Friday, September 15, 2017
There was a time when I thought I would be done with my hike by now. I estimated or at least hoped I would finish in five-and-a-half months.
Admittedly, I didn’t have a good idea until I reached New Hampshire how much effort was involved in getting through the White Mountains and Southern Maine. I knew the terrain would slow me down, but I didn’t expect I’d have so many days of mileage in single digits.
Still, I won’t complain about how much time my hike has taken.
| Weather | Partly cloudy with a high temperature in the upper-70s |
| Trail Conditions | Many rocks and roots, a couple of steep climbs |
| Today's Miles | 11.3 miles |
| Trip Miles | 1,932.5 miles |
Watching my expected finish date slip a couple of weeks doesn’t pose much of a problem. Allowing it to slip much more than that could be troublesome.
The end of the AT is at Mt. Katahdin, which is located in Baxter State Park. The park's rangers closely monitor the weather and will close the trail to the peak when conditions become dangerous.
The chances of bad weather increase significantly after October 1. Finishing after October 15 is unlikely.
Knowing this, Stick, Tengo, and I are trying to start earlier in the morning, then push harder to complete more miles per day. With that in mind, we started hiking today at 7:30 a.m.
When we left our campsite and crossed Sawyer Brook, the trail immediately began a steep climb up Moody Mountain. Within 30 minutes, the elevation change had become so steep, the only way up was to climb steel rebar drilled into exposed rock.
Right after that, the climb continued up a log ladder.
The trail didn’t go to the top of Moody Mountain. The 1,200-foot climb in less than a mile-and-a-half was plenty steep enough without reaching the summit.
Once the trail began to descend, it dropped to South Arm Road. It then crossed Black Brook Notch before starting another steep climb. This time, the trail went over a much taller mountain called Old Blue.
Another rebar ladder was needed at one spot on this climb. After ascending the first 900 feet, however, the trail became a little less steep.
As usual, the trail was mostly surrounded by a dense forest. There was a wonderful view spot that looked down to Black Brook Notch, but not many others.
At the end of the 2.8-mile climb, there still wasn’t much to look at. The summit of Old Blue Mountain was open but surrounded by stunted spruce trees. They cut off most of the views of the valley and surrounding mountains.
I ate my lunch at the top of Old Blue. If I had been able to get a better view while here, I might have been able to see Andover Earth Station, which wasn't far away.
Though I expect the facility would look like an ordinary communication relay site today, it is a place of some historic significance. Soon after it was constructed in 1961, the site was used to relay the first transmissions from the Telstar 1. That was the first direct relay communications satellite and the first privately-sponsored space mission.
The descent from Old Blue Mountain was not as difficult as the ascent, but it didn’t go smoothly. There were a few places that were more annoying than demanding because of rocks.
These rocks weren’t difficult like Pennsylvania rocks. Still, the descent soon became a series of ups and downs, and that made this an exhausting traverse requiring concentration and agility.
Puncheons had been laid down over some sections of the trail. They smoothed out the path over rocks and roots but didn’t necessarily make walking easier. It took extra care to walk on them. Some were partially rotted and some teetered on rocks.
Thankfully, the ups and downs through this section were modest and not steep. The trail’s pathway was a constant challenge anyway.
A small bench appeared just off the trail on the way to Bemis Mountain. This was a startling sight because it was so far from a road crossing. I needed to keep moving, so I didn’t stop to sit on it.
The time was 3:30 p.m. and I still had 3.5 miles to go to reach Bemis Mountain Lean-to. Under normal conditions, I should have been able to reach the shelter in just over 90 minutes. With the maddeningly-difficult trail conditions, though, I knew it would take me much longer.
In fact, I needed about three hours to walk that 3.5 distance to the shelter. When I got there, Stick had only arrived a few minutes ahead of me. Tengo said he arrived a few minutes before Stick.
Tengo chose to sleep in the shelter again. By the time Stick and I set up our tents and collected water, the sun had set. We had to cook dinner with light from our headlamps.
This seems to be the way of things for us for the rest of the hike. We will get up early, hike all day on another difficult section of trail, and finish just before or just after sundown.
It's what will be necessary to complete this hike before snow begins to fly on Mt. Katahdin.
Spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
I saw things getting out of hand
I guess they always will
This trail report was published on