MAHOOSUC RANGE

AT Day 117: Wednesday,  August 2, 2023

SOBO Mile 1928 – 1913

 Campsite – Campsite

Distance Hiked – 15 miles/ 24 km

Total Distance Hiked: 1930.8 miles/3107 km 

A:  4888 ft / 1491 m D:6070 ft/ 1851 m

Early stop last night has done us a world of good. It was a great campsite on a mountain ridge just before the side trail to the summit of Old Spec Mountain. We woke feeling rested,  restored and are ready to tackle a big day ahead traversing  Mahoosuc Range  and the Mahoosuc Notch, notoriously the slowest miles on the AT. Seeing the sunrise and the having the whoopie cake from yesterday’s trail magic certainly helped to brighten the start to our day.

We were almost packed and ready to go when three hikers popped up behind us. It was not even 6am and they’ve come up from Grafton Notch on their way for a day hike to Gorham. Thats a gnarly 30 mile hike which they recon they’ll finish around midnight. I was envious of the fact that they’ll be in Gorham today. But not so envious of the midnight finish. 

The trail to Spec Pond Shelter  was slow going and very precarious descent on huge slabs of steep sloping rocks that were grippy in part and slippery in wet sections. Slowly we managed to get down safely and it took a lot longer than we had expected. We were pleased we didn’t push onto the shelter last night. 

Once we descended off Oldspec Mountain and started on Mahoosuc Trail part of the AT we had  absolutely stunning views in all directions. It was a  beautiful sunny day, we can’t ask for anything better,  well maybe better built  trails.

The rest of the day was slow, very slow traverse of Mahoosuc Range and the infamous Notch. The Notch was not fun. I lost a bit of skin off my knees and ribs  and Hammer dropped a pole  into a rocky crevasse,   which he spent a bit of time trying to recover without much success. 

Rough bouldering trail continued for much of the day until we crossed into New Hampshire. Although the trail improved in terms of boulder traverse it was very boggy in parts with no way of getting through without sinking in mud.

We were running low on water and did not want to go 0.3 miles out towards Carlo Col shelter to pick up water so we decided to hike to a water source 3 miles further on. We miscalculated how long it would take us to do  the 3 miles  to water. We finished in the dark and managed to make a dispersed campsite near the creek. Thoroughly exhausted and disappointed by the distance covered for the amount of effort. It was the toughest day of hiking we’ve ever done, tears were shed and blood was spilt. But we are in New Hampshire and are one day closer to finishing.