Wed., Jul 3, 2019. SUMMARY FOR ALL OF MY AT HIKING.

Total distance of Appalachian Trail: 2,192 miles.

Total I have hiked:  1,304.8 miles.

Total to go:  887.2 miles.

2016:

Start:  March 11, 2016. Springer Mountain. Day 0. Trail mileage 0.

End:  June 7, 2016. US Route 60 near Buenaventura’s Vista, VA. Day 56. Trail mileage 808.1 / 1359.9 to go.

I did a good job of hiking in 2016. I was ahead of my fast projected schedule. Three years later I slowed a lot. My speed was more than 1/2 mph faster in 2016 than in 2019. In 2019 I do not have the endurance and lung capacity.

2019:

Start:  April 9, 2019. US Route 60 near Buenaventura’s Vista, VA. Day 1/57. First day in 2019. 57 total days on the trail. Trail mileage 808.1 / 1359.9 to go.

End:  July 2, 2019. Mount Washington. Day 45/101. Trail mileage 1,859.1. I hiked 496.7 in 2019.

NOTE:  I didn’t include my hike with my family in totals because I will repeat them.

Sections to still hike: 

332.9 miles. Mount Washington (tr. mi. 1859.1) to Mountain Katahdin (tr. mi. 2,192). 

I will repeat section from Top of Wildcat  Gondola (tr. mi. 1,875.6) to Carter Notch Hut (tr. mi. 1878.5).

554.3 miles. 501 Shelter (tr. mi. 1,195.5), PA Highway 501. Near Pine Grove, PA. to Hanover, NH (tr. mi. 1,749.8).

It was a great adventure.

Wed., Jul 3, 2019. Day 46/102. Start at top of Wildcat Gondola. Trail mileage 1875.6. 44.2591N71.2017W. Carter Notch Hut. Trail mileage 1878.5. 44.2594N71.1953W. 2.9 miles. 1 hrs 15 mins. 2.2 mph. 1,301.9 / 890.1 to go.

TOTAL HIKE WITH FAMILY:  Start at top of Wildcat Gondola. Trail mileage 1875.6. 44.2591N71.2017W. End at NH Route 16 at Nineteen Mile Trailhead. Not on AT. 44.3019N71.2205W.  7 miles. About 3 hrs 00 mins. 2.3 mph. I think we hiked faster than that, but I didn’t record the times.

This was one of the most fun daddy’s of hiking for me. I hiked with Tyler’s family. Tyler, Mindy, Jocelyn, Riley, and Coltyn. The children are great hikers. Going uphill they had to be slowed down to wait for Papa. They had so much energy. It gave me more energy being around them. I was impressed how well they hiked together. Jocelyn was always concerned for Coltyn that he would fall. Coltyn had no fear, and did fall a couple of times, but fortunately with no injuries. They just bounded over the obstacles.

Mindy followed me and Tyler brought up the tail. Tyler one time went ahead to push Coltyn hard up the final section of the climb. When we got to the top Coltyn was sweating hard. Tyler had done a good job.

The Carter Notch Hut was a good place to get away from the bugs and eat lunch. The bugs were bad. It is okay while you are hiking, but the moment you stop they swarm around you. I redeemed my AMC shelter card. I got a bowl of soup and two bakery goods. The soup was tomato bisk. We got two brownies. Jocelyn, Coltyn, and I shared the soup. It was good. The children and I each had a half of a brownie. We also ate the lunch Tyler had put together of trail munchies. 

Carter Notch Hut is the oldest of all of the huts. It was built in 1819. The walls are stone and very thick. It is small. They have several other buildings for the bunks and privy.

After lunch Tyler and the children climbed on a large rock slide behind the hut which created the lakes. Mindy and I watched until the bugs got to bad, about two minutes. 🦟 🦟 🦟 🦟.

