Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 5 – Muddy puddles and wet feet
31st July 2023
Cooper Brook Lean-to - Carl Newhall Lean-to (mile 78.6)
Daily miles: 18.8
Total miles: 83.9
I had a decent enough sleep, woke up a few times but properly woke up at 05:30 and decided to pack up immediately and get out of the shelter by 6.
My eyes were very puffy this morning, probably from dehydration. I didn’t feel like I needed a wee, but I did manage to go and it was pretty dark.
Everything was damp this morning, unsurprising really given how close the shelter is to a raging river, but it was another morning of putting a damp top on which is always unpleasant. The end of my sleeping bag was a bit damp, my body was a bit damp – probably from sweating as I fell asleep in my fleece top. I made the mistake of putting my right hand into my left armpit, and then giving it a sniff and genuinely gagged. The left one: no smell, the right one: all of the smell.
I left the shelter at 06:10 and found the first couple of miles quite difficult because I couldn’t see properly; the fluid was seeping out of my eyes and making them blurry.
Over the last couple of days, I have been seeing lots of little frogs or they could be toads. I’m not sure.
Last night, when I got to the shelter, I was really questioning my ability to do this in 100 days. This morning I feel slightly more positive even though my confidence to achieve it is still quite low but I am still only on day five and I’m doing the hardest stuff so there is time later on for me to make up some of the miles. I just don’t know if I will be able to make up that many miles.
But the good news is that my quads are recovering more and today was probably the first time I have felt I could have confidence in them supporting me.
Cooper Brook Lean-to
Moose poop
Wonky bog boards
Delicious stream water
Once again the day is a bit of a blur. It started with a fairly pleasant walk, I was doing an ok pace, probably about 2 miles an hour which, through the rocks and the roots, is decent. I stopped at a nice stream to get water and it was the nicest water so far on trail. I probably didn’t drink enough yesterday because the water was slightly warm and from rivers which isn’t the nicest water.
I came to what I thought was going to be a major river crossing and I was happy to see it was a great big pile of rocks.
A handily placed big pile of rocks to cross this river
Moody skies
The sky looked changeable; I had no idea of the forecast today but it was nice so far, a nice hiking temperature. It was about 14°C / 57°F in the shelter this morning and was now a nice hiking temperature of 18°C / 64°F.
I was cobweb sweeper until about 08:30 when a nice guy passed me and when it stood aside he said “no it’s all you honey, you’re going SOBO you have right of way. You are doing great and you’ve got this”. How did he know I needed that little pep talk this morning?!
This first climb was to a mini peak of Little Boardman mountain. It was a nice climb and I was still feeling strong. And my feet were almost dry which makes a big difference.
View from Little Boardman mountain
There was cell service at the top so I was able to receive some messages but not send any.
After slogging my way through more rocks and roots I came to a river crossing with a rope. It looked like a rock hop was possible but the rocks also looked very slippy so I resigned myself to wet feet straight away. I stepped down onto a rock and then went to step on one under the water and slipped off it. I went in up to my thighs and also dunked my arms in up to my elbows when I tried to a save myself. Thankfully I didn’t fall in completely.
I fell right by those 2 big rocks in the middle
How I managed to not break my poles was a miracle as I could feel them bending under me. I stumbled across the rest of the river, struggling to get a decent foot placement as they kept going under big rocks, I was a bit shaken up as I was on my own and things can go wrong so quickly. On the other side I saw that I had a big scrape on my knee. Didn’t even feel it. Still can’t really feel it.
I squeezed out my shorts and my sleeves and my little towel, because that took a dunk too, and then carried on hoping that my body heat would eventually dry everything out.
Wet and bleeding
About an hour after that, while I was beginning to climb, it started raining. After climbing Katahdin I had been worried that my wet weather system, which had worked so well for me last time, was rubbish. So today would be the test. It sprinkled a couple of short showers.
I saw a family hiking so that meant I must be near the dirt road. Just before it was some trail magic. I grabbed a mini Gatorade and consumed the whole thing in about half a second.
