Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 14 – An unplanned on trail zero
9th August 2023
S Branch Carabassett River (196.8)
Daily miles: 0
Total miles: 202.1
It was quite a long night.
Just after I settled in my sleeping bag when it got dark a huge thunderstorm passed over. The rain was absolutely pelting down, lightning flashing all over the place with some thunder and then one of the loudest thunder cracks I’ve ever heard.
I had my rain skirt under my mat and my waterproof jacket over the end of my sleeping bag with my feet tucked into the hood. I had deployed all the protection I could to stay dry so eventually I just closed my eyes and kept dreaming of crossing the river with various scenarios all ending badly!
When I woke at around 05:45 it had finally stopped raining and I got out my tent for a wee which was very long and very dark.
Happy to see blue sky
I went to look at the river. Somewhat unexpectedly it seemed worse than last night; the plank had been washed out of place, there was more water and it was flowing faster.
Trying to talk to the NOBOs on the othe side of the river but the water was too loud
I went back to my tent and waited for the others to show up. I knew the Quebecois boys would appear but I was unsure of Cal’s whereabouts. If the river didn’t go down, the only thing I could see to do was to leave the trail via the dirt road, which is about 3 miles from what I can decipher from the comments on Far Out. It is possible to ascend Sugarloaf, which is the next mountain over the river, from the other side and get back to the trail that way so we bypass the river crossing. I’ve no idea how long it takes for a river like that to recede.
In good news, looking out the tent I can see blue sky and sunshine which feels so nice after yesterdays apocalypse.
I went to look at the river again. This time I could see 2 NOBOs on the other side plus a small dog. We tried to shout across but the water was so loud we couldn’t hear each other. We gesticulated that there was nothing we could do to cross and then said we would just have to wait.
I got back into my tent. I was feeling cold so I wrapped myself up and waited for the boys to appear. At 9am there was still no sign of anyone. I heard some crunching and a man appeared, a day hiker. I asked him if he intended to cross the river and said it was pretty impossible. He looked at me like I was mad, but after he went to look he said yeah there was no way he was crossing that. So even though I know it’s impossible to cross, it’s still nice to have confirmation from others.
I’m confused, maybe a bit concerned, as to where the others are. I speculate a lot about things because there is nothing else to do. The boys packed up wet tents yesterday morning and hiked all day in the rain and got completely soaked and then they must have pitched wet tents last night too. It’s possible they are drying out a bit before hiking today.
Around 09:15 Cal arrives. Yay, a friend!
He tells me about his night on the top of South Crocker, which was very wet and windy! And his 3 separate ascents of south Crocker because he took a wrong turn. This is why he’s taken longer to get here than I thought because he was much further away.
About 15 minutes later the Quebecois boys arrived and I was so happy to see all these people.
They all went to look at the river and agreed that it wasn’t crossable, so we all resigned ourselves to a day hanging out at the campsite. My first on trail zero, ever. Had it still been raining in the morning I probably would have packed up walked the road to town.
Assessing the river
Everyone put up their tents and hung their stuff everywhere to dry out.
We spent a lot of time looking at the river and wondering if it would be crossable but I knew from early on that we wouldn’t be trying it until morning. Even if we were to cross later in the day there was nowhere to camp until 5 miles in and 2.5 miles of that was a huge climb up to Sugarloaf mountain.
We hung out and luckily for me I had pitched my tent behind a natural seating area with a few logs and an old fire ring and that’s where everyone sat, so I could just stay in my tent and chat to everyone which was perfect for me as I just kept getting colder until I eventually was wearing my fleece and my puffy and a hat and I had my sleeping bag wrapped around me to keep warm. It was between 15-17°C / 59-62°F all day, but the wind was cold. Everyone was cold so it wasn’t just me.
The view from my tent
My tent
A full camp
Clothes hung everywhere
Having all my stuff lying around like this would make me anxious
It was nice to get to know the kids a bit more. There were 2 councillors, who I had met before, and there were 7 kids in total – I was never too sure about the number before because we would pass individually and leapfrog a bit.
They were questioning us about travel and hiking and food and culture and all sorts of stuff. It was really lovely that they were so inquisitive.
I ate a bit, but I didn’t want to eat too much because I might run out of food, so I just snacked on a few chips and a few fruit snacks. I’m pretty hungry.
The boys are out for 10 days and are carrying everything they need with them, including this huge, dense, slab of protein cake and they have one of those for lunch each day. They are all 15/16 years old and they are hungry all the time, like most boys that age, so they are constantly thinking about food. They were pretty jealous of all the candy I had in my food bag. I thought they were just curious about my food but it turns out they ate all their supply of gummy bears on day 1, so the only bit of sugar they are getting is from a powdered lemonade drink. They were all longing for things like candy and chocolate and cookies.
