compiled pix and some videos

https://picasaweb.google.com/bomanton/ATHike2011?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNXY9rLtyK2G_QE&feat=directlink

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7SHcASwD_c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_qevxIwh0U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRflDmQO-fM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb8QiH6uQNM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LPxDof-ev4

Update (probably last one)

7/21

(start 10 finish 7:20. Tented on summit of Mt Success. 14.6 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=44.46768,-71.04507&ll=44.46768,-71.04507&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Lots of ups and downs today. Tough hiking but it felt great. Finally I got to stress the legs and lungs as opposed to my feet being the weak link. There was actually dirt to walk on. It was very hot, had to carry a lot of water.

I met back up with night train. He's a cool dude. One of the most positive person ive ever met.

I tented on what I thought was the summit of Mt Success (it wasnt. The next morning I still had a little bit to go). I've never picked a worse tent site. I let being tired affect my judgment. First there seemed to be an obvious animal walking trail right through where I tented. Second a storm rolled in late and being on a summit is not good for lightning. And lastly it turned out not to be level and I woke up completely shifted to one side of my tent, off my pad and pushing my tent off it's stakes.

The storm was bad. It was probably the most scared ive ever been. I was about to fall asleep when I saw multiple lightning flashes. I couldn't hear the thunder so I thought I was good. Then slowly I started hearing the thunder. And the time between lightning and thunder got closer and closer and closer. Then the drizzle started, closely followed by a torrential down pour and closer lightning strikes. it was pretty scary.

Good news was I made it and I was only 1.9 miles from the Maine-New Hampshire border.

7/22

(start 8:30 finish 1:30. Hiker paradise in Gorham. 8 miles )

I walked 1.9 miles and hit the border which was a cool feeling. I continued on for another 0.4 miles to the Carlo Col shelter where I filled water and had breakfast. It took me two hours to hike 2.3 miles. It was pissing me off how difficult the terrain was. It wasnt hiking, it was rock climbing. And all the rocks were still wet. It was slippery and dangerous. I had to actually take my pack off multiple times, throw it down and then make my way down. It sucked. The upcoming terrain was suppose to be worse and I was realizing I wasn't going to make it in time to meet up with the fam at moosehead lake by Saturday. So after long contemplation and talking to a local at the shelter, I decided to take a side trail off to a road and hitch back into Gorham. Then hitch from Gorham to Moosehead area.

7/23

(start 10 finish 5. Tenting behind Greenville school)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=45.45931,-69.59232&ll=45.45931,-69.59232&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

I started hitching from Gorham New Hampshire at 10 AM today. The goal was to get to Greenville Maine, which is 167 miles away by road. I've never did long distance hitching before and I had no clue how long it would take. I was guessing 2-3 days. I would just tent in the woods off of the side of the road.

Well I caught 8 hitches and made it all the way to Greenville by 5 PM. I walked probably around 10 miles. It was pretty hot, the sun was a beast. The farther I got from the trail, the harder it was to get a hitch.

The last hitch I got took me a long way across multiple roads. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have made it in one day. They were a cool group of 3 ladies- the mom, daughter and friend. The daughter thru-hiked last year and the mother got into the hiking culture. She spends a lot of time providing trail magic in Maine. They were on their way home from a mountain adventure race. A 5K course with multiple obstacles, similar to the tuff mudders.

So I got in town and went to the outfitters. I was hoping I could get in on a 3 day kayak and camping trip. But it was too expensive. I couldn't justify spending the money when next week I could do it for free when David drives up my kayak.

So I spent lot of time at the outdoor bar at the black frog. Some Jim Beam neat and moosehead beers, potato skins and curly fries. Yum! Followed by a drunken scramble to the ice cream stand for a waffle cone of moose tracks.

It had gotten dark and I hadn't figured out where I was sleeping yet. One of the waitresses suggested tenting behind the local school. It seemed like a good idea. It worked out fine.

The bartender just moved up here from mullica hill. She went to Clearview. Small world.

