Taking Flight

East B Road to Grafton Notch 10.3 Miles Today was the day for all of us to leave The Cabin and hike on. Gazelle, Medicine Man, Ali, and I were going back to East B Road, while the others were going to South Arm Road. That meant that the four of us who hiked together yesterday were in front by about nine miles. However, before we could leave The Cabin, there was a problem. We had to pay. The Cabin apparently doesn’t take credit cards, so we had to pay cash, and very few of us had enough cash on hand. This meant that Swan had to drive us to the ATM at The Store first. As expected, we ran the ATM out of cash. Thankfully, all of us going to East B were able to get cash, so we were on our way.  Once we got hiking, we immediately split up into two groups. Gazelle and Medicine Man ran out front, while Ali and I lingered behind. However, Ali wanted to hike alone, so I put on my headphones and pushed up East Baldpate Mountain by myself. About halfway up the mountain, there was a shelter cal...

South Arm Road (Andover) to East B Road (Andover) 8.6 Miles Today was all about four hikers: Gazelle, Medicine Man, Ali, and I. Everyone else (Bear and Hard Goods) was zeroing, and Captain is done. The four of us who were hiking today were doing a slackpack over Moody Mountain and Wyman Mountain. Before we started, we had a big breakfast of blueberry pancakes, eggs, and potatoes. It was delicious, and gave us good fuel for the day. Our driver for the day was Honey. I admit that I was a little nervous about an 89 year old driver, but it went okay. There was only one scary incident, when Honey swerved to avoid a bird in the road, but all’s well that ends well. On the way to the trailhead, I learned about a northbounder that I passed yesterday. His name is Wardrobe, and he is notable because he hikes in a dress. As I have said before, you meet all kinds of unique people out here. We got dropped off at the trailhead on South Arm Road, and immediately had to climb Moody Mountain. That climb...

Bemis Mountain Lean To to Andover 8.6 Miles I awoke this morning to a crowded shelter. Everyone was awake, but no one wanted to get up. They were waiting for Captain to give the word, but I finally declared that it was time to get up and released the air from my sleeping pad. Ironically, that got everyone going except Captain. However, it takes me forever to get everything together in the morning, and so only Bear and Hard Goods rolled out after me. The morning began with a hard but pretty climb up Bemis Mountain. The days are getting hotter, and I was quickly sweating profusely. The climb up Bemis may have been pretty, but the summit was just a sign in the woods, so I quickly moved on. I passed Loco not long into the day, and then I found Magic and Vortex at a water source. That water source wasn’t fantastic, but boy was it welcome. It was the first reliable water we had seen for miles. I filled up both my bottles before continuing on. This hike today was hard on my right leg. First I...

Rangeley to Bemis Mountain Lean To  17.7 Miles I know I start every entry this way recently, but it was another cold night. You would think that staying in a hostel would help, but that seems to make it worse. The Hiker Hut gave me a big blanket, but even that didn’t help. I did the best I could to pull it around me tightly, and I made it through the rest of the night. In the morning, Steve, the owner, made egg and cheese sandwiches, which of course I eagerly consumed. Then we started to have a reunion. First Gazelle, Mack, and Medicine Man showed up. I learned that Mack now has a trail name - Captain. As I got to hiking out, I ran into Bear and Hard Goods as they wandered up. Talking to everyone, I realized that we were going to have a lot of people at the shelter tonight. As I passed through the parking lot to get back on trail, I saw a bunch of Connecticut license plates. I realized that the group of 17 I saw yesterday must be from Connecticut.  There was a lot of wildlife ...

Redington Stream Tent Site to Rangeley 8.1 Miles Today marks one week on trail. In some ways, it feels like a lot more, and in some ways a lot less. Last night there were more weird dreams. In this one, I was attending a church service, which would be unusual for me, as I am not especially religious. The church service began playing the song, “September Morn” by Neil Diamond, and my conscious brain realized that it was a dream, as I had heard that song on my playlist just yesterday. Still, the dream may have some relevance, as one could argue that the outdoors are kind of like a church for me. I have to admit that I was a bit worried about whether I would sleep last night, for two reasons. First of all, I don’t traditionally sleep well when I am alone in the woods, as I tend to be jumpy. Secondly, it was cold and I wasn’t confident that my 40 degree quilt would keep me warm. Thankfully, neither one proved to be an issue. I stayed plenty warm all night, and I never heard anything to mak...

Caribou Valley Road to Redington Stream Tent Site 15.8 Miles Last night was a cold night even though I spent it in the hostel. The windows were open and it got quite cold in the room. Eventually it got so bad that I went to an unused bunk and grabbed the blanket off of it to use as an extra blanket. In retrospect, I should have just closed the windows, but I wasn’t sure if everyone else wanted them open. In the morning, I had breakfast with Weebles, Salt Lick, and Gazelle. The four of us, along with Mack and Bear, were to be part of the first trail drop off at 7:30. Unfortunately, though, Bear was all the way to the trailhead when he realized that he forgot his water bottles, so he had to go back to the hostel and take the 9:30 shuttle instead. Shortly after I got on trail, I saw Juggernaut and her brother again. Remember that like me, they had done a northbound slackpack yesterday, so now they were resuming their trip south. Juggernaut had one of those embarrassing situations where sh...