US Route 2 1896 to Gentian Pond Shelter 1907.8 (11.8 miles, 882.4 total miles)
Catchup wanted to get caught up on his sleep, so we all slept in till 8AM this morning. There was continental breakfast till 9, though there wasn’t much of a selection for food. The Quality Inn that I stayed at in Carlisle, PA was definitely a nicer one.
We saw a few hikers in a trail family that Catchup had met much earlier in the trail and we chatted with them while eating.
Sunshine, Catchup, and I packed and worked on getting a shuttle back to the trail, but there didn’t seem to be any available. We walked back to The Barn, but while I was waiting to see if Paul was available, a man in a beautiful Sprinter van pulled over to give us a ride out of town.
Ed was a friendly guy whose daughter had thru hiked the AT in 2018, and he was currently road tripping through Maine in his recently acquired van. It was a very cool build, and we were all excited to check it out.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Halfway arrive at the trail parking lot right after us, and we all headed out to where the trail took us on a road walk through the edge of town.
Catchup and I chatted a bit about some stuff he had going on off the trail, and he said he wanted to spend time hiking alone today. That was fine with me, as all three of us were feeling rather out of sorts and stressed for various reasons.
I realized as we got into the woods that it was my first time hiking past Route 2, where I’d quit my hike last time. It was a big moment, and my first unknown trail territory since Connecticut.
The trail was rocky and had lots of pine tree roots to step over. After a nice flat section, we had a 2.5 mile climb up Mt Hayes, which had a few false summits and views on the way up.
At the top of that, I saw Catchup with New Shoes, Professor, Neo, and Gumby. Everyone was sitting and having snacks at the Mahoosuc Trail junction. Nearby was the 1900 mile marker for the NOBOs.
Halfway passed by, and Sunshine arrived after a bit, too. We were planning on trying to do 17 miles for the day, which was rather ambitious, so I hiked on after just a few minutes.
Now that we were on Mahoosuc Trail, which the AT was following, things became more rugged. Pine trees encroached on either side of the trail, and things were rocky quite a bit of the time.
There was steep climbing up rock ledges again, which had my calves on fire, though some really great views of the mountains around us made up for it.
A few miles past the trail junction, I stopped for water. I’d been zooming, hopped up on caffeine and the desire to get to camp before sunset, which had me running down the mountain. I set my water bottle to stand up to collect water from the very slow moving stream.
Someone had set up a rock and leaf to make a little pipe flow, and I helped Catchup collect some water too when he arrived, since my bottle was easier than his water bladder for that type of water collection.
It was a little after 2PM, so I made a PB&J bagel and ate that for lunch at the source while several other hikers arrived to collect water as well.
Catchup said he was thinking it might make more sense to just go to the shelter 4.5 miles further, and cut the day 5 miles short. We’d be able to get up early tomorrow and have a bigger day than if we were going to be getting into camp late.
Sunshine was happy to hear the change of plans when she arrived at the stream, and I headed back onto the trail around 2:30.
There was a climb out from the stream, which had me huffing and puffing. It had been a very hot and humid day, and I’d been sweating since the start. I’d arrived at Page Pond Outlet when Catchup caught up to me.
I let him go on ahead, taking my time getting to the shelter now that we had more time to spare. I didn’t want to burn myself out by hiking too fast all day.
After another two climbs, I passed Dream Lake, which I could only see through the trees around me. It was some easy hiking from there to Upper Gentian Pond, where I caught up with Professor and New Shoes.
I ate pretzels and drank water, then made quick work of the last .6 to camp. I collected brown water that was flowing near the shelter, because there wasn’t much for options.
It was a .2 side trail to the shelter, which had an amazing view looking out over the mountains. After setting up our tents, Sunshine and I had dinner together, while Catchup went to eat and socialize by the shelter.
After dinner, I went to the shelter as well and hung out with everyone, enjoying the view. We’d gotten there at 4:30, and it was so nice to have a whole evening to relax and enjoy time in camp.
Tomorrow we’d have Mahoosuc Notch, the hardest mile on the AT to look forward to. We’d also be arriving in Maine. It should be a good day ahead.