Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 24 – I love my trail friends!
19th August 2023
Pinkham Notch (319.6) - Osgood Tentsite (324.4)
Daily miles: 4.8
Total miles: 331.3
I slept well in my tent, much better than if I had been in a bunk room with 7 other people. It rained a little and my tent was wet but it was fine because I knew I could dry it out later.
The view from inside my wet tent
We all got up at 6am. The boys – Cal and Stretch – wanted an early start as they planned a 20 mile day today and that includes getting up Mt Madison and Mt Washington, and with Stretch on fresh legs - which may or may not be useful.
My shoulders were sore today, I think it’s because I was so tense descending the Wildcats and leaning so much on my poles to try to protect my knees. My hands were also sore from gripping the poles so tightly!
They made coffee and sorted out their food and we were on our way by 07:15 and they dropped me in town before heading to Pinkham Notch to ‘have a poop’ before the big climbs ahead of them.
Cal drinking coffee out a saucepan like the hiker trash that he is
A ride into town with Stretch
I hitched to Walmart which was my longest wait yet – a lot to do with there being very few cars going my way. I was right next to the gas station and a guy shouted over to me if I wanted a ride. He said he saw me but had to get gas and if I was still there when after he paid he would pick me up. So that was about an 8 minute wait. More than my 3 minute average but I can’t complain!
I went to do my resupply and got the usual junk: Doritos. String cheese. Tuna. Twix. Welches fruit snacks. Starburst. Pain au chocolate (very happy with that find). Choc chip brioche. Electrolytes. Bobos bars (which are like flapjacks, expensive flapjacks). I think that was about it… I still had a bit of stuff left over from last time. It seems I can’t get my resupply right despite having thousands of miles of experience! And at this point my stove is just coming along for the ride, I last used it well over a week ago.
The only problem with Walmart is that everything comes in big bulk packets. I wanted the fudge brownie M&Ms because they are wonderful, but they were only in a 2 pound bag and I can’t carry two pounds of M&Ms!
2LB (nearly 1KG) of Fudge Brownie M&Ms
While I was in Walmart I was texting my PCT friend Sing Song who said he was going to Pinkham Notch this morning, and I thought we had missed our opportunity to see each other again after all these years but he was hitching through Gorham, got out and hitched back to Walmart just to see me!
It was SO NICE to see him and catch up for a bit even though we only had about 20 minutes. Then my friend Send It from the AT 18 came to pick me up and said she would drive Sing Song and his friends to Pinkham Notch which was totally the opposite direction we were going, but Send It has hiked the AT and CDT and loves to help hikers. We passed another one of Sing Song’s trail family and shouted out the window that we would take him but we are full.
I said goodbye to him at Pinkham Notch and wished him all the best for that RUBBISH climb up my least favourite mountain - Wildcat.
Reunited! Last see in Washington, July 2016
We drove back to Send It’s apartment and I got a shower and threw in my laundry, put my tent out to dry and organised my stuff. Hung up my sleeping bag and got some new ziplocks. I inspected the back of my ankle where I had that bite which was really sore, there are a bunch of grazes around it so I’ve obviously scraped it on something without realising, and I think there is a bug bite there too, the mosquitoes in New Hampshire have been horrible, leaving big red sore lumps with a head on them, some of them have a scab top like this one on my ankle.
We were getting hungry so went to Le Mu Eats. If you ever find yourself in Bethel, Maine go here to eat, it was fantastic. I enjoyed every mouthful. We both had Bahn Mi and the bread was to die for - so hard to get good bread from the supermarkets here - and the filling (I had chicken and Send It had tofu) was succulent and zingy and fresh and delicious. The fries were the best and the garlicky dip was perfection.
And Send It naughtily treated me and paid for lunch. I was very grateful.
Send It and the most delicious meal. I’ll dream about this one
After a quick chat to my parents it was time to go back to the trail, back to Pinkham Notch. I remembered just before we left that I needed to tighten one of my trekking poles, every time I have been leaning on it it collapses which is really a problem when I’m trying to navigate the death rocks and has been a problem for 23 days!
Me and Send It in micro grid fleece hiker uniform
I said goodbye to Send It and went to use the loo and sort myself out in the visitors centre. Once I figured out where I was going I set off on the trail. I had just 5-ish miles to a camp site. There was a slight drizzle in the air and I hoped it didn’t rain; I was clean, dry and smelled nicer than I have in weeks. There was a bit of mud and water on the trail but I tried hard to avoid it - even though that probably slows me down - but it would be nice to have mostly dry shoes for one day.
A BRIDGE!
The road up to Mt Washington which you can pay to drive on
It wasn’t the easiest 5 miles and it ended up taking 2 hrs 45 minutes which was longer than I wanted it to take, but it was rocky and rooty and there were lots of streams to hop over.
I did waste a bit of time when I came to a major river crossing and I couldn’t see a way to cross. I looked at Far Out and it said there was a suspension bridge which I had completely missed. There are a serious lack of white blazes here - as in there are none - which is stupid. I went the wrong way down the river and bushwhacked to get a view and looked up and down until I saw the bridge back where I had come from.
The suspension bridge which I couldn’t find straight away
Thankful there was a bridge over this river
Happy face
The next river crossing was a rock hop which was slightly sketchy but I took a leap of faith and made it across.
My pack is heavy – I most likely have too much food – and I have one of the biggest climbs up to Madison tomorrow. It’s going to be a struggle! 3 miles of up. As long as I can maintain a 1 mile and hour pace I should be ok, but having a heavy pack going up this climb is not ideal.
I found Osgood site where there are wooden platforms. The first 2 were occupied and I was fearing the worst as there were only 5, but the third one was empty. It was like an ice rink it was so slippery. I pitched as quickly as I could because it was drizzling a bit and I had to wedge my tent pegs into the wood to get the fly pitched half properly and then used a big rock to hold out the vestibule.
Osgood tent site
Not the best pitch but it will do
In my tent I got organised and cozy and ate a couple of pain au chocolat for dinner, organised my snacks for tomorrow and started writing this. At 8:30pm it really started to rain and I’m now listening the the rain on my tent, and hoping that it doesn’t get too bad. It’s cooler tonight.
Settled in for the night
Please please please let it be a nicer day tomorrow. I don’t want to do this climb or alpine zone in the rain!
