Category: Hiking

The last 2 days have been filled with climbing and more climbing. We, 10 bear and I climbed through the Mahoosic Notch and then climbed up the Arm. It took hours upon hours to go through and then up and up and up. My toes and knees have been hurting for the last 4 nights. The climbing has gotten so steep the hiking poles are useless. We have packed them away. I am using hands, elbows, knees, hips, shoulders, head, toes all just to reach the next summit. Then down, always back down. I am running out of energy and am becoming concerned about the finish. I have fallen 3 times in less than 24 hours.

It looks like I have finally gotten the packing of my food quantity down. Only took 2,000 plus miles. Tonight I will eat my last supper and tomorrow my last breakfast. We will be heading into Rangely, ME to pick up my resupply at The Farmhouse Inn. We won’t be staying in town and this is how it will be to the end. Into town to resupply and eat a lot of calories at a restaurant and then right back to the trail.

The day we headed out of Rangely, we headed up to the Saddleback Mountain. Once again we had wind. Some of the gusts almost blew me over but I managed to remain upright. When we climbed up The Horn the sun was beginning to set. Once we reached the summit we put down our packs and dug out our headlamps to make the descent. It was steep and rough. Needless to say I was mad at myself for descending again in the dark. If we didn’t need to do the miles, we probably would have camped at the top, but this was not meant to be. I tried hard to keep calm as the trail was lit only by our headlamps. If I looked to the left all I saw was a void of darkness. That alone made the hair on my neck stand up.

We gradually made our way down in the dark. Eventually we found a camp. Set up our tents. Ate supper. I finally got to crawl into my tent by 10 pm. As my head hit my bundled of clothes pillow I think, “My night’s sleep will be way too short.” Within seconds I am sound asleep.

The next morning I am up at 5:30 pm. It hasn’t been a restful sleep. My knees and toes throbbed all night, my hips have also started to hurt at night. I have run out of Vitamin I. During breakfast 10 Bear found a couple Vitamin I of which she shared with me. It helped ease the pain and get me to my feet and moving.

The next few days were treacherous. Climbing, descending, rain and wind making everything more dangerous. We are only 1 day out from Monson, ME. 10 Bear has now calculated that we have to do 20 mile days to be able to summit by September 21. The thought of that makes me want to just sit down and cry. The terrain has been so challenging that I’m not sure I have it in me to do so. I can feel my body resisting the climbs especially. My legs are feeling pretty skinny when I rest my hands on them at night. I’m glad there is only a week left of this torture. I am so ready to go home.

The next few days were treacherous. Climbing, descending, rain and wind making everything more dangerous. We are only 1 day out from Monson, ME. 10 Bear has now calculated that we have to do 20 mile days to be able to summit by September 21. The thought of that makes me want to just sit down and cry. The terrain has been so challenging that I’m not sure I have it in me to do so. I can feel my body resisting the climbs especially. My legs are feeling pretty skinny when I rest my hands on them at night. I’m glad there is only a week left of this torture. I am so ready to go home.The next few days were treacherous. Climbing, descending, rain and wind making everything more dangerous. We are only 1 day out from Monson, ME. 10 Bear has now calculated that we have to do 20 mile days to be able to summit by September 21. The thought of that makes me want to just sit down and cry. The terrain has been so challenging that I’m not sure I have it in me to do so. I can feel my body resisting the climbs especially. My legs are feeling pretty skinny when I rest my hands on them at night. I’m glad there is only a week left of this torture. I am so ready to go home.