Cal took pity on them and handed out his Oreos (a better man than me!) and watching the kids eat them was fun. Some sniffed them and licked them and nibbled them savouring every little bite and others just stuffed the whole thing in and it was gone in 2 seconds!
One of the kids blew up his air mat and all the baffles popped open so he was left with a giant sausage air mat.
A thermarest sausage
Another couple of SOBOs arrived – Mike and Anna – and they started on July 10th, they aren’t in any hurry. They didn’t want to try and cross so they are camped here for the night and we chatted with them for a while
We go and check the river a lot just to see if there have been any changes and it’s definitely gone down a bit. There are rocks visible that weren’t visible this morning.
Dinner time, I can talk to everyone from my tent
The Boys and their counselors
Around 4pm some of the guys go and see if they can reposition the plank and after some difficulty with the pressure of the water they managed to get it balanced on a rock, but if you walk on it it dips down into the water and becomes unstable, so we moved the plank off the rock in case any NOBOs came and tried to stand on it. It was an entertaining half hour.
Trying to move the plank
The pressure of the water made it tricky
Holding it and letting it drop was the solution
We saw a NOBO come into camp and he explained that there were a bunch of people hanging out in the shelters waiting to cross and some of them, like himself, had take a trail down Sugarloaf Mountain to town and got taken back to the trail on the road, avoiding the river crossing, and he was just coming back this way to connect his footsteps.
We sit around some more. I’ve been sitting in my tent for over 24 hours now. The only steps I’ve taken were to and from the river and to have 2 wees.
We sit around talking some more and the Quebecois group make their dinner which is a process. They are carrying 2 huge cooking pots and they eat heavy stuff like pasta and rice. It takes a couple of hours for the whole process.
RJ – the other SOBO we have been crossing with – appears in camp having climbed over the Crockers today, already aware that the river was uncrossable. He was in town until this morning and he said the rain had been more than double what had been forecasted. He came and sat with us for a bit drinking a hot chocolate… that’s something I need for my next resupply!
I feel like I’ve had a pretty good day. They are such a nice bunch and I’m really pleased I was able to spend my first on trail zero, and day waiting by the river, with these people. We’ve laughed a lot and had some good conversations.
Just as we were all winding down and starting to think about getting ready for bed this guy in a yellow T-shirt appears in camp and yells “are you all SOBOs?!”
A NOBO – his name was Jukebox – had made it across the river! But he looked very wet!
He was absolutely buzzing and it was pretty funny that he had run over just to tell us he made it across. The problem is he said it was a test crossing which he did without his pack and now he has to cross back to get his pack and cross again with his pack.
We all ran down to witness this and see where he crossed, and of course to make sure he didn’t get swept away!
NOBO Jukebox
It looked super sketchy. He crossed a little way down stream and he was feeling for boulders under the water and holding on to them. That’s not something I want to do! He asked me to film him and when he looked back at the video he said that a was really stupid thing to do.
But, he made it, and he was now shaking with cold (and adrenaline) so one of the Quebecois boys gave him a towel to dry off, and Cal gave him a bit of charge from his battery pack and he said he was out of candy so I gave him a couple of starburst as he was celebrating having walked 2000 miles.
His electronics were dead, just because of running out of battery, but he hikes with them in a bag of rice just in case they get wet, which is pretty funny!
The guy was still buzzing from having made it across. It sounds like there are loads of NOBOs waiting to cross. The two people I saw this morning are camped on the other side. Me, Cal, the French group and the other 3 SOBOs made an arrangement to cross together in the morning to make sure we all get across safely.
As we were talking to Jukebox another NOBO appeared out of nowhere with only slightly wet shorts. He did have very long legs, but still. Not sure how he made it across, what appeared to be, extremely easily.
This guy changed the vibe. It was a bit weird. He was obsessing over a girl and saying how wonderful she was. She is a triple crowner who is now hiking the IAT and according to him she’s going to arrive at 9:30pm. I thought that crossing that river in the dark was dumb and shouldn’t be done, but according to him she’s strong enough.
It was getting dark now so with that, and the change in vibe, we settled in our tents. Thankfully everything is pretty much dry now, apart from my shoes which I noticed already have holes in them. They are in a better condition that Cal’s though, his have huge rips down the sides and virtually no grip left on the soles. Both of our shoes have just under 200 miles on them which is pretty poor.
All in all it’s been quite a strange day, but a fun one.
Holes in my shoes already – because they have been so wet