Update

7/16

(start 10:20 finish 6:40. Tented beyond Garfield shelter. 11.9 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=44.19315,-71.62054&ll=44.19315,-71.62054&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Very tough day of hiking. Lots of ups and downs. Lots of rocks. Very big elevation gains. This is real hiking or at least the toughest hiking I've done.

7/17

(start 9:00 finish 5:30. Mizpah hut. Idk miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=44.21931,-71.36972&ll=44.21931,-71.36972&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Today was an adventure. I woke up from my stealth tent site and hiked for an hour. It was more downhill than the guide showed and I passed a few water sources, again which the guide did not show. I was starting to figure out that i wasn't on the Appalachian Trail. Finally i came to a major intersection of trails and there was no white blazes and now I knew that i wasnt on the AT. So I pulled out my White mtn national park map and waited until someone came around to try to find out where I was. Luckily the first group of people were knowledgable and friendly. They helped me realize that i made a wrong turn the previous day. I was 2-3 hours away and a steep downhill from where I should be so I contemplated a new way to get back on trail.

I choose to continue to walk down away from the trail and pick it back up at another trail head. Well the guy said 'we'll take wherever you want.' then they mentioned the magic word. They said their father was in town waiting at McDonalds for them to finish. MCDONALDS!!! (their father and one his friends tried to hike with them the day before but after starting their uphill, they said they couldn't do it so they went into town and got a hotel) so I went with them to McDonalds and ate a quarter pounder. Yum!. And the guy wouldn't let me pay for my food. Peoples generosity is amazing... Then his other friend was driving in the direction that i had to go, so he took me part of the way. Then I had to hitch a good 10 miles on another road, then another 15 miles on another road. Hitching was pretty difficult this time. I walked a lot of the way and it was hot. I got sunburned pretty bad on my arms and neck. I had to catch 3 different hitches to finally get where i was going to pick up the trail. So I finally got to the trailhead and I only had to hike 2.9 miles to a Hut.

Throughout the Whites they have huts. A pretty good size cabin that has multiple bunks in multiple rooms. Hikers can spend the night there for $125 per person. They let thru-hikers do a work-for-stay which is sweet. My job was to sweep the floors in the morning for which I get dinner, breakfast and I get to sleep on the floor somewhere. There's really nowhere else to sleep because they don't want you to camp because the wildlife is fragile in that high elevation environment.

7/18

(start 9:00. Finish 11:00. Lake of the clouds hut. 4.8 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=44.25875,-71.31894&ll=44.25875,-71.31894&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Ok so last night two other hikers came in late from a 21 mile day. They agreed to also do a work for stay and their duty was to help me sweep in the morning. We had to wait until all the guests leave which is around 8.

So these two guys wake me up at 5:30 and say "sorry dude we're leaving. We have to get started early" actually they didn't day sorry. So i went back to sleep, woke up at 7, ate the leftovers from the paying guests, and swept at 8. Emma, the hut leader, was very upset that the dudes left without doing what they were suppose to do. I really didn't care that much because I like the dudes and I know they like to leave early, but what they did was wrong. They probably screwed over future hikers that come to that hut. Now Emma is going to be less apt to take in hikers.

One of the reasons I didn't mind them leaving early was because of the weather forecast. It was suppose to be nice in the morning but get very ugly towards the afternoon. So they were trying to get over mount Washington before the bad weather rolled in. Mount Washington is notorious for bad weather. It has the highest recorded wind speed in the world (normal wind speed, not a tornado). 146 people have died on mount Washington.

However later in the day I did become a little upset at what they did. When I started hiking at 9 AM the weather was decent but it quickly turned horrible- high winds, foggy, rainy and cold. (the highest temperature ever on Mt Washington was 72 degrees) So I stopped at the next hut which was only 4.8 miles for the day. One i didn't want to get stuck in bad weather over Mt washington and two I also wanted to see. The visibility was like 20 feet. I was walking in a cloud. And these views were suppose to be magnificent. I walked all this way and did this rough hiking in the Whites. I wanted to the payoff- the views, so I was content with only a 4.8 mile day.

