Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 46 – Did I mention it was humid?
10th September 2023
Upper Goose Pond Cabin (641.7) - Tom Leonard Shelter (663)
Daily miles: 21.8
Total miles: 670.9
I slept really well; drifted off to the sound of gentle rain and thunder while the lightning show continued overhead.
View from my tent
Upper Goose pond
I packed up a slightly damp tent and made my way up to the shelter where they were serving blueberry & chocolate chip pancakes, and Happy even made sourdough toast especially for Toe and May Queen who are vegan. Coffee for everyone who drinks it too. What an amazing shelter. I’m sure it would have been nice to stay inside too when there are less smelly people there.
Pancakes for breakfast
They had a privy there with two seats but this was not one for two people this time. One seat for pee and the other for poop. There were instructions as to what to do if you accidentally pooped in the pee hole; you would need to fish it out with a poop scoop. On closer inspection the poop scoop appeared to be a kitchen utensil.
#1 for pee #2 for poo
The poop scoop
Thankfully I was able to use it without making any accidents. I guess it one of the more well used privy’s around and the rather potent smell reflected that!
I found out the guy I was talking to yesterday – Easily Forgotten – was a NOBO in 2018. I may have met him before but I can’t be sure. He rattled off a load of names of hikers but we were moving at different speeds so I didn’t recognise any of the names.
Upper Goose Pond cabin
I ended up hiking out first at 07:50 - it seems to be getting later! But yesterday felt good so hopefully today will too. The first 7 or so miles of trail we quite nice. A couple of little ups and downs but also a lot of nice flat trail too.
There were so many salamanders around. They don’t move, unlike the frogs - of which there are still many - who leap out of the way when they feel you coming, the salamanders freeze. I really didn’t want to step on any of them. Most of them are bright orange so they stand out but when you’ve got a pace on then might be hard to avoid. I think I did an ok job.
Salamander party
At least they are bright orange so I have a chance of avoiding stepping on them
There are also a few more fungi on the trail today which were more intact than the ones have been over the last few days which have just been melting into the forest.
Fungi
Fungi everywhere
There was also quite a lot of bear poop on the trail; I was on high alert for bears but didn’t see any.
Bear poop
I walked through a wetland section which had a bit of a rollercoaster style boardwalk through it. I say rollercoaster because a lot of it was slanted and a bit slippy from the wet weather – so it had the angles and the jeopardy of a rollercoaster, just significantly slower – but I was grateful for the boardwalk being there so I had dry shoes.
The rollercoaster boardwalk
Grateful it’s there
It saved getting wet feet
I stopped at a stream as I was starting to lose energy and I needed some water. I spend about 15 minutes there, ate some Pringles and some brownies and dipped my bandana in the water to wash my face and head, and try and get rid of the stink out of it from all the sweat I was wiping on it yesterday. I needed to wipe my sweaty face on it today but it smelt too gross to use so it really benefited from the dip in the river.
Just as I was packing up to leave Lemonhope caught up and we hiked together for a bit. He said there was a picnic table to sit at on the top of the next hill so he was going to go there and eat lunch.
About half way up the climb we came to a road crossing and there was the AT trail stand which I remembered form last year. Soda, ice cream, snacks, free WiFi and charging if you needed it. Perfect. And reasonably priced too: $1 for a soda and $1 for an ice cream sandwich. I had 2 dollar bills so I had one of each.
AT trail stand
Everything a hiker needs
The others arrived and we all sat around on the picnic table for a bit until I had to hike out. There were still 13 miles to the shelter, it was 12:30pm and I was moving slower than yesterday. I hiked with Lemonhope for a short while, and we passed the picnic table he was talking about. There were 2 SOBOs there - I think they were called Merry and Pipin - but there were very short with their answers and didn’t seem much like chatting, so we moved on quickly. (Later on at the shelter everyone gave the same assessment of them so it wasn’t just me!)
The trail got steep and Lemonhope went ahead quicker which allowed me to heavy breathe my way up the climb. There were a few switchbacks which was nice! The up was a bit of a shock to the system to be honest, it wasn’t that long but it was steep and even though it was slightly cooler today it was still pretty humid and the sweat was really flowing out my face. It started to rain a little which was refreshing and it made the humidity and temperature drop a little.
Lemonhope in the distance
I eventually caught up to Lemonhope having a snack by some water and Toe caught up too. It started to rain more heavily so Lemonhope shot off so as to not get cold and I wasn’t too far behind. I got my rain skirt and umbrella set up which in this heat is the perfect combo. There were still 8 miles to the shelter and I wanted to make it before 7pm. This would mean a pace of 2 miles an hour which I thought was achievable.
The mosquitoes we as bad as ever today and I’ve got bites on top of bites now it seems. I rained quite a bit. Enough for the umbrella to be up for a couple of hours.
Mosquito hell
Through the forest
Wet, muddy and mossy
The 8 miles was a little bit of a struggle, my shoes aren’t tied tight enough but I can’t be bothered to adjust them. And my knees are feeling it on the uphill, or not so much the uphill, but just stepping up onto a rock; I can feel it. And then there is the continuing soreness in the knees on the downhill.
The last 2 miles were a real test of will. I wanted to stop and take a break but I just had to keep going. If I stopped I wouldn’t want to get up again so I pushed on to the shelter. Just before the shelter is the Ice Gulch. A kind of canyon of rock which can have lingering ice in and is sometimes cooler, but not today. It was no cooler. It was beautiful though.
Misty in the Ice Gulch
Some steep drops
Big slabs of rock
Trail goes this way
I arrived at the shelter and Lemonhope had set up his tent because the bugs were so bad. There was one person in the shelter, a NOBO. He said he had run out of food so we all donated something to him. Again. A bit of a strange character and he has over 40 miles to the next town to resupply. But we only have 6.5 miles to get to town tomorrow. Surely he would have known 6 miles ago he was out of food. I feel like he may be homeless. Anyway.
I decided to risk sleeping in the shelter even with the bugs because I couldn’t be bothered to set up my slightly wet tent and I also think it’s going to rain overnight.
We sat outside at the picnic table to eat until the bugs became too unbearable. The itching I had around my ankles was also too much to cope with. It was so intense. I have about 3 antihistamines left and I took one tonight otherwise I would have probably scratched until I bled in the night.
Tom Leonard Shelter
Dinner time
I get everything done and I was tucked up lying down by 7:30pm, mainly to try and protect myself from the mosquitoes. I am absolutely roasting in my sleeping bag but the alternative is being bitten. It was pretty dark by then anyway.
Around 8pm a hiker arrived. A NOBO. She said she hadn’t slept with any other people for a few days. Maybe she’s the last NOBO. We didn’t talk much as everyone was quiet in bed but maybe we’ll find out more about her tomorrow.