We then headed out . The trail was great. It followed a valley and creek down. It was a gradual grade. We all did good. I led at first and had no problem staying ahead. I would stop every so often to let the children catch up. We then switched around to let the children lead. They had so much fun and energy. They sang songs most of the way. They sang 100 bottles of Sprite on the wall. They sang it all the way down to zero. I didn’t have the air capacity or energy to sing along.

We made very good time. No one had any major injures. Everyone did good. 

When we got back it was dinner, shower, clean up, and bed time. No time for games. That will be next time when we are together.

A great way to end hiking the AT.

Pictures:

1. Trail hike with Tyler’s family.

Tue., Jul 2, 2019. Day 45/101. Mount Washington summit. Trail mileage 1859.1. 44.2703N71.3032W. 6.1 miles. 4 hrs 10 mins. 1.5 mph. 1,299.0 / 893.0 to go.

An exciting day to climb Mount Washington. It is the highest point in New Hampshire, and the highest point east of the Mississippi. I sent Nathan a text to check off the highest point in NH for me.

It was a short and pretty easy hike. The first section out of the hut was a little difficult, but not to bad. After that a good trail.

At one point there was a side trail that went up to the peak of Mount Eisenhower. The AT went around the summit. I suggested to Tyler that he go up the summit and I go around on the AT. That would give him a chance to challenge himself without me being in front and holding him up. He has been so good to stay with me, and always follow. He agreed. I was surprised he did. We agreed that the first person who reached where the trails joined together would wait for the other. It was fun to see the excitement he had to do this. He offered one finally time for me to hike with him, which I declined. I told him it wasn’t a race and I was going to go normal speed. I actually did and stopped to take some pictures of some wildflowers. He also said he would call me when on the peak. I wasn’t 1/4 of the way when he called me. He must have run up the hill! It was a race against himself, I wasn’t even in the contention. I know he enjoyed the challenge, though he played it down. He has been great to hike with, and has always insisted to follow. Great son.

While hiking we texted Mindy and told her to come an hour earlier. At 1:00 pm. Mount Washington summit was covered in clouds, so we couldn’t see much. It was also cold and wind. 51° F and 39 mph winds. The chill factor was 40° F. When the family arrived we climbed to the very top and took a picture. See pictures. We debated whether to wait for the clouds to clear or leave. We decided to not wait. As we drove down we broke out of the clouds within a couple hundred feet. Tyler noted it and asked if we wanted to go back up. We said no. Another 10 minutes down the road, which was narrow, steep, and windy, we stopped to cool the brakes and take some pictures. We looked back up to see that the summit was completely clear. We should have waited 10 more minutes. It wasn’t forecasted to clear for a couple more hours. Tyler kidded us about him telling us. We decided not to drive back up.

It was good that we didn’t drive back up as we would have missed the window to go zip lining. We made reservations and headed to Lincoln, NH which was 1 1/2 drive away. It was worth it the kids hadn’t zipped lined before. We had a great adventure. Pictures tell it best.

We had s’mores tonight. Fun, fun, and tasty.

Pictures:

1. Trail to Mount Washington. Tyler and me.

2. Wildflowers.

3. Pictures on Mount Washington.

4. Zip line.

Mon., Jul 1, 2019. Day 44/100. Mizpah Springs Hut. Trail mileage 1853.0. 44.2193N71.3694W. 6.7 miles. 4 hrs 50 mins. 1.4 mph. 1,292.9 / 899.1 to go.

After two zero days which included staying at a hotel in Portland, Maine Tyler and I were hiking again. 

Mindy picked up Jocelyn from girls camp. The children and I swam while Tyler and Mindy went and bought food and supplies. Thanks. We had fun swimming.

We came up with a good plan. We would do 6 to 7 miles for two days. Then the family would meet us on top of Mountain Washington. This was the first day.

It was an easy day compared to what we did before our two day break. The trail was a good trail, though it had some pretty steep sections. We got to the hut before noon. I felt a little guilty hiking for only 5 hours, but am enjoying the hut experience. My AT hike is an adventure of different experiences.

