June 14. White House Landing -> Antlers

This was, all-in-all, a pretty relaxing day. We decided to hang out at WHL, and stay for lunch. It was beautiful and sunny by the lake, I felt like I was on vacation on Cape Cod. We lounged in the hammock, laid our moist gear out to dry and generally recovered. Drank a lot of water. The WHL advertises "high-fat, high-calorie" foods, and they're not joking. I ordered a 1 lb. burger and Dana ordered a pizza, which we thought might be personal-sized, but was full-sized, large and well made. We stuffed ourselves. We'd also eaten breakfast there, with Kaleigh and Brian and a father-son team from Florida who were flirting with the idea of being collectively trail-named "Trainwreck", which I think is a great trail name for anyone, and could be shortened to T-dubs. The father was in rough shape, staggering about with red and chaffed hands and face, like he got into poison ivy or has a sun allergy. But they had a killer attitide, and we were all surprised when his son as spotted kayaking around the lake after breakfast, when the rest of us barely had the strength to stand up straight. Kids, we joked. (ED: he's 21, and his trail name is Pineapple). So we ate, and drank water, and recovered from the previous day's slog. We laid in the sun, I walked about and took arty pictures of the grounds and sheds and nick-knacks that live here. We resupplied a bit, after realizing that we were burning through our snacks pretty fast. I bought 6 snickers, Dana got a Nutty-bar and some snickers as well. We bought camp soap and washed our clothes in a large metal bucket, and dried them on a line in the sun. Finally it was time to go, and Linda packed up our remaining four slices of pizza, "calzone-style", in a ziploc, we took a couple of leftover blueberry pancakes, wrote a short entry in their register, and loaded our packs back down to the pier. Linda is a font of knowledge about the trail; I'm guessing just from talking to hikers for 15 years - I don't think she's ever hiked the AT). I looked at a book of photos that people had sent back to WHL when they were done with the trail, mostly Katahdin summit pics from NOBO's (Northbounders), but a few from Springer Mountain. I hope I can send them one too. Bill dropped us off closer to the trail in the boat (he became annoyed when the branch he was using as a rudder had become un-bungeed from the outboard motor) and wished us luck. We were back on the AT in a few minutes and put away and easy 6 miles to Antlers campsite, 1:45 to 4:45. We got a late start, so we decided not to go all the way to Cooper Brook. Kaleigh and Brian left us a note saying they went on, so they're a day ahead of us now. Hopefully we'll see them at Shaw's. The hiking was easy but super-buggy, we put on DEET and head-nets. Antlers is nice, right on the lake, empty except for us. Slept from dusk to dawn. Looks like a lovely, breezy day ahead! :) -Ups

Mostly sunny, upper 70s, humid in the woods

June 13. Rainbow Stream -> Whtie House Landing

A beautiful day, spirits were high as we climbed up from Rainbow Stream toward Nesuntabunt Mountain. We passed a couple of great snack-lunch-rest spots, one was a little ourcropping with our first great view of Katahdin (so far away!), and one, an overlook of Polywog Gorge. The climb up to the mountain wasn't bad, and our clothes, wet from the day before, hung on our packs to dry. We climbed down and skirted Cresent Pond, where two anglers lazily floated in a dinghy. We passed a boat landing as they pulled in their boat, and said hello. As we descended to lower ground and approached the Wadleigh Shelter (which was a bit overrun with litter), the trail grew muddier and swampier, our feet got soaked, we were ofter - again - up to our knees. It was not good for morale. We skirted Nahmakanta Lake, and trail conditioned worsened yet. Spirits were no longer high. At one pint the trail simply emptied us out into a muggy, mosquito-filled swamp. Are we lost? No, that's the trail, see the blaze? We tried to go around but eventually just walked through it, up to our knees in muddy water, boots sliding, schlorping into the leafy decay underneath. We climbed out of that and had to soon ford a branch of the Nahmahanta stream, which was a little unnerving but not too bad. It was waist-deep and moving fast, but a log lay across, that we were able to hold onto and make our way across safely. We climbed out of the rushing current and soon after found a trail intersection with a business card pinned to a tree, with a hand-drawn arrow. It indicated White House Landing, a hostel that caters to AT hikers. We found a blue-blazed trail that leads to a boat dock  (through bogged-out logging roads and more buggy woods) where we blasted an air-horn that was hanging from a tree, waited on the dock, and were picked up by Bill in a motorboat, who, with his wife Linda, runs the little paradise White House Landing on the other side of the lake. As we approched the dock after a very short ride, we saw Kaleigh and Brian waving and shouting hello. They'd beat us there by an hour or so. We secured a room in the cottage, near the bunkhouse, with a double be. At this point, we were fully exhausted and not in a great mood. But this is hiking - it's hard! We had missed dinner at 6 (too bad, Kaleigh said the burgers were awesome), but whipped up some dehydrated meals that tasted like the inside of a burrito - no matter, it was filling. We hung a few things up to dry, took a shower in the shower house (amazing), and hit the bed hard. Big day, lots of tough miles. The trail is testing us. Keep stretching, keep smiling! Short day tomorrow to Antlers Campsite. -Ups

