Massachusetts went by quick. Another friend and his girlfriend came and hiked with me for a couple days to do Greylock, which is the highest mountain in the state. When they left I was walking through town in the rain to get a bite to eat.
At mile 1700 I got to Vermont. I’ve done the first 100 miles of the AT in Vermont when I did the Long Trail, but I did it again. I hiked with some LT hikers for those miles and took my time. It was nice to do smaller miles and swim in all the ponds. There were a couple hot days but the hiking was fairly easy. Right before entering New Hampshire there was a 30’ bridge jump. It was awesome. I was nervous standing on the edge but another hiker was there so we both jumped before hesitating too long. Then my brother-in-law picked me up. I zeroed 4 days in Vermont with family and friends over 4th of July weekend.
After the long weekend I started hiking into New Hampshire. The White Mountains in New Hampshire were by far the toughest part of the trail so far. I had difficult days before NH, mainly because of big miles or numerous days in the rain, but the hiking was the hardest in NH. That being said it was my favorite part so far. The Presidential range was amazing. Throughout the Presidentials there were huts that people paid $80-120+ a night to stay in. The nice thing was thru hikers got the leftover food. When I hiked over Mt. Washington I got the best weather I could ask for. It wasn’t too windy or rainy. Then a few of us stealth camped near Pinkham visitor center and got an all you can eat breakfast for $13. Next was Wildcat Mtn, which was pretty tough as well.
I’ve been in Maine for a few days now and it’s great. I went through Mahoosuc Notch a couple days ago. It’s said to be the hardest mile of the trail and I’d agree. On both sides there are steep cliffs upwards. It’s a rock scramble through the notch over and under huge boulders. I had to take off my pack at least twice to get through small squeezes. That one mile of the trail exhausted me and took me a solid hour.
Today I came into town to shower, do laundry and resupply. I hadn’t showered since Gorham or done laundry since Lincoln. I was well over do. I plan on finishing within a couple days of the 27th of July, which means I need to make pretty good time. It’s been great hanging out in town for a couple hours and having some beers. I’ve got 3.5 day worth of food and plan on doing about 69 miles before my next resupply.
Lately there have been more SOBOs on the trail than NOBOs. It’s strange seeing such fresh people. They keep saying that us NOBOs don’t look happy and we have a glazed over look, also that we’re condescending. They have a point, but also we’ve been on the trail for months. I put on the same wet clothes and wet shoes every day. It’s nearly impossible to be cheery when most of the time all I want is a good shower and clean clothes. But still I’m glad to be here and happy I’ve had the chance to do such a cool trip.
I saw a moose on the trail yesterday. It was super cool. I spooked her and she ran off. Surprised me in the morning when I was still waking up but pretty neat.
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