8/19/01
Another beautiful morning greeted four members of the Fab 5 as Phantom, Redneck, Finn and I got up early to tackle one last mountain before leaving New Hampshire behind. Priceless was still in the shelter, just beginning to stir, when I returned the shelter register to its proper home after scarfing it last evening to read from the comfort of my tent. About ten steps from the tent pad the trail began a steep, rugged ascent and it kept on going until we climbed 1400' to the top of Mt. Success, appropriately named for northbounders about to enter the state of Maine. I was anxious to cross the state line and the remaining 1.9 miles seemed to drag on as the rough ups and downs across numerous boulders and roots continued endlessly. Finally I heard a war whoop ahead of me and I knew the fellas (including Priceless who passed me) were at the border. I rounded the bend and read the small, but significant blue and white sign that read "Welcome to Maine...the way life should be". What a feeling! I somehow walked from Georgia to Maine with a heavy pack on my back through mountainous terrain the whole way! Inside my pack was a little plastic bottle of JD Black Label which christened the moment for the five of us. We all dropped our packs and savored our accomplishment for just a few minutes, knowing that 281.4 rugged wilderness miles still lay ahead.
Our first Maine challenge was to reach the Carlo Col Shelter, only a half mile into the Vacationland State. By all appearances on the profile map, the 250' climb should have been a breeze, but hey, it's Maine, considered the most difficult state on the entire AT. True to form, I struggled over the terrain with weary legs past the side trail that leads to the shelter, deciding quickly not to expend the energy to cover the .3 mile blue blaze to the shelter. Three more peaks, all part of the Goose Mtn. enclave, were ahead and appeared fairly simple on the profile map. I should have known by now not to trust the profile maps! Tough, and I do mean tough, terrain was the order of the day with each and every step difficult along the path northward. From the East Peak, Redneck and I looked across the valley to the North Peak, where we could see Finn and Priceless lounging on the exposed rock outcrop. I almost dreaded having to drop down, just to ascend again to the nearby peak. I didn't have any choice but to suck it up and keep putting one foot in front of the other, despite the physical pain and general fatigue from the difficult terrain. Upon reaching the North Peak of Goose Eye, I dropped my pack and joined the rest of the Fab 5 for some mid-day snacks and lunch. There's really no way to describe the view from the exposed outcrop except to say that the Maine wilderness before us is rugged, wild, untouched by man, pristine and beautiful. There was little time to dwell on the beauty as we still had a plan to conquer the infamous Mahoosic Notch before ending the day's journey.
After climbing the South Peak of Goose Eye Mtn., we descended steeply for a thousand feet to the west end of the notch. One hour and four minutes later I emerged from the .9 mile long horizontal rock scramble relatively unscathed. The Mahoosic Notch literally is a jungle gym of house sized boulders and smaller rocks that apparently were deposited by a receding glacier after it cut a steep, narrow canyon between two large mountains. In many places the trail led us over and under the boulders, requiring great balance and a daring attitude to successfully scramble through them. The temperature change in the notch was dramatic, with pockets of ice visible in the deep crevices and cavelike formations between the rocks. Despite the slow progress and difficulty, the Notch will be one of the most memorable miles of the journey and was a lot of fun. By the time all of us had successfully negotiated the famous mile, it was 6:00 p.m. A nearly vertical 1500' climb was ahead up the Mahoosic Arm and frankly, we were all out of energy. I dropped my pack after negotiating the Notch to search for a flat campsite while the rest of the gang discussed whether or not Priceless could stay with us without a shelter to protect him from the forecasted rain. He convinced Finn to tackle the difficult 2.6 miles up to the next shelter while Phantom, Redneck, Deadwood and I happily called it a day and pitched our shelters in the waning light. Extremely tired, we made dinner, filtered water and crawled into our tents by 8:30 p.m. as darkness was nearly 100% in place. Too tired to journal, I listened to the radio barely half an hour before going to sleep for the night. Maine! The final frontier (at least for this journey). Today's stats: low 55, high 72. Sunny to cloudy. Today's rugged miles: 12.2. Cumulative mileage: 1894.2.
