Day 106 - 119

Day 106: Distance hiked: 18 miles. Left hostel and got to trail at 8:40 AM. Climbed Moosilauke within the first five miles. Incredible views and it was great to be above tree line for the first time. It was a very hard climb down--the trail followed a stream bed/waterfall and would be the first of many extremely difficult climbs in the Whites. I then climbed Mt. Wolf and stealth camped near the summit in the woods. It was great to be on a mountain, in the woods by myself, hanging in my hammock for the night.








Day 107: Distance hiked: 12.7 miles. Left campsite around 9 AM. It was so cold in the morning and hard to crawl out of my cocoon. Mt. Kinsman was very hard but rewarding. Ended up hiking with the Big Naranja and Big foot for the second half of the day and really enjoyed it. The Big Naranja is Australian and told me about hiking the Australian trail. Sounds pretty cool...Took a shuttle to Chet's place after the hike and slept on a run-down couch in a garage after eating Subway and shopping at a grocery store. It felt pretty luxurious. 









Day 108: Distance hiked: 13 miles. Really long hard climb first thing in the morning up to Liberty Springs campsite and Little Haystack Mtn. It was well worth it because Franconia Ridge was SPECTACULAR. My favorite part of the trail to date. The entire ridge is above treeline and I could see miles and miles of mountains and surrounding landscape. I climbed Mt. Lincoln, Mt.Lafayette, and Mt. Garfield. It was awesome. I then did a work-for-stay at Galehead Hut where I cleaned dished and the stove in exchange for endless quantities of food and shelter from the raging storms outside. 









Day 109: Distance hiked: 14.7 miles. After an amazing pancake breakfast went out and climbed South Twin and North Twin and Zealand Cliffs before the rain poured down. I fell really hard when I zoned out for a split second and stepped on a wet log. My shoulder, knee, and elbow all hit the rocky ground at the same time and I was very lucky to not break anything. Just bled for a bit. I then made it to the notch and encountered Rockdancer and Stitches. The rain was pouring and they took pity on a few of us thru-hikers and brought us to the Sub Sig cabin, where one of the members there cooked us an amazing dinner. We slept on mattresses in the warm cabin out of the storm and it felt incredible!    







Day 110: Distance hiked: 11.1 miles. Got to trail around 10:30 AM after a wonderful breakfast with the group at the cabin. I then climbed Mt. Webster, Mt. Jackson, Mt. Pierce, and Mt. Franklin of the Presidential Range (yes I know that Webster and Franklin were not Presidents--perhaps someone should tell the person who named the mountains!). I stayed fairly dry and enjoyed the ridge walk through the clouds. I ended my day at Lake of the Clouds Hut with another work-for-stay. Another thru-hiker, Amish, brought the crew beer and made us legends. Amish, Sanhicken, and I then entertained the other guests for 45 minutes in a presentation about the AT and thru-hiking. It was actually pretty fun and we had the entire place laughing with our stories.









Day 111: Distance hiked: 14.9 miles. Left Lake of the Clouds Hut around 9:30 AM after sweeping and folding blankets in the morning (and eating tons of pancakes!). Summitted Mt. Washington and actually had a view which is abnormal being that Mt. Washington has "the worst weather in the world." I took a few pictures and then possibly mooned the Cog Railroad as it brought tourists to the top of the mountain, a thru-hiker tradition. I hiked the rest of the Presidential Range and summitted Mt. Madison before getting drenched on my descent into Pinkam Notch. I arranged for a shuttle and spent the night at the White Mountain Lodge which was awesome!









Day 112: Distance hiked: 21.1 miles. Started the day with a beautiful pond and then ascended Wildcat Mtn. After climbing down Wildcat Mtn. I stopped by Carter Notch Hut where the crew gave me some chocolate chip covered brownies--yum! I then summitted Mt. Height and had incredible views of Mt. Washington and the entire Presidential Range. I also saw some thru-hiker buddies I had not seen in a while (Rebound and Ranger), chatted them up, and then finished my hike and stayed at the White Mountain Lodge again.









Day 113: Distance hiked: 14.7 miles. Hung out at White Mountain Lodge in the morning, went to Walmart to resupply, and then finally started hiking at 11:30 AM. It was a pretty easy stretch and the highlight of the day was the sunset over the Whites while standing on the summit of Mt. Success, 2 miles from Maine. It was very fitting and very beautiful. 







Day 114: Distance hiked: 11.8 miles. Rained on from the very beginning of the day which made the descent from Mt. Success very tough. It was all worth it though because I entered Maine!!! I then went through Mahoosuc Notch (known as the hardest mile of the AT) in the rain and climbed Mahoosuc Arm, both extremely difficult. Mahoosuc Notch is a mile long boulder field and Mahoosuc Arm is an extremely steep rock climb. Both not easy in the rain. I also fell waste deep into a bog that day.  I spent the night at Speck Pond Shelter to get out of the rain and because I had had an exhausting day and needed a break from rain/mud.





Day 115: Distance hiked: 4.6 miles. I walked in pouring rain from Speck Pond Shelter to Grafton Notch. The night before I had received a text from the Spalding twins, Sarah and Elizabeth, saying they were in the country and wanted to hike with me. So I hiked 4.6 miles to the notch, caught a shuttle to a hostel, and waited for their arrival. We went out to dinner that night, caught up, and stayed at the Chapman Inn in Bethel. Nice place and awesome breakfast!

Day 116: Distance hiked: 10.3 miles. The twins may have gotten a little more than they bargained for as there were several steep ascents that day. They were troopers though and kept hiking the full 10.3 miles to the next road. The highlight of the day was Baldplate Mtn. It was great to see them again and be able to hike with them! We saw a snake (who they named "Billy") and several spiders. We also had to ford a very fast stream above a waterfall. I'm very happy none of us slipped or we would have been all kinds of dead right now.





Day 117: Distance hiked: 23.4 miles. Sarah and Elizabeth stayed at the hostel while I churned out 23.4 miles in order to stay on schedule. I summitted Wyman Mt. early on and forded two streams. There were many steep ascents and descents and after climbing several more mountains I finally made the road crossing I needed to in order to catch my shuttle back to the hostel. There were some good views that day.









Day 118: Distance hiked: 22.3 miles. Said goodbye to the twins and started off at 8:30 AM. The first 13 miles were fairly easy terrain with a lot of ponds. Two hours into the hike I saw my first moose of the trip! It came out of the woods and walked right up to me. It was awesome! I then climbed Saddleback Mtn as evening drew on and the views from the summit were spectacular. I spent a long time on the summit of Saddleback and The Horn, watching the sun go down over the mountains. It was so beautiful and perfect. As the journey is coming to an end I realize just how special some of these moments are and I'm really taking them in. Some of these moments may change my life forever.









Day 119: Distance hiked: 23 miles. Left camp at 6:30 AM for a very long day. All in all I climbed Saddleback Junior, Lone Mt., Spaulding Mt., South Crocker Mt., and North Crocker Mt. It was very challenging but I really wanted to get to Stratton to be one day ahead of schedule and aslo be able to finally update this blog! I hope you all like all these new pictures!