Day 110 The Hardest Mile

Today we hiked the hardest mile of the Appalachian Trail and spent the day with good friends. 

I slept pretty well last night. It was quieter in the shelter than I expected. We woke up around 6:30 and were hiking after breakfast by about 7:30. We only planned to hike 16 miles since we knew the miles would be difficult and slow. 

The two other hikers we met last night spent most of the day hiking with us. Their names are Grape and Cricket. 

For most of the morning we hiked through bog covered mountains. It was very cloudy so we didn’t have much in the way of views. The bogs, mud, and rain worked together to make our feet very wet. 

Apart from bogs, there were some very few sections of steep boulders, foreshadowing what was to come.

Finally we dropped steeply down off the boggy mountains.

Then we began the Mahoosuc Mile, the hardest and most fun mile on the AT. Surrounded by rock cliffs, the Mahoosuc Notch is a boulder field that runs through a gorge. 

There was snow and ice down in the gorge. Here  are some pictures of the boulders and caves. 

In total the 1 mile length took us about an hour fifteen to complete. But we survived. 

After the notch, there is a very steep 1.5 mile climb up to Mahoosuc Arm. From the arm, we walked another bog covered ridge. At times we fell into mud. Spencer went as deep as his knees. 

The fog cleared enough for us to get a couple views.

We made it down out of the Mahoosuc Mountains by around 6pm. All four of us met up with Spencers fiancé and Spencer‘s mom, Brooke and Lauren. They brought us apple pie and lasagna, as well as fresh fruit and a resupply. Spencer’s mom drove three hours one way to bring us her homemade lasagna and resupply. It was great to see Aunt Loren. And we really appreciated all of the support and food. Thank you, Aunt Loren!

After eating, Brooke brought me and Spencer to her mom‘s house for the night. It was fantastic to get out of the rain and wash all the mud off of our legs with the shower. Although we only 14 miles today, they were very difficult and I feel as though we made good progress. 

Tomorrow we will return to the trail, and pick up grape and cricket from Bethel ME where they’re staying at a motel. Although the hardest mile is behind us, we are still expecting the next few days to be rather difficult.

Good night, 

Walker