Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 142, Friday, 8/5 – I woke up at 6:30am this morning. I checked my phone, and saw that it hadn’t charged, even though it was plugged in overnight. This isn’t the first time I’ve come across this issue. I think the charge port is dirty, and is killing the cable. I guess I wasn’t able to thoroughly clean the charge port when I was in town. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of good options to remedy this issue between here and Katahdin, because the trail is getting more and more remote. I’m really hoping I can limp the phone charging issue along until I finish the hike.

I hiked most of the day with Birthday and Aqua. We passed a few beautiful ponds this morning, then stopped for lunch before tackling a steep climb up Mt Success.

The summit of Mt Success was made up of granite slabs and alpine bogs. It was a really neat peak that offered some great views. The weather was neat too, because it was sprinkling with rolling thunder in the distance.

We descended off of Mt Success and crossed the border into Maine. For the entire trail, when someone asks me where I’m hiking, I’ve respond by saying “Maine.” I suppose that answer is inadequate now, seeing as I’m in Maine now. We met Pivot at the border, who was a SOBO hiker, excited to leave Maine. We talked for a while and shared intel about was coming next. We hiked on, and the minute we crossed the border into Maine, it started raining pretty good.

We only had 5 miles left in the day after crossing the border. I thought it would go by relatively quick based on the elevation profile. I was wrong. There were tough rock scrambles and slick granite slabs for the entire stretch.

We climbed to the top of Goose Eye West Peak, and had an awesome 360 degree view. There was a beautiful sunburst coming through dark clouds. We could also see the Presidential Traverse way off in the distance. This was definitely the highlight of my day.

We were just shy of 15 miles today when we pulled into Full Goose Shelter (Mile 1917). We were all exhausted and glad to be done hiking. I think the hiking today was more difficult than anything in the Whites. I set up my hammock and tarp, then joined Aqua for dinner. I ate a ramen bomb (ramen and dehydrated potatoes), then called it for the night.