Rainy days and Mondays (and early Sundays) always get me down. There is only one shuttle from The Barn back to Rattle River and it’s at 7:10—no exceptions. I was completely packed and ready to go before I went to bed (a rarity for me, but it’s true). I got up to pee at 5 and I made sure not to make eye contact with Bear which would only encourage him to get up (I could feel him shaking like a wet chihuahua in his bed wanting to get up). As it was, he was still up before 6. Bunny started shaking my feet at 6 to wake me up. I pretended to be sound asleep, but she wasn’t buying it.
With the early shuttle, we got the earliest start of hiking since the four of us began hiking together back at the Cookie Lady’s place in MA. We even had a mile of easy trail done before 8. As I had anticipated, Bear came up with the idea to start getting up at 5 every day so we can get an early start. I’m counting on Sassy to roll that idea back since she is an avid non-morning person.
This is our first day of being officially out of the Whites and it was a glorious day to be hiking. We had clear skies, temperatures in the upper 60s, and an actual trail to hike on. Yes, we still had over 4000’ of total ascents today, but when there is an actual trail, we can handle it. We didn’t take our first break until we got done with the first 1800’ climb to the top of Mt Hayes. We were averaging about 2mph which is what we used to be able to do before entering the Whites.
I did discover a great way to piss off NH trail maintainers…they pride themselves on having the hardest state on the AT. Yes, they take pride in not maintaining the trail and throwing AMC logistics into the mix. When someone in NH asks how the Whites are, calmly say “the Whites are almost as tough as Maryland.” It’s great fun to watch their heads explode. It’s the little things that make me happiest.
We hiked on for a few more miles before we found a nice view as a lunch spot. I had wanted to push on to Trident Col Campsite for lunch because it has a privy. Bunny told me she would prefer if I just dug a hole instead. My window of opportunity was closing so I agreed to just have lunch at the view spot and hold it in until tomorrow morning. It will give me great ammo for the tent tonight.
The highlight of the day was passing the 1900 mile mark. We’ve been on the trail for nearly 7 months and now the end is in sight. Baxter State Park closes on October 15 at the latest. If we can average 10-12 miles a day from now on, we can make it by the first week of October. We are cutting it close but I’d like to finish without flip-flopping. It’s the backup plan.
Gentian Pond Shelter and Campsite is another AMC managed site with a roving caretaker and, get this, no fees. Since it’s a Sunday night, we don’t expect to see a caretaker. I’ve got to be honest, the AMC campsites and caretakers have been very good to us. The caretakers are the only AMC staff that are consistently nice to thru-hikers.
There was one injury today, and, surprisingly, it wasn’t me for a change. My leg held up great all day thanks to Marcia’s adjustments and guidelines. Sassy didn’t fare well on a boulder scramble and landed on her tailbone (or so we were afraid). Bear took a picture of her butt so she could see. It looks like she landed cheek first and slipped down the rock. She’s still going to have a nice bruise that she can proudly show off.
We got to the shelter before 5 and it was already crowded. We went to the camping area and chose a platform large enough for both of our tents to fit on. After dinner, we headed down to the pond on an unsuccessful moose hunt. Notes in Guthook indicate that a bull moose hangs out in this area at this time of year. Bunny is even willing to get up early to tomorrow to try again. I’m afraid this will only encourage Bear to get up early. If we allow him to win once, there will be no stopping him. My only hope is that Sassy has gone to bed hungry and is very irritable in the morning.
EFG