Miles: 9.6
As I snuggled in my sleeping bag last night, I realized that there was no way I would write in my journal. So, here I am, a day late, trying to remember what I was thinking and feeling. Hmmm... the day consisted of surfing down the Mahoosuc Arm and bouncing over the Notch.
Let me tell you a little about the Notch... We first were warned about it back in the 100-Mile Wilderness. Then we read warnings in trail registers, heard graphic injury stories from NOBO's and heard it called the most difficult mile in the Thru-Hiker's Companion AT guide.
We got an early start after a horrible night's sleep in an over-packed shelter. Between the rain storm and the loud snoring, I got maybe 5 hours of sleep. (And I'm one of those people that firmly believe 8 hours of sleep is the bare minimum!) So, we were about to do the most difficut portion of the Trail sleep-deprived and while it was raining. Bring it on!
The Arm is a steep, boulder-ridden descent into the Notch. It was wet, slippery and slow-going, but we made it through. About half-way down, we met up with Tangent and Semi-Sweet... at least we had good company while sliding on our butts down the mountain.
When we got to the Notch, we weren't quite sure we were there. Then we started to climb over rocks and the ground just kind of went away. So, we packed up our trekking poles, as they were useless at this point.
The Notch is 1-mile long. With a lunch break, it took us 2.5 hours to go through it. Ouch. An old rock slide off the side of the mountain created this valley of boulders. Because it was wet, we were on our hands, knees and butts for most of the time. I actually had a great time for the first quarter mile. There is thick ice in the crevices still (I don't think it ever melts, as it's the end of July!). Because of this, there were cold drafts of air that chilled me to the bone coming from under the rocks, then the warm, humid air would hit me a couple of seconds later as I climbed up another boulder. It was definitely the most unique experience on the Trail thus far. I can't say I've ever had to crawl under and through boulder-made caves, shoving my pack in front of me because of the tight space.
After finally finishing the Notch (yes!), we thought we were going to cruise to camp. Ummm... Not. There was still more ridiculous boulder climbing and, our favorite, MUDs (Mindless Ups and Downs), before reaching our destination.
After five mountains (yes, FIVE), we were finally at the shelter! What a sweet sight! Slacker and Wonderboy were cooking dinner, surprised to see that we had made it. Even though it was practically dark when we got there, I was just proud that we did it.
After dinner, a group of girls from a local camp offered us their peanut-butter and chocolate dessert. The commentary went something like this:
Camp leader (while holding a bowl of delicious pudding looking stuff): "Would you all like some of this?"
7 Hikers, in unison, with no shame: "YES!"
1 Hiker: "Ummm... you should probably eat your fill, then hand whatever you can't eat to us."
Camp leader: "OK."
Camp leader returns several minutes later to drooling hikers, with titanium sporks in hand: "Here you go."
Pudding dessert vanishes in a record 10.2 seconds, with Slacker licking the bowl at the end.
After eating, we passed out and had the best sleep yet on the Trail.
- Puffed-up Bobo