Day 111 Slippery When Wet

Today we hiked an easy 17.7 miles and hung out with Grape and Cricket for most of the day. 


I slept very well last night. It was very nice being clean, dry and inside. Brooke and her mom Valerie were able to get a resupply that Valerie will bring to us on Thursday. Thank you so much for all the help! 


We left Valerie’s house at around 7:30 and picked up Grape and Cricket from Bethel. They got us donuts from Dunkin Donuts which were very appreciated. We started hiking by 9:15.



Our first climb of the day was up Baldpate mountains. We had fog and rain on the way up. 



At the top was a very wet and slippery stone slab that ran for about a quarter mile of the trail. We went slowly and carefully and avoided any falls or injuries. We made it over both the east and west peaks of Baldpate before noon. 








The descent was very slippery and treacherous. Spencer slid for a few feet and almost had a bad fall, but was able to catch a tree just in time to stop the slide. After that all four of us butt-scooted down the rest of the slab. 


We stopped for lunch at a shelter called Frye Notch Lean-to. A couple miles after lunch Spencer and I stopped to go swimming in a cold stream and rinse the sweat off. 


We stopped at a shelter for dinner around 5 and hung out trading trail stories with the group for a couple hours. Some rain blew in then passed while we ate and talked. Cricket and Grape decided to stay at the shelter, while Spencer and I went a mile and a half ahead to pitch our tents next to a stream. We are all aiming for the same shelter for tomorrow night so I’m sure we’ll meet back up tomorrow at some point. It’s been really refreshing having some new people to talk to, especially people who have been on the same journey and experienced a lot of the same things. 


Tomorrow we will hike a pretty easy 20 miles. The weather could go either way, so we will see if we get views or rain. Regardless we will have a good day.


Good night,

Walker  

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