So anyway when I got there, those two guys were there. They left early and left me to sweep alone just so they could get 4.8 miles. And they never said thanks or sorry. Thats what pissed me off. I talked to them about it and they still didn't seem like they cared. It's makes me think of a quote from a leading person in the evolutionary biologist, anthropology field, Robert Trivers- "The human brain is the outcome of the cognitive arms race set in motion by the Machiavellian intelligence of our primate forbears fueled by the emotions needed to regulate reciprocal altruism." when you live in a group, people count on each other and people need to be accountable to that group. Give and take. These two are taking without giving back. They had no remorse. No 'I owe ya one' nothing. And what made it worse we had work for stay at this hut too. And our only duty was we had to reorganize the library book shelves. It was me, another dude and the two guys. Three of started working on it while one dude was away. Well that dude walked right by us, saw us and continued walking away. He didnt even help. So after yesterday's ordeal of skipping out of his duty, he did it again. Taker.

So anyway it was a short day, bad weather and no views.

7/19

(start 8:15. Finish 5:15. Osgood tent site. 10.3 miles)

(I guess the spot didn't work tonight)

Today was a day I will never forget. My emotions were at the absolute opposite ends of the spectrum.

The hut was awesome because a volunteer hut crew came in to give the normal workers a day off. The normal workers are college kids who have a smug attitude towards hikers. The volunteer crew were older people who use to work the huts like over 30 years ago. They were happy to be there, cheery and receptive. We actually got a bunk room instead of having to sleep on the floor.

So after breakfast the weather was finally starting to clear up and we could actually see. IT WAS BREATH TAKING. one dude said it's so beautiful that it looks fake. And he was right. It looked like the kind of place I see in magazines when I'm at home and ask myself "why the hell am I not there." I cannot express how amazing it was- infinite visibility, above treeline mountain tops, cool rock formations, clouds blowing over the mountains from the valley. It was a treasure. I felt so fortunate to be there and wondered why should I continue to hike (away) from these mountains. I should find a way to stay there. But I had to keep hiking so I did. Most of the day was going to be hiking above treeline so I would be able to see all of this beautiful stuff all day.

It was tough hiking. Every step was on a rock. This sucks for multiple reasons- you have walk very slow because every step is different and rocks could slip, so it takes a longgg time to walk a short distance, and a lot of the times all of your weight gets pressed on 1 inch of your foot because of how you have to step on certain rocks.

The summit of Mt Washington (6288 feet above sea level) was only 1.5 miles from the hut I slept at. It was pretty cold and fairly windy. The views were awesome. I hung out there for like 30 minutes and continued hiking. It was then 4 miles to the next hut where I planned on breaking and eating lunch. It took a longggg time because of the rock walking. I was still in awe and loving it, loving every moment, loving every nanosecond.

Then things took a turn. After lunch it was 3.5 miles until we went back under treeline. It was all horrible rock hiking like it had been all day, but before I was in blissful euphoria. But after lunch my feet starting killing me and I tweaked my right knee because of the twisting and turning I had to do because it was a 4000 foot descent of all rocks over a 3 mile stretch. When your feet hurt it really sucks because every step is- ouch, ouch, ouch. And every ouch is a worse ouch. It got worse and worse and worse UNTIL... WTF!!! why am I doing this?!?! This is bullshit. Why does it have to be so rocky?!?! I'm done!! I'm quitting!! I'm done hiking... forever!!! I lost it. I broke.

So I finally get back under treeline. I get to walk on dirt again and things were looking up... Nope! I forgot all about how bad the bugs were because I had been above treeline for 3 days. As soon I got under treeline, the bugs were buzzing in ear, landing on my head, Mosquitos biting my arms. And it got real hot. As Bear Jew said later that night 'you cannot win on the AT. It's always something.' ha, I guess that's life too. You have to take the good with the bad. And after I ate dinner and re-acclimated to the heat and constant bug annoyance, I fell back in love with hiking.

