Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 22 – A short day to Imp Shelter
17th August 2023
Route 2 / Gorham (298.5) - Imp Shelter (306.6)
Daily miles: 8.4
Total miles: 313.2
I slept badly. There was a small amount of anxiety bubbling up inside me about going up and over the Carters and the Wildcats over the next 2 days. I remember the Wildcats as being pretty awful in 2018.
The weather didn’t look great either so that was also something I wasn’t looking forward to. Plus it’s just town; town stops are rarely actually restful. I woke multiple times, but not because of pain – which is a bonus!
I needed to get an early start but I also decided I would just see how I felt in the morning. I ended up being forced out of bed due to a call of nature, but then I went back to bed!
When I eventually got up I packed up quickly, tried to tape my shoes and stood by the road at 8:20am. At 08:24 I was in the back of a pick up truck with a NOBO in the front making my way back to trail. My hitching is on a winning streak!
The hole is getting bigger every day
Duct tape fix
Standing outside the campground hitching a ride
Jumped in the back of a pick up
I chatted with Mice (the NOBO) a bit and we both went our opposite ways. I prepared myself for a massive, horrible, slow climb. I was pleasantly surprised when the first 3 miles were some of the best trail I’ve had since the first day coming south from Katahdin. It was pine needle soft with not too many rocks and a really gentle incline.
I was glad to get above mosquito height because they were really bad lower down; I squashed several and ended up with my own blood splattered over me.
A great swimming hole, if you like that kind of thing
As I got higher the cloud came in and filled the trees with white mist. It wasn’t really raining but it was making everything wet and then it was falling in big drops off the trees. I put my umbrella up for a while.
I met a steady stream of NOBOs on the way, none of them were happy about the length of their descent. It’s the knees, long descents are killer on the knees.
Into to clouds
Bog boards
Wet slick rocks
Once I got up into the cloud the humidity dropped and it was a much nicer temperature, maybe that was one of the reasons I didn’t struggle so much on this climb. I still wasn’t going fast, but I wasn’t really trying either, I was talking it easy. I really wanted to get to Carter Hut, that’s the distance I wanted to go, but these huts are so expensive. In 2018 there were $120 a night and I’ve heard now they are $190! I don’t want to pay $120, let alone $190, for a hut because I don’t think they are worth it. There was the possibility of stealth camping but the weather was sucky and I didn’t want to set up in the rain or risk there being nowhere to stay.
Summits with no views
Still beautiful though
No chance of dry feet today
It was about 2pm when I made my way to Imp Shelter and it was empty, so I sat on the front step and ate my Doritos. I hadn’t eaten much today because when the weather is crap I don’t want to stop. Earlier a NOBO who passed me backtracked and asked me to pass him his sandwich out the back of his pack because he didn’t want to take it off.
A guy came along about half an hour later and I just assumed he was NOBO but he was a SOBO who had started at the beginning of July. He has been on the trail nearly a month longer than me. I can’t imagine going that slow.
To be honest, I got strange vibes from him and I was pleased when I could here Cal’s voice coming up the trail. I had been considering hiking on but the stress of not finding somewhere to camp was holding me back. I had spent so long procrastinating about it that it was too late for me to leave the shelter as I would end up hiking in the dark.
Imp Shelter
Problem is, I’m not on my own schedule. I have someone offering trail magic who isn’t around until Friday, and a PCT friend who is hiking NOBO is likely to be in Gorham on Friday, otherwise it’s unlikely I would have chosen to do this section this way and I would have gone further, but I only have myself to blame because I haven’t made any plans and I’m just winging it. I do need to get on my own schedule if I am going to continue this 100 day plan.
I got really cold so I got my puffy out and set up my stuff on the upper tier of this 2 tier shelter. Good job I did because a few more people arrived; two older guys who took some space on the upper tier, Cal saw what was happening and nabbed an upper tier space, and then 3 NOBOS who got the lower tier. The other SOBO (who smelled pretty bad) went on the lower tier too, he mentioned something about hiking with me tomorrow all the way to Pinkham Notch and I was not comfortable with that. I don’t mind hiking with people, but not all day with someone I don’t know at all and find a bit odd. I swerved the question.
Inside Imp shelter before it was full
I’m finding it a little stressful being here with so many people because they have exploded their stuff everywhere. I get scared everything is going to get mixed up. I have my stuff all consolidated in 2 places, the stuff I need is right next to me and the rest of it is in my pack.
There is a lot going on, one guy is on his phone talking about business and sending emails and stuff, it’s all a lot louder than I’m used to.
The last time I had a wee was about 11am and now at 18:30 I was starting to be in pain from needing to go, but it was so wet out I didn’t want to go until I really had to and did one of the longest wees of my life… just as I was about to go I see a hiker coming down the trail. Nearly got caught!
He has 2 friends on the way so we are squeezing people in tonight. And everyone is really wet.
Also, the duct tape didn’t work, it fell off within the first hour.