16.5 miles. Sunny & warm.

The trail is not making me weaker, it is making me stronger.

Bug bit. Swamp rock leg scrape. Sore legs. Maine!

June 12. Hurd Brook -> Rainbow Stream Lean-to

Trails are incredibly muddy but spirits are high. I feel immensely satisfied tonight - the nigh is warmer than is was yesterday, and Doodles and I are snug in our sleeping bags at 9 PM. We took a nap right when we got in, having had a long, wet, slog today. We were in mud up to our knees in some parts, we hiked by a pond that had flooded onto the trail. The woods are beautiful but it's hard to enjoy it much when you're soaked to the skin. But we're keeping our camp clothes dry - mine are Smartwool shirt, down coat, long Patagonia undies, running shorts and socks. I keep them in a dry-bag, and my sleeping bag in one as well, and keep everything in a trash-compactor bag liner in my pack. Everything else is in ziplocs, or can get wet without consequence. I slipped and fell backward into a stream today, landing on my pack (best place to land). I was concerned about my stuff getting wet - it didn't. Give me hope for the fording, since most of our packs will likely be submerged, at least for a minute. The shelter sits on Rainbow Stream, which is high today, and a log "bridge" needs to be crossed to get to it - about 20 feet across the fast moving water, made of 2 wood beams, about a foot wide total, and slick. The water rushed over it a good couple of inches, and the crossing was a little scary, but we all made it safely. Kaleigh and Brian are here, they're very pleasant. Jack (now "Chip"; he inadvertantly murdered a chipmunk at KSC) blew past this lean-to to the next - 8 miles more. Dude is a machine. Ok. Sleep now. Looking forward to a sunnier day tomorrow (forecasted).

PS - dinner, dehydrated beans and veggies with powdered cheese.

-Ups

Light/Medium Rain. 60's. 11.6 miles.

June 11. Katahdin Stream Campground -> Hurd Brook Shelter

The walls we construct around ourselves to give us a sense of safety are illusory. We are not fully safe anywhere. I was worried today about the weather, of course. Hypothermia is a huge fear of mine - I am somewhat justified in this - but with the right gear and a little know-how, it can be prevented. But even though you have a house around you with warm blankets and central heat, you are no less endangered from the hand of fate, of it's going to get you. The most dangerous part of this trip so far was the car ride into Baxter State Park, when a buy in an Audi came screaming around a corner, on a little windy 2-lane road, nearly losing control and fishtailing into us. "That was the more dangerous than anything you'll encounter on the trail," Scott observed, after we all started breathing again. He was probably right. We're in the shelter now, Hurd Brook, ate some dinner - dehydrated squash and beans and pasta I made a couple of months ago. It was good. We warmed up - Dana's bag isn't warm enough, but we're making due. I have a down jacket and a super-warm bag (15 degree Marmot). The hiking today was pretty inconsequential, actually a pretty goo day to hike through the woods on relatively flat ground; rainy but no views to be had anyway. We did see a huge tortoise. Meeting some cool people; Jack, Kaleigh and her dad Brian, and me and Dana are in the shelter and warming up. Rain is letting up, it's supposed to rain tomorrow too, so we're going to get some sleep!