Pictures:

1. Bright yellow mold.

2. Mud pond. Over 2 feet deep.

3. New growth on pine tree.

4. Trail.

5. Mushroom.

6. Wildflower. 

Fri., June 28, 2019. Day 43/99. Crowley Notch, Ripley Falls Trailhead. Trail mileage 1846.3. 44.1672N71.3859W. 14.4 miles. 8 hrs 00 mins. 1.8 mph. 1,286.2 / 905.8 to go.

Another big mileage day, but mostly down hill. That is why the faster speed. It is still a technicality difficult trail which causes the speed to be slower. 

Tyler had parked his car at the end of the trail, which made it easier. Mindy didn’t expect us till later because she thought we were doing more miles today. It was great to get back early afternoon rather than in the evening. We surprised them.

The trail was steep for the first 1/3 to 1/2. After that it was a good mountain dirt trail, except it had some very boggy sections with a lot of bugs. These bugs were miserable, even with deet.

I take breaks every 3 hours. I take off my pack and drink some of my water in the extra water I carry in my pack. In these steep sections this is also the only place I get to eat something. Usually, I snack on my lunch as I walk. I can’t do that in the White Mountains. On my second break, 6 hours, I was beat. We couldn’t find any place that wasn’t bog and bug covered. After about 3 1/2 hours I finally just said I needed to eat something. I am amazed how a rest, drink, and food revitalizes me. The break is usually only about 10 minutes. 

It was good to be back with the family. We had ham, cheese, and pineapple sandwiches for dinner. Very good. Another shower, and game of Phase Ten. I should also mention that every night we read out of the Book of Mormon together.

We went to bed at about 9 pm. It is so good to sleep after hiking all day.

Pictures:

1. Trail shots. Steep and technically difficult.

2. Grouse.

3. Built steps where it is too steep and difficult.

4. Tyler and Monty.

5. End of day crossing rail road tracks.

Thur., June 27, 2019. Day 42/98. Galehead Hut. Trail mileage 1831.9. 44.1879N71.5689W. 13.0 miles. 10 hrs 20 mins. 1.3 mph. 1,271.8 / 920.2 to go.

Climbed 6,033 ft. Descended 3,733 ft. Wow. That is a lot of feet to climb. Most I have done in one day. Tyler was great support.

What a day. It was great to hike with Tyler. He was good to me. He followed me with all of our hiking. I know he could have done it at twice the speed, but he never pushed, only supported. I hope he enjoyed the slower pace. 

The trail was tough. There was even a section that the trail was in a stream/waterfall. Very steep and slippery. Fortunately, it wasn’t splashing all over us. At the top of the section we got water. It tasted so good.

Our plan was to do 10.2 miles and stay at Garfield shelter. Tomorrow was going to be 17.5 miles. We did good and decided to press on today and get to at least the Galehead Hut. Making tomorrow only 14 miles. It was a good decision, even though we climbed over 6,000 feet. I was tired when we got to the hut. We went in and asked about work for stay. It is a program they have for AT through hikers. Julia said yes, that we could do work for stay. They fed us dinner after all of the guests had been fed. We then did some dishes, only for 35 minutes. We slept on the dining room floor. Another AT hiker, AG also did the stay for work. I met AG back at the Hikers Welcome Hostel. He appears to be my age. AG stands for Angela’s Grandfather. He has one grand child, Angela. We all left before breakfast was served. The crew of the hut said we could stay for breakfast. They were nice to us and treated us better than the guests.

Today’s hike was extreme for me. We had many steep grades that were difficult and slow climbs. Though 1.3 mph is slow I feel good about going that speed for the climb and rough trail we went over.

Pictures:

1. Yellow slugs. See a lot of them.

2. Trail.

3. Tyler and me.

4. Galehead Hut.