ah, hiking...

so irene didn't blow us away! we rode out the "storm" with taylor and carolyn in the rv and had a grand ol' time. granted, it rained a lot that day and the wind blew us around a bit, but it wasn't anything horrible. we watched a few movies and played a few games of phase 10 (a pretty fun card game, btw). the day that dawned after irene came through was absolutely gorgeous: hardly a cloud in the sky, sunshiney, and a breeze blew constantly to keep it at a perfect temperature... it even got kind of chilly later on that afternoon.

when taylor drove us back to the trailhead on tuesday, we learned that irene had flooded two rivers pretty close to the trail and one of the rivers had actually washed out two bridges that we had to cross to get back to the point where i was picked up. instead of asking him to take the seventy-plus mile detour, he dropped me off at the base of sugarloaf mountain. it was actually pretty interesting how things panned out from there... there's a ski resort on sugarloaf, and the only way to get to the AT from where he dropped me off was to hike up the ski slope. it was a pretty steep climb in parts: the peak of sugarloaf mountain is one of the highest peaks in maine, second only to mount katahdin, which we climbed a few weeks ago. definitely huffed and puffed to get up that one.

irene didn't have as much of an impact on the trail as i'd imagined she would, but there were a lot of blowdowns (fallen trees) just south of the spaulding mountain shelter. the northbounders were calling it "the mahoosuc notch of blowdowns." mahoosuc notch is known as the slowest mile on the AT because it's basically negotiating your way over, around, and through huge boulders. there have been stories of moose (i still think the plural of this should be mooses) falling into the notch and breaking their legs and, obviously, not being able to get out. sort of speaking of which, we saw a moose skeleton of the trail a week or so back. it was kinda creepy. anyways, swayze and i have mahoosuc notch coming up here pretty soon. i'm looking forward to it, but i know it'll be rough. i met two NOBOs yesterday with their dogs that said mahoosuc notch was harder than the whites for them. we'll see how it goes.

on the bright side of things, i'm running into a lot of my friends that i met down south now! it's kind of weird to think that if i hadn't taken so many 0s, i'd be close to finishing right now. granted, swayze does slow me down a lot, but i still don't think my hiking pace rivals those that i've been seeing these days. i ran back into spice boy, walking home, whistler, and so far... all of those guys, i hadn't seen since damascus. i also ran into moses this morning at a bagel shop here in town. it's so nice seeing familar faces, but it's so bittersweet because you know you'll probably never see these people again. i love the trail family, though. :)

that's really all for now... please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! i heard the temperature up on mount washington a week or so ago was in the upper 30s with a wind chill of 27. that's way too cold for me, so i'ma pray that i get a really nice, good weather week for the whites. once we've got southern maine and the whites out of the way, i won't say the AT will again be a breeze, but i will be able to breathe a huge sigh of relief in knowing that we've done the hardest section of the trail. :)

i miss all of my friends and family back home (all of my homes, btw... you bristolians and charlestonians included) so much! i finally got to talk to natalie, who is expecting her first baby in mid-november. i'm going to really try to be done with the trail in time for her baby shower in mid-october. and i'm looking forward to being home with everybody for mine and my mama's birthdays. love y'all and miss y'all! i want some catfish, dangit! <3