked together for the rest of the day, and some of the best hiking I've seen. Gorgeous. Clear one minute, covered in clouds the next, then back to clear. And when I say covered, I mean the clouds surrounded us, as in we were inside the clouds. Pretty spectacular. 

We stopped at Lake of the Clouds Hut, home of the infamous "Dungeon." For whatever reason, I was fixated on staying there. It really wasn't that bad. Rosie, Naked Ninja, Dr. Zoom, and Longhaul Trucker were all doing work for stay, so staying upstairs. Spice Kit, Coconut, and I were staying in the Dungeon. 

Then I saw something I did not expect to see in the mountains. A woman in a bikini. It took me a minute to register what had to have happened. She'd gone swimming in the Lake of the Clouds!  I thought that was awesome. It was already around fifty degrees, and that water had to have been freezing. I had to do it. 

While I was getting prepared (I wanted dry clothing immediately available, hypothermia is not on my to do list), Geared Up showed up. I was surprised, because last I knew he was two days hike ahead of me. Apparently he'd taken a few days off. 

So he and Coconut followed the idiot to chronicle the icy dip. The water was beautiful, deep on one end, and ridiculously cold. But it was awesome. I swam in the Lake of the Clouds. Doesn't that sound cool?

The Spice Girls!

Coconut, Spice Kit, and some gorgeous scenery. 

Maybe my favorite selfie ever. 

Yeah, it's hard not to use superlatives about these views. 

Lake of the Clouds swim test!

So c-c-c-cold.