Steady rain. 60's. 13.4 miles.

June 10. Katahdin Summit!

It was like a completely different mountain today. The views we missed yesterday in the fog and clouds are staggering, on this bluebird day. I was worried about my legs, as they were pretty shredded from the day before. But, the weather was perfect. Katahdin is a great hike because it unfolds in sections. Rocky path through the woos, it gets bouldery, then, suddenly, treeline! And the rebar "monkeybars", the scrambles, and the long ascent up the impossibly step, imposing rockpile that brings us to the tableland, and area that reminds me very much of hiking on the Presidential Ridge. But, with the 100 Mile Wilderness off to your right, dotted with lakes and one visible road, and not much else. In the Whites, usually, you can see towns and roads - unless you're in the middle of the Pemi - but up here, being so remote, it's almost nothing, just vast stretches as far as you can see. After the tableland we start a fairly short ascent to Baxter Peak, the huge A-frame sign marking the northern terminus of the AT visible from far off, calling, beckoning your tired legs up the final steps to the top. And the views from the top - wow! Like every breathtaking view I've ever seen from the top of a mountain rolled into one. We met other thruhikers beginning their journey - seems like a lot of SOBO's (slang for Southbounders) this year - Chef, Kaleigh, Jack. On to the 100 miles. But, oh, our legs ache!

PS - Dreamed of chocolate-chip scones last night. Equipment meltdowns: broken bootlace, chipmunk food-bag attack, pants crotch blew out, Dana repaired with tent patch kit.

Sunny and 70's.

June 9, 2013. Day 0 - Failed Katahdin summit

Katahdin is a beast. It is not a mountain to be trifled with. It is a craggy, bouldery, heaving, towering menace, and it shows no mercy to hikers, weary or not, young of old, green or tried and true. It's also breathtakingly beautiful. We didn't summit Katahdin today. We approached the tableland with our daypacks, and by that time the wind had picked up significantly, rain was pelting our faces, and the temperature had dropped. Gloves and hats were soaked. We decided to turn around. Cutting my teeth in the Whites, and spending nights reading the tales of slowly-unfolding missteps that result in death and close calls in books like "Not Without Peril: 150 Years of Misadventure on the Presidential Range of New Hampshire", I didn't want to take any chances. "Inclement weather" are the key words in the mountains, and like I said before, Katahdin is not a mountain to be trifled with. People have died - and come close to it - on Katahdin, just as on Mt. Washington, of hypothermia and exposure, even in summer. (The ranger at Katahdin Stream related a harrowing story of a man who had to be rescued from just above treeline, last July, when a sudden storm blew in. Dozens of people assisted with the effort, and he barely made it out alive. The ranger said it's common for people in a severe hypothermic state to "give up" when help arrives; they let go of whatever was keeping them going because they feel they are now safe, and he just relaxed and went limp. It took them hours to get him down. I literally shudder when I hear stories like that.) We made it pretty far, nearly up to the tableland, but we turned around, and made it back down the cold, slippery, steep rocks unscathed. There are scambles and handholds and technical areas where you're closer to rock-climbing than hiking. It's no wonder people are encouraged to bring a daypack instead of a full pack; loaner packs are available at the ranger station (they are all damp and smelly). Back at the campsite, Scott left us, kindly leaving his extra food and loaded us his headlamp. So we will be at it again. Tomorrow is looking like a much-improved weather situation, sunny an d in the 70's. Our legs are sore now but I'm hoping we will make it  up, all the way, so that we can be on our way, down the trail. Lots of lessons today.

Rainy, 50's.


PS - an adorable chipmunk chewed through my unattended bag of nuts.