Irene can't beat us!

Boy, do I have a ton to write about.

I have a trail name for starters! It's Carnegie. Named after Andrew Carnegie, the robber baron. Toast and I were in Gorham, NH at a hostel and we were playing Monopoly with a couple of other thru-hikers and I came into possession of all of the railroads, then DOMINATED. With all the dough I was making off my railroads, I began to bribe other players to stay in the game, giving it away to keep them from becoming bankrupt. And they began to call me Carnegie. Needless to say, it stuck. :)

In case you hadn't heard, there was a hurricane on the East Coast. The entire White Mountain National Forest was closed for 3 days, so we called home and left the trail for a week. For the most part, I stayed in Newport, NH at Emily's house with her family, but got to spend the storm with my mom, gramma, and little sis. Lots of chill time, relaxing and eating, mostly. Best of all, it was wonderful sleeping in a bed and wearing cotton clothes (everything we have is synthetic for warmth and fast drying). We went to the Apple Pie Craft Fair, where there were lots of local vendors and the library had a book sale. We bought 20 paperback books!! Mostly classics to be mailed to us later on. :)
We started The Fellowship of the Ring a couple weeks ago and decided to pick out The Complete Plays of Sophocles as a second book.

After the hurricane, we hopped back on the trail where we left off in Lincoln, NH and headed on our way. We hiked for a couple days before meeting up with my Aunt Julie and Uncle Bill and their puppy, Meli. We hiked from Kinsman Notch up the beautiful, but strenuous Mt. Moosilauke and stayed the night at Beaver Brook Shelter last night. Toast and myself were pretty excited about the shelter because we spent so long stealth camping through the AMC ( NH's evil money-making club where they charge money to stay at mediocre shelters) because we refused to pay. So, our first shelter experience in roughly a month was great. We shared the space with a north-bounder named Musher and a Dartmouth group of freshmen who shared their dinner and some apple crisp! Today was a long day, up and over the rest of Moosilauke and down to Glencliff. It started raining about midday, but the descent evened out after a couple of very long miles. But we all had a great time, hiking and learning/teaching about the AT and thru-hiking life. 

Anyway, we're at a hostel this evening, and will pick up a maildrop tomorrow from the post office before continuing to Hanover, NH. I'm a bit chilly, so a shower seems to be the smart choice for right now. Peace out.

Crossin' boundaries.

Sorry it's been such a long time since my last post! I didn't get much computer time in Rangeley, even though we were there for a few days. And even  right now, I'm using it all up on the ever-enticing Facebook. Sorry.

BUT OH MAN, HIKING IS AWESOME!

For starters, right now I am in Gorham, NH. Home sweet homestate. It felt so good to hike over the border a couple of days ago! And the day before, we hiked the *scary music cue* Mahoosic Notch! It's basically a playground of huge boulders that you have to climb under, around, and over. It's only a mile loong, but it's supposedly the hardest mile of the whole Appalachian Trail. It was a ton of fun, but only because it was sunny! We were going to hike it the day before, but 10 minutes into the hike Emily got a bee sting on her finger. :(

Another notable sad thing. We hiked ALL the way through Maine and didn't see a single moose. Darn you, Maine!

We stopped in Bethel, ME about a week ago with some friends we caught up with (Kool Breeze and Tortoiseshell)  at a really nice campground and showered and washed our clothes, but most importantly...we watched Harry Potter 7, Part 2!!! It was amazing. I spent an hour after just realizing that a large part of my childhood is over. I had been wating for that moment since I picked up the Sorcerer's Stone off the shelves in Mr. Dunbar's classrrom in 3rd grade. Wow.

Back to all this hiking business...

A few days before Bethel, we stopped at Dunn Notch where there were some gorgeous waterfalls on a side trail. So we swam in one of the pools below the Upper Falls for about an hour and a half before continuing on our hike that day. It was cold, but wonderful.

Ummm....weather. Today and yesterday have been gorgeous, but it has been heavily raining on and off for the past week and a half. Ugh. But no worries, only the boots got wet. And now they are dry!

Views. Old Blue Mountain was beautiful, and from there we could see many mountains ahead, including Baldpate, and Mount Washington (which we will climb 2 or 3 days from today).

Berries. We stoppped and filled two Gatorade bottles full of blueberries on Bemis Mt., and yesterday picked blueberries, raspberries, and a few elusive blackberries!

Anyway, sorry I'm such a slow typer, but my time's up and we've got hiking to do!!!

Happy trails and love to all,

Cat

Katahdin and 100 Mile Wilderness: done!

First off, I apologize for not posting before we started off....

But the first two weeks have been awesome! There have been lots of beautiful places and landscapes as well as some really rough spots. Started out with Mount Katahdin on June 22nd after spending the first night in a campsite at the base. Day one bad things: lost a camera (before the summit, yes really), and 1 out of 2 complete sets of undergarments. Sweet. Good things: hiked freaking Katahdin!!!! The mountain definitely kicked our butts, but the next day was a solid 13 miles! Day three was a zero day. :)

So far, meeting lots of cool people. Many SOBOs (short for south bounders) started out around the same time as we did and passed us, but one friend we met on Katahdin and have continuously met up with is named Pepster. He's in his 70's and is section hiking his last 270 miles from Katahdin to Grafton Notch, NH! Pretty cool guy, for sure. Other cool peeps - the wicked fast Vesuvio; Tortoiseshell & Kool Breeze, who are leaving Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman at a shelter when they are finished with it; David and Polly, who know ALL ABOUT mushrooms and who just were kayaking in a huge thunder/lightning storm; Beardo & Sweet P., who are carrying 8 and 9 lb. packs and started out with 20 mile days; Dani and Lewis (Louis?) who are always smiling and basically awesome. Also met some crazy NOBOs like Chainsaw, who enjoys hiking hungover (Seriously. About 2/3 of the trail.) and Victus, who hiked the 100 Mile Wilderness in 3 days.

Hmm...other fun facts. It hailed a couple days ago! After, it cleared up and was beautiful, but the hail balls looked like snow on the ground for about half an hour. Luckily we found a shelter to hide out in. :)


As for right now, just chilling at Lake Shore House in Monson, ME. Working for stay and getting clean! The owner is absolutely wonderful and spirited. Part of the workstay is already paid because we found her daughter's hamster. :D

Nighttime and happy trails to all!

P. S. Emily's trail name is Toast. For now, I remain Cat.