Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 18 – The humidity must be 100%
13th August 2023
Stealth Site at view point (246.4) - Frye Notch Lean-to (261.6)
Daily miles: 15.2
Total miles: 267.9
It rained in the night. I woke up still feeling exhausted, sore and hungry; I needed to poop and I had no water.
So I packed up, removed the scary looking beetle who had taken up residence in my tent fly, and did the steep half mile descent to the river where the campground we were aiming for yesterday was. It was only half a mile but there would have been no way I would have made that last night.
The reason I like being in my tent
I need a wash
There’s a bone in your foot, on the inside, just forward of your ankle bone, kind of over the arch… that was in great pain when I started walking, as were the rest of my legs and feet. It took me a while to walk instead of stagger down the mountain. After a while everything loosened up and life became a bit easier again.
I reached the river and had to cross to get to the campground. There was a guy sat on the other side who said he would rescue me if I fell in. I ploughed straight through in my shoes as they were wet anyway from yesterday and they could do with a clean. The crossing was pretty straight forward and the highest it came was up to my knees. If it gets a little lower the river will be a rock hop.
A view down to the river through the valley
Helpful rebar
The first river crossing of the day
I made a bee line to the privy and there was a bit of a queue but I was grateful it was there instead of having to dig a hole in the woods. There were so many tents there. I think a lot of the people there were going into Andover today.
Feeling relieved and with a full water bottle I started the first climb of the day, which wasn’t actually as bad as I was expecting it to be as there were even a few flatter sections amongst the climbing, but the humidity was something else. I was so so sweaty. I was stopping at every stream to wet my bandana and wipe my face with it.
Cal passed me quickly but I didn’t do too badly on the ascent, and then the descent was brutal. Really steep and it probably took just as long, if not longer than, the ascent. Some nice bits of trail maintenance though in between all the death rocks.
At the bottom of the descent was another river crossing; another wade straight through with shoes on. This time on the other side I took my shoes and socks off and shook them out because they had a bunch of debris in from the last river crossing. I squeezed out my socks and the insoles to make my feet less soggy. Cal stayed for a while and ate his lunch early.
Blue sky
Really enjoying the humidity
Some nice bits of trail
Nice trail work
Second river crossing
Then it was another big climb up to a shelter where I poured with sweat the whole way up. The humidity… it was brutal. Cal passed me and I struggle-bussed my way to the top. When he passed I could see the sweat pouring out of his beard and his shirt was soaked.
There were a bunch of NOBOs at the shelter. We are pretty sure this is the start of the bubble as we have seen more NOBOs today than any other day, but of course no NOBO thinks they are in the bubble. Every NOBO we speak to says the bubble is a week back.
I had a 10 minute break at the shelter where I scoffed some crisps and cheese and then I needed to carry on if I was going to make decent time, so I plodded on to the top of Wyman mountain and then began the long descent.
It was a fairly nice gradual descent up until Surplus pond when it started to rain. I managed to walk a little while before it penetrated the tree canopy, then the rain skirt and the umbrella came out. On days like these I love my umbrella, when it’s way too hot and humid to have any sort of jacket on. There was a whole load of thunder that went with the rain, there could have been some lightning too but I didn’t notice any.
At one point it was raining and the sun was shining and the humidity level was surely 100%. It probably rained for about an hour before it cleared up.
I saw a couple with a lovely dog who licked my legs.
The rocky trail
Nice wether and views over the trees
A rock and a log hop
The descent continued to yet another river crossing. Cal was there airing out his wet shirt and wet feet. This crossing was a dry crossing where you could use the rocks and a strategically placed log.
I filtered water and carried on because there were still 3.6 miles to the shelter and another climb to get there. It was more of the same. High humidity. Rocks. Roots. Slippery slab. So many mosquitos. Mud… and the worst of the mud was in the last mile to the shelter. I struggled up the climb but I barely saw any NOBOs, which was slightly concerning because this made us think the shelter was going to be full.
As I was pulling myself up a rock my water bottle fell out of my bag and rolled an annoyingly long way down the hill.
I ran into a volunteer who had been building a new privy at the shelter. He said it was useable but there was no door. Not a problem!
As I neared the top of the climb I saw a hiker and asked if the shelter was busy. He said there were on only 2 people there and a guy heading there who he passed earlier - that must have been Cal. Ok. That sounded good. I just needed to get my body moving quicker so I got there before anyone else did.
But as I came to the top I got an overwhelming hunger. I had definitely not eaten enough and mostly existed on sugar today so I really hit a wall. The last 0.5 of steep descent to the shelter really took it out of me. It seemed to go on forever.
I reached the shelter at 18:20 and it was nice to finish the day with light and time to eat. Only one NOBO was there and then just me and Cal so we didn’t need to worry about it being full.
Frye Notch lean-to
Blue sky before the rain came
A brand new privy
The second person to ever use it
I tried to get everything done as efficiently as possible. Ate my meat stick and crisps, then made some noodles and had a couple of Oreos to finish it off. I got all my stuff out. Used the privy – although not to its full potential - cleaned my teeth and I was lying down by 19:30. It was so nice to be in camp earlier with time to do stuff.
My feet are throbbing and swollen again, but it’s nothing compared to how they felt last night. Around 20:30 the rain came and it absolutely poured down. It probably sounded worse than it was on the tin roof of the shelter but it definitely came down hard. I’m very pleased I’m not in my tent right now!
Settled in for the night
This shelter is quite short. Perfect length for me, although I seem to be sliding and my feet are hanging off the end. Taller people must struggle.
The rain is so loud on the roof I think it may be an ear plug night. Another big day tomorrow with a lot of ascent and descent. Hopefully it won’t be as humid.
Everything had that slightly damp smell to it.