My plan was to hike farther than I did, but I pulled up early at a campsite because I just couldn't stand to hike any longer that day. Well four others that I stayed with at the hut the previous night were in the same ballpark as me. I had eaten dinner and had my tent all set up when they walked in and they said how you doing. And I immediately went into my tyraid that I just shared with you about the day going from the best to the worst very quickly. And dude (bear Jew) threw his arms up and said "hallelujah. I was just saying that to my girlfriend." they planned on hiking farther too but they also couldn't stand hiking any further. that made me feel better.

After filtering some water, I went over to their campsite and hung with them. It was a great time. They were very cool and funny. (bear Jew, rock puncher, sea weed, biologist)

I also want to talk about the Hut dynamic. I think it really sucks because theres really no other place to sleep because its above treeline, there are no other shelters and they dont want you tenting because the alpine wildlife is fragile. So you really have to stay at the huts. You have to wait until the guests clear the eating quarters and then eat their leftovers and then you sleep on the floor. Some guests are really cool to you but some look down at you. And the hut crew are smug college kids. It's not that bad but I'd rather just do the normal shelter or tent thing and not have to feel like a second class citizen.

7/20

(start 9:00. Finish 10:30. Hitched into Gorham. Hikers paradise. 3.5 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=44.39801,-71.19415&ll=44.39801,-71.19415&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

I was only planning to resupply in this town and continue hiking. But the heat and my sore feet slowly persuaded my conscious mind to get a room and stay the night. So I did. I hitched to walmart. Got food for four days and got a bottle of wine, a block of cheese, lime tortillas and salsa to eat and drink today. Yum! They sell alcohol in walmart here. New Hampshire's slogan is "live free or die" gotta love that!!'

Update

7/14

(start 8:00 finish 9:30. North Woodstock, NH. 1.4 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=44.03391,-71.68613&ll=44.03391,-71.68613&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

I've decided to take a Nero into town then a zero. I felt so good after my last Nero and I think it will be very productive to rest, let things heal and get stronger. I also bought new boots, stiffer boots in hopes that my feet will no longer hold me back and maybe I can get to doing big miles. Although that will probably have to wait until after the Whites, because that is tough hiking.

I took a thorough shower then swam in a chlorine pool and I still have horrendous b.o. I haven't taken a shower in 7 days and it's been very hot. Haha.

7/15

(zero)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=44.03391,-71.68613&ll=44.03391,-71.68613&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Chilled. Walked around. Did a
warm-up and stretched. Planned upcoming miles and resupply points. Looked through google maps for possible end points in Maine and drew road routes so I can successfully hitch hike to moosehead lake.

Update

7/10

(start 9:45 finish 1:30. Hanover. Dartmouth College. 10.5 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.69771,-72.27792&ll=43.69771,-72.27792&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

I left Paul's house at 8. Then ate breakfast at the general store in town. I wound up sitting with beer hunter and timber for a while. They were older guys hiking together. Timber was from Britian and he helped me come up with the idea of doing a bicycle tour of Europe next summer.

Today I did NOT want to hike. I was thinking about hitch hiking from that general store to Hanover. I thought about trying to catch a bus. My body or maybe my mind didn't wanna hike the 10 miles to Hanover (a city that AT goes directly though. Dartmouth College. And where I have to pick up my mail drop of my goretex gear) But I finally convinced myself that I needed to burn off the calories from the big breakfast and from my over eating gorge from last night's party, so I set off. I started feeling great and it wound up being a great day, felt strong. I met some cool people on the trail that fired me up- two south bounders that were friendly and positive, a father that was mountain biking and his daughter running behind that were talkative and friendly and finally a group of four youngins on their first day out of their goal of hiking all of the AT in Vermont.

I bought the AWOL guide from an outfitter in town. This book shows the elevation change much better than the book i have. I had it before but I gave it to that dude. And now I'm eating lunch at a salad buffet. I think I've felt weak because I haven't been eating much vegetables. So I loaded up on good food- spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, beans, blueberries, strawberries, chicken, turkey, olives, squash, zucchini.

I spent time on the computer today at the Dartmouth Outing Club uploading photos and videos and now I'm tenting in the woods behind their soccer fields. I have to go back into town tomorrow morning to go to the post office.

