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