Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 143, Saturday, 8/6 – I woke up at 6:00am this morning, and ate a bagel with peanut butter in the hammock. I finished breakfast, packed up, and met back up with Aqua, Genie, Splitzy, and Birthday. There was a rowdy high school group at the campsite last night. They were in high spirits and had some chants going as they left camp.

Aqua, Birthday, and I started the day with Mahoosuc Notch. Mahoosuc Notch is a 1 mile stretch of trail made up of nothing but boulders at the bottom of a deep cleft. Mahoosuc Notch really resembled rock climbing more than it did hiking. It’s widely believed to be the hardest mile on the AT, and I’d agree with that. Even though it was difficult, I really enjoyed the scramble. It took us an hour and a half to complete Mahoosuc Notch.

Right after Mahoosuc Notch was a tough climb up Mahoosuc Arm. The climb up Mahoosuc Arm is one of steepest on the AT. The trail ascended 1,500ft in just 1 mile.

I descended down from Mahoosuc Arm into Spec Pond Shelter, and stopped for lunch. Genie, Splitzy, Aqua, and Birthday all caught up and ate lunch as well. The shelter had a caretaker who stopped and chatted with us. She was giving us an in depth run down on the chores required to maintain the campsite. She was explaining what it takes to maintain the privy, and I got to learn first hand what “mank” was. I’ll just leave it at that.

We left Spec Pond Shelter and started climbing up Old Spec Mountain. I slipped off one of the boards going over the alpine bogs. It all happened so fast, that I was knee deep in mud before I even realized that I slipped off. Oh well, if I’m going to slip, I’d rather get muddy than get injured. We all had a good laugh.

We all made it to the top off Old Spec Mountain, and took a spur trail to the fire tower to get views from the top. We also found a moose skeleton on the peak, which was neat to see.

We hiked down from Old Spec Mountain, and heard from another hiker that there was trail magic in the parking lot. We got to the parking lot, and found Laughing Loon’s husband with a table of snacks. We all took a seat and ate a bunch of food.

We decided to camp at the parking lot, ME Route 26 at Grafton Notch (Mile 1927). Laughing Loon’s crew gave us additional trail magic food that they had leftover. We all got a few bites of steak, potatoes, and a lot more snack foods.

There’s only 267 miles left to Katahdin. In one sense, I’m very close to the end. In other sense, I still have as much as 3 weeks to go. I’m starting to feel ready to be done with the hike. I’m looking forward to establishing a stable life again.