Trail magic!
Next came the really big climb of the day and it was slow. Very slow.
First of all there was this weird dog statue on the hill. Then it was such a slog up this steep rooty climb. I reached the viewpoint and the view was nice. Carried on some more and took a small break at a shelter to give my feet a rest. Spoke to some nice people there.
Steep climbs
A weird dog statue
Side trail to a view point
View from the view point
A lovely bit of trail work
I had hardly seen any hikers today. I had seen a few groups of kids, teenagers. They were all very polite. They all tried to move over for me but I told them to come through; it’s easier for one person to move out the way that 15. I had probably seen 3 groups up to this point.
It started to drizzle on and off so the umbrella went up and down. Just before I got to the top of white cap mountain there was a nice view out behind me. Then as I got to the very top the clouds were blowing in from both sides. Another big group of teenagers were descending. They must have spent a while up there because there were dressed in their warm clothes. They fist bumped me as they went by. Nice kids.
Low hanging cloud
30 seconds later
The umbrella went up and down all day
Celebrated getting to the top too early
A timer fail but I like it
The actual summit
White Cap Mountain
It wasn’t too cold up there, about 15° but I would have got cold if I had hung around so I moved on quickly. I had 3 more peaks to do; a rollercoaster of up and downs.
As I hit the bottom of the first down it was very very dark. Uh oh. The rain came down hard. The effect was lessened by the trees but it was still coming down in big blobs. As I was going up to the next peak I hear a huge rumble of thunder. Thankfully they exposed peak was behind me and the next 3 are covered in trees; I remembered these from last time.
My feet were sopping wet once more as the trail was saturated and full of puddles. My feet were getting sore and I was ready to be done for the day but there was still about 6 miles to go until the shelter.
Wet soggy trail
Impossible to have dry feet because it’s raining
Mud for miles
It doesn’t look steep but it is!
It brightened up again, like someone had turned the light on and I kept my umbrella up for a while because of all the drops from the trees. The last two peaks were difficult and steep and wet and slippy. And it was tough going.
With every step my feet got more sore. I came to a camp site which I was tempted to stay at but I still had time and it was only 1.8 miles to the shelter. I saw a woman standing in the sun with her dehydrated meal at her feet. Her name was Reset, she said they had run out of gas and made the meal with warm water not boiling so she was using the sun to help it rehydrate. I didn’t say anything but really don’t think the sun will do anything to help her situation!
Happy to see the sun, smiling through the pain
Another uphill and an agonising descent, I saw another group of teenagers.
I was really on my last legs when I arrived at the shelter. Again, not the greatest of receptions and I had been hoping there might have been room in the shelter, but there wasn’t. I asked where there the tent spaces were and they said there was some behind the shelter. There wasn’t. So I mooched about down in front of the shelter. I had a brief moment where I could have cried, but I knew that was more from exhaustion than anything else and I pushed the feeling away.
I found a spot. A just about acceptable spot. Pitched up and went down the trail to get some water before I took my shoes off because once they were off I didn’t want to put them on again.
Home for the night, still wet from the night before
View of the shelter from my tent
I ate some food and as I lie here now my feet are throbbing and causing me a lot of pain. I can feel them just hurting all over. I’ve taken a pain killer.
I need a wee I think. I was so dehydrated this afternoon because there wasn’t any water and I had drunk mine. I might wait until it’s a bit darker and just pee near my tent. There’s no way I can make it to the privy.
I don’t think I’ll set and alarm. I’ll just have to see when I wake up and how my poor poor feet feel.
Feet which have been wet for hours
Wrinkly and sore, can you believe this content is FREE!
My clothes are the driest they have been on arriving in camp, so the umbrella system is working.
It’s not cold here, bout 15°C / 59°F I think, but I feel cold. I have my sleep top and fleece on and fluffy socks, and my bag over me and I feel like I’m on the edge of comfort.
