8/20/01
A cloudy damp morning greeted us and I was actually hopeful that the parched landscape would receive some desperately needed rain. The leaves have been prematurely falling from the deciduous trees due to the lack of rain and resulting stress on them. The morning climb up the Mahoosic Arm was steep and rugged and it took me an hour to cover the 1.5 mile 1700' climb. I stopped at the Speck Pond shelter along with Phantom, Redneck and Deadwood for a breather for a few minutes while we read the shelter register and noted that Priceless and Finn had paid to stay there last night. It didn't take long for the four of us to move on as we were cold from being soaked with sweat from the climb, yet were surrounded by clouds and mist and stiff cool winds. We resumed climbing steeply to the summit of Old Speck from which we could see nothing but fog and clouds, so we wasted little time beginning the tough 2,500' descent on damp steep rock slabs to Grafton Notch. At the notch was a picnic table and parking area for the state park, so we stopped for lunch at the picnic table and dreamed of drinking cold sodas which we hoped would somehow appear in the form of a yogi opportunity or trail magic. Neither happened, but we did get some free water from a youth group who pulled up as we were about to leave to filter water from the nearby stream. The AMC's territory ends at Grafton Notch and the Maine Appalachian Trail Club (MATC) maintains the AT from Grafton Notch northward to Katahdin. Immediately as we began the 1,200' climb to the halfway point up Baldpate Mtn., the ascent became easier and the trail more enjoyable. I'm not sure if the trail maintainers and designers intended for it to be this way or if it is mere coincidence, but the hiking was much more pleasurable to me than the last 150 miles through the Whites, which are maintained by the AMC. In any case, I was excited by the more reasonable trail and we all covered the miles quickly for a change.
At 1:30 p.m. we reached the Baldpate lean-to shelter where we had intended on resting for a few minutes before climbing the rest of the way up to the West Peak. I was the first to reach the shelter and I was greeted with a surprise when I walked around to the open side. Priceless and Finn were inside, relaxing inside their sleeping bags with their gear spread out as if they intended to stay for awhile! Finn proudly announced that we were done hiking for the day, then continued by explaining that several entries from thru-hikers in the shelter register were about a huge bull moose that had been showing up nightly just outside the shelter. Since it was Finn's birthday and he wanted to stay to see the moose, I was fine with stopping and enjoying a long afternoon and evening hanging out without hiking farther. The rest of the Fab 5 showed up soon after I did and everyone was happy with the change in plans to stay for the night. We spent the entire balance of the afternoon doing basically nothing except talking, napping, and watching the soft rain begin that continued into the evening. Deadwood and two overnighters joined us in the shelter, which brought it to capacity. The youth group that we had seen back at Grafton Notch arrived around 5:00 p.m. and we knew that with them tenting in front of the shelter area, our chance of seeing the moose was dashed. Finn was particularly disappointed, especially when the youth group announced that they had seen the large moose on their hike up to the shelter. Medagator and Lucky Strike showed up around dinner time, but we had no room for them, so they both set up tents in the light drizzle. We were happy that we had made the decision to stay in the dry shelter rather than hike all afternoon in the rain. The evening proved to be uneventful with no moose visit, so we entertained the overnighters with our normal thru-hiker antics and cooked dinner before settling in. Everyone was in their bag with lights out before 9 p.m. for the night. I listened to tunes on my radio for almost two hours before finally succumbing to sleep. Today's stats: low 57, high 67. Cloudy to light rain and drizzle. Today's mileage: 9.4; cumulative mileage 1903.6.
