June 4
It was a category three day. Which meant some (most) of the trails were closed, while it was not advised to hike above the tree lines on the ones that actually were opened.
We (my hiking buddy Matt and I) went up the Hunt Trail, which is actually part of the AT. At first, it seemed like it was nothing compared to yesterday (at Katahdin). That changed after we passed Katahdin Falls. It was basically a rock staircase, which doesn't sound too bad except that the mountain was 90 stories high. I basically sprinted up it.
After three hours or so we decided to turn around. The huge gusts of wind and the constant stream of rain was robbing me of my body heat. My knee hurt on the way down, but after getting off the trail, I was a champ.
After we came down we returned our day packs. We signed in with the ranger to hike the AT. We also weighed our packs. Mine is a little less than 50 and Matt's is at 70. After watching Matt and the ranger struggle with the pack for awhile, we went back to the lean-to. This is where the saddest part of my day occurred.
I had bought five king size 3 musketeers bars at Rite Aid earlier in the day. I left them sitting in the lean-to like an idiot. When I came back, four were gone. I'm not sure if squirrels or mice ate them. I was very sad.
Matt then built a fire. I ate cinnamon toast crunch for dinner while I watched Matt tend the fire and cook his dinner. We went to bed around nine. I couldn't get to sleep. It rained a lot and the wind was howling. The plan is to head out around nine tomorrow, but we'll see what happens.
We came across one couple who looks absolutely miserable - a chick with the shaved head and a guy. We saw them as we were going up and they were coming down. They looked super tired and were not happy when we told them it was about an hour and a half to the bottom. We also saw them in camp attempt to make a fire with little success. He asked us for a smoke at one point.
We hope we see them along the trail; we figure their fighting will be quite entertaining.
We (my hiking buddy Matt and I) went up the Hunt Trail, which is actually part of the AT. At first, it seemed like it was nothing compared to yesterday (at Katahdin). That changed after we passed Katahdin Falls. It was basically a rock staircase, which doesn't sound too bad except that the mountain was 90 stories high. I basically sprinted up it.
After three hours or so we decided to turn around. The huge gusts of wind and the constant stream of rain was robbing me of my body heat. My knee hurt on the way down, but after getting off the trail, I was a champ.
After we came down we returned our day packs. We signed in with the ranger to hike the AT. We also weighed our packs. Mine is a little less than 50 and Matt's is at 70. After watching Matt and the ranger struggle with the pack for awhile, we went back to the lean-to. This is where the saddest part of my day occurred.
I had bought five king size 3 musketeers bars at Rite Aid earlier in the day. I left them sitting in the lean-to like an idiot. When I came back, four were gone. I'm not sure if squirrels or mice ate them. I was very sad.
Matt then built a fire. I ate cinnamon toast crunch for dinner while I watched Matt tend the fire and cook his dinner. We went to bed around nine. I couldn't get to sleep. It rained a lot and the wind was howling. The plan is to head out around nine tomorrow, but we'll see what happens.
We came across one couple who looks absolutely miserable - a chick with the shaved head and a guy. We saw them as we were going up and they were coming down. They looked super tired and were not happy when we told them it was about an hour and a half to the bottom. We also saw them in camp attempt to make a fire with little success. He asked us for a smoke at one point.
We hope we see them along the trail; we figure their fighting will be quite entertaining.
