Thirteen down, one to go!!

Sun 17 July Day 129
The hostel stay was good. There were loads of hikers and it was nice to catch up with Calf, One Grey Wolf, Silverfox, LaLa and Moose as well as meet new SOBOs and Stitch a new NOBO I hadn't met yet.

Earl Grey and I set out after bfast and started the ups and downs. There were so many rock climbs and rambles that it took a lot out of my leg.

The leg feels ok but we will see how it is tomorrow. It's the Mahoosic Notch! Could be the best or the hardest mile on the AT then you have to climb up the mountain on the other side.

Today was nice - the views were amazing and we also crossed our last state line!! Goodbye New Hampshire, Hello Maine :)

Staying at Carlo Col Lean-to (that's Maine for shelter).

281.4 miles to go!!

Mon 18 July Day 130
Up early (5.15am) but had to haul out the 0.3mi first before getting back on trail. The weather was overcast and windy - I thought we would get rained on, but it thankfully held off.

Hills again this morning. Mt Carlo first thing, then up Goose Eye Mountain. The views were amazing from the top - we just beat the clouds through but it was windy.

Passed through the Full Goose Shelter and headed into the Mahoosuc Notch. It's either the worst or most fun mile of rock hopping/hauling/climbing. It was fun - there were some difficult parts where it was hard to see a way through and loads if "holy moly, are you serious?". We made it through in 2hrs which was ok.

The best part of the notch was the natural air conditioning. Sections of cool air would pass by. Sometimes the top half of my body was warm and my ankles were cold. It was a strange sensation.

Then the Arm came next! It was the straight up that came after the notch - it wasn't too bad for a hill climb. Lots of the steep rock face clambering. It would have been far worse coming the other way.

The views have been really nice today but I am so sore - sore enough to call it quits at Speck Pond Shelter (only a 9.5mi day).
Will look at trying to get into a town tomorrow and rest up again.

Tues 19 July Day 131
Up early to try and get off the hill. I managed the vertical climbing up Old Speck Mtn in wind and cloud (not my most reassuring moments) and down the other side - 4.5mi in 3 and a half hours! SLOW as.

The trail was really nice - wish I could have enjoyed it more.

At Grafton Notch there was a main car park. I was able to get a ride to the next main road within a few minutes. It was a really hot day and the next ride took 20mins to get, but they were able to drop me about 10mi out of Andover. A hostel worker passed by and took me the remaining way into "town". I was at the Pine Ellis Lodge by 12pm.

It is a nice place - someones home with bunk rooms and a great porch swing. There are a couple of other hikers (I met Pinch, Ollie and Dave) and it was good to see Spaceman and Rocket again. Pinch and I had cappuccino ice-cream shakes and wild strawberry smoothies. Yum!!

Earl Grey did an absolutely great 20mi day and got in about 7pm.
We went to the diner for dinner (another cheese burger for me).

Am onto plan "J" which involves skipping some hills and shuttling to Stratton, ME. It's a bit disappointing but it's just the way it is.

Wed 20 July Day 132
A zero day today started with bfast with Dave, Pinch and Earl Grey. It was sad to see them head out today though and I wish I didn't have a dumb leg!!

I basically did nothing today. Some time was spent planning the rest of the AT - looks like only 14 days or so left! That means I will finish early so I looked into train tickets and found that the cheapest one isn't until Aug 18. That's too late as I can't afford to stay anywhere that long, so will probably end up flying from New York to LA. I will have to change my flight home too.

It is crazy that time has flown by so quickly. I can't wait to catch up with everyone again though.

- posted by enzed :)