Interstate 93 1821.2 (zero miles, 795.8 total miles)
I got up a little after 7AM, and most hikers were packing up and getting ready to hike out. The weather in Lincoln was fine, but the weather report for Franconia Ridge still wasn’t great.
We’d been hoping to do a nearo of 3-4 miles up to just before the ridge. Yet I felt I had no energy when I got up. Mentally I was just not doing well.
Chet let me use the bathroom inside his house, while someone else was taking a shower in the hostel bathroom. I remembered his house from last time, but the beautiful window display he had in his living room caught my eye.
He showed me some of the things he had in his collection, including various rocks, feathers, melted glass, and more. He finished off the tour by letting me hold a leg bone from a wooly mammoth his sister had found in her backyard and given to him.
Chet is a really deep individual who has gone through a lot of challenges in his life, and is extremely resilient. Being around him makes me put a lot of things into perspective.
After that I did some meditation, then fell back asleep for a couple hours, overcome with the type of mental fatigue that typically means I need rest to recover.
I woke up again around 10AM, and heard from Baked Potato. I was feeling really low and depressed, but we had a good conversation and he patiently listened to me talk some things out.
I was all in my head and in my ego. I’d been proud of my hike, how hard I’d worked, how diligently I made miles, how I didn’t take a lot of time off. My ego had taken a hit when most hikers I knew had passed me, and I really needed to get over myself.
Baked Potato sent me some really kind trail magic as well, and I truly appreciated it so much. After our conversation, I took a shower to further cheer myself up.
It helped a bit, and I chatted with Sunshine and Chet while Sunshine braided my hair for me. We both needed food, so we walked back into town and stopped at White Mountain Bagel Co.
I have no idea why, but I got an open faced tuna bagel melt and a coconut coffee. I eat so much tuna on the trail I probably shouldn’t tempt myself into getting sick of it, but it was quite good.
Sunshine and I sat on the deck for a while planning our next moves. Legion had suggested 5 days from Franconia Notch to Gorham, which was the end of the Whites section.
That sounded like a good plan to me, especially because Sunshine’s left leg had begun to bother her. We mapped out an itinerary that included hitting Mt Washington on Saturday, which would mean lots of people around, but also the best weather we could hope for.
There would be a mix of rainy and sunny days in the Whites, but our most exposed hiking would be on the nicer weather days. We would try to get a couple work for stays at the AMC huts as well.
Legion had also suggested a five day food carry to Gorham. Neither of us were super enthused about that idea, since that is a lot of weight to carry through some very challenging climbs.
We had the option to get into North Conway, which was 3 days ahead, though both of us fervently wanted to avoid being in town again until Gorham.
There is plenty of food at the AMC huts, and it’s not super pricey, either, so we figured on carrying 3-4 days of food and trying to eat at the huts when we could.
Sunshine wanted to spend the day letting her leg rest, and 3-4 miles wasn’t worth stressing over at this point. We mapped everything out, and I felt a lot better once we had a plan in place, and knew starting tomorrow we’d be hiking 5 days continuously before hitting Gorham.
After Gorham, it would be another 35 miles or so to the Maine border, where a lot of the hikers I knew, including most of the Cult, were already. The weather on Franconia had really set us back, but I was working through it mentally.
It helped to realize it was my ego messing with me. The other thing was being around NOBOs for a while now that just wanted to get off trail and be done. It was hard not to adopt that mindset, and not start stressing about what comes after the trail.
I still have 1400 miles to go, and don’t want to have those thoughts right now. Not that the AT is easy for anyone, but I think going SOBO is the hardest physically, and flip flopping might be the hardest mentally.
I was now on flip flop attempt number two, and had noticed the challenges were familiar and difficult for me to overcome. I was fortunate to have the option to flip flop, but until it becomes more common, it’s easy to feel sort of out of place and lost in the process.
Community is so important on this trail, and knowing the vast majority of my hiking friends will be off trail soon, and can’t wait to be, does make me have a lot of feelings about my own hike. The anticipation of the second part of my hike is almost constantly in the back of my mind now.
I told Sunshine it made me sad that my NOBO friends and trail family that I’d been around for hundreds of miles were now ahead of me for the last part of the northern half.
She said maybe it was to better prepare me for the separation after Katahdin. Possibly I could learn to adjust to it now, so it wouldn’t be so shocking when I did go back to Harper’s Ferry, all alone.
After making the itinerary, we hung out on the bagel shop deck, and got some chores done. I paid my car taxes, got health insurance sorted out, and worked on my upcoming car insurance renewal.
Dealing with those types of tasks while on trail really are not my favorite, but I did get almost all my chores I’d been procrastinating on for a while done, and that felt great.
We crossed the street to McDonald’s, so I could use the Wi-Fi to download season 4 of Stranger Things onto my phone. I wasn’t sure if I’d have time to watch it, but it would be nice to have the option to.
Sunshine iced her leg while I did that, and then we walked over to the post office, Family Dollar, and Price Chopper to finish resupplying. We were both so ready to hike and be out of Lincoln the next day.
It was a hot, sunny day in town, though we saw plenty of clouds in the mountains. It was 84 degrees when we walked back to Chet’s, sweating all the way.
We got back to the hostel around 4PM, and Sunshine took a shower while I sorted my food bag. We hung out with Chet for a bit on the back deck, then went back to town for dinner.
We met up with four of Sunshine’s NOBO friends that she hadn’t seen on trail in a while. They had arrived in Lincoln from Kinsman Notch and were at El Charro getting dinner.
It was nice to meet them, and after a bit we had dinner there again as well, which ended up being a very amusing evening. I realized I felt like myself again, and I thanked Sunshine for her support and kindness while I was struggling.
Catchup stopped by for a few minutes to say hi, before going to Chet’s to get his bike to bring back to the Notch. I also saw Halfway briefly, and was pleased to find out that we were at the same mileage on trail. It made me very happy to know I was still around at least one member of my trail family.
We headed back to Chet’s around 8:30, and I spent some more time hanging out with him. He has a really wonderful energy and a lot of wisdom to share.
After organizing and packing everything, Sunshine and I got to bed a little after 10PM. Maureen was coming to pick us up at six, so I set my alarm for five.
I could not be more excited to get back into the woods, and hike Franconia Ridge tomorrow. I had been through a lot emotionally the last few days, but I was feeling so much better.