7/11

(start 10:30 finish 8:00 @ trapper John shelter. 16.3 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.78258,-72.11157&ll=43.78258,-72.11157&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Today was a lot of ups and downs. Tough miles. The only thing that really hurts are my feet. It's sucks. They're holding me back. Today was also the first time the heat was a big factor. It was pretty hot. I sweat a lot and had to carry and drink a lot of water.

The Whites are coming (White Mountain Range). Very big mountains. Very big elevation changes.

Someone asked me tonight who I've been hiking with and since it's such a short post I'm going to attempt to remember who I've hiked with and got to know a lil: coyote, puddle duck, nochello, llama legs, Christian, the fixer, the newly weds, Nero, shoefly, over the top, battle cat, dream walker, sky pilot, white wolf, Charlie, inch worm, sprocket, pipe, night train, timber, beer hunter, Billy goat, Beth, good foot.

7/12

(start 10:00 finish 10:20. Rumbler's Rest campsite. 1.1 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.88891,-71.95773&ll=43.88891,-71.95773&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

I woke up to this dude talking loud to another hiker asking him if he wanted to slack pack. So I got up and talked to the dude. He's trying to start a campsite business nearby so he's recruiting hikers to stay at his place and he's also offering slack packing. Slack packing is hiking with a light pack. So this dude would take our extra gear to his campsite (you only take the gear you'd need for one day). We would walk about 16 miles and he would pick us and take us to his campsite. YOU KNOW I LIKE SLACK PACK!!!! my feet are hurting so I decided to do it.

So we had to walk 1.1 miles from the shelter to the road where this dude was parked. When we got there, he tied us up, f•cked us and robbed us. Calm down do-do. (jk. Another movie quote)

Then I took the slacking further. I've decided to take the day off. I'm starting to lose weight, feeling stronger, my fitness has improved a lot. I don't want to get a little stupid injury to set me back. Life's not a track meet, it's a marathon. I wanna be healthy for Maine and for when I get home to continue working out.

7/13

(start 10:30 finish 7:20. Beaver brook shelter. 18.8 miles)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=44.03313,-71.81137&ll=44.03313,-71.81137&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

I felt very strong after my Nero. I walked the first 10 miles in about 4 hours. I was going to stop at that point at the Hikers Welcome hostel but I felt very good and the weather was suppose to be good. It was another 8 miles to the shelter I was hoping to reach which was after a 3800 foot elevation gain to summit Mt Moosilauke. That was the biggest elevation gain so far this trip, maybe I've done, not sure how big it was when I almost summitted Mt Elbert. AND the weather was not good. It rained and there was a thunderstorm cluster behind me, so I was walking fast and running off the bare (above tree line) summit. That was only the second time in my life that ive been above treeline. It was cool. Its going to happen a lot more very soon while summiting these mountains in the Whites.

It's funny how psychology affects your perceived effort. I knew it was going to be a big climb so I prepared myself mentally for it, and it seemed rather easy. However when I have to do an unexpected 500 feet up, that seems very hard.

There was a crazy dude at the shelter that got in late. He was nuts!!! I didn't realize he was nuts and I was trying to be nice and talk to him. Big mistake. I wish I could have recorded what he was saying. Somehow we got to talking about sex and he said he learned from horses- sniffing around, following and then... Then later he was talking about war. He said if you enter war, you have to go all the way, concentration camps and genocide your enemy. Then he began his ramble across all things- religion, Indians, fighting styles, weapons, space travel, over population, right vs wrong, democracy, equality. He would just say random things like 'back in the day i bet everyone had their own fighting style. And they knew it. And it was good.'

I was really afraid to sleep in the same shelter with him. I bought a little book on the brain in Hanover that I've been reading out here and the last section I read was on psychopaths and how when Bundy was 4, his aunt woke up to him standing over her smiling with all the kitchen knives placed around her. That kept coming into my mind about this guy... He was about 25. I think he was slightly retarded or some type of mental problems, homeless and penniless.

jumping off iron bridge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Uu-dwWhv0

New Hamshire

I'm in New Hampshire!!!! 300 miles down.