Day 174
Start: Page Pond Stealth Site
End: Full Goose Shelter
Miles Hiked: 13.7
Miles on AT: 1920.5
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While camped at my stealth site last night, I heard my first moose of the trail! For some reason, I had woken up in the middle of the night, fully awake and alert. I only had one ear plug in because the other one disappeared among my things (I found it in the morning), so as I laid there, eyes wide open, and annoyed that I had gone to bed so early that night, I heard a curious sound. Removing my lone ear plug, I sat up and listened closer. Something big was stomping its way around the pond and was headed in my direction!
Before going to sleep last night, I had walked around the campsite and found what seemed to be a game trail leading around the pond and into the forest. Now, as I listened to the heavy hooves coming my way, I could tell the moose was using the trail I had been on only a few hours before. As the steps got closer, all I could think of was accidentally getting stomped by the moose. What if he smelled me and wanted to attack? Should I get out and confront it before it got to that point or just stay still?
My freeze instinct took hold and I listened intently, making sure I was ready just in case I had to fight back. Suddenly, the steps stopped. Instead of starting a fight, I heard its long legs crashing in the brush around my tent, beating a path around me, before getting on the AT and heading to the pond. Whew! Crisis averted! Animals typically don’t attack unprovoked, so the logical part of me knew that I was probably going to be okay, but my instincts truly kicked in when the threat seemed credible.
It took me a while to fall asleep again after all of that excitement, but eventually I was able to get a few more hours of shut-eye in. However, when I woke up in the morning, something wasn’t right. As I swallowed, my throat had that familiar ache that indicated that I was getting sick. Oh no! Typically, I would chug a vitamin C packet, take zinc, and gargle some saltwater to stave off the worst of the cold, but all I could do out here in the woods was eat my hot breakfast. I wasn’t feverish, so I decided to get up and get hiking, ill or not.
Today’s mountain to conquer was Mt. Success, which was the kind of energy I wanted to bring to Maine. I would cross into the last state of the trail later today and experience what so many people said was their favorite state of the trail. On top of the mountain, I was greeted again by bog boards (I just love how they look against the amber grass) and a couple from NH who wished me the best on my journey. When I stopped for a break just below treeline on the other side, two thru hikers stopped to talk to me for a while.
Turns out, the woman was about to finish her thru hike in less than 3 miles! I felt so honored to see her on her last day of trail and gave her all of the congratulations. She told me the story of her hike and why she was ending there. When she had gotten to that shelter a month prior, she had decided to give up, quit the trail, and go into town. The Whites had been so hard on her that she felt she couldn’t go further. But, she met her hiking partner when she was in town and he encouraged her to at least consider flip-flopping. He promised to hike all the way with her if she was willing to flip. So, she took him up on his offer and now she was going to finish her thru.
“Don’t give up. You can make it to Katahdin.”
On this day, when I wasn’t feeling the best, the weather was a little chilly, and I was still so tired, I appreciated her words of encouragement and carried them with me. She was a thru hiker and had been through exactly what I had endured for the last 5 months, so her words rang with sincerity and truth.
As the day moved on, my cold got worse and worse. Now, I had a stuffy nose and needed to sacrifice my sweat rag for more pressing issues. When I crossed the Maine border, it felt like razor blades were sliding down my throat anytime I swallowed. I was grateful for the short hiking day and eager to make it to the shelter so I could rest.
After a few more peaks and getting my foot sucked into deep mud, I finally made it to Full Goose Shelter. There was one other hiker there, but by the time I fetched water and set my tent up, there were three other hikers there. One guy was so excited about the moose that he had seen, he told the story to everyone individually. Another guy got a fire going, so I sat and had my dinner by its warmth.
It was chilly again tonight. Light rain was in the forecast for the afternoon tomorrow, and a huge rain storm was slated for the day after that. I just wanted to survive Mahoosuc Notch and Mahoosuc Arm and get to town tomorrow. With the rain and my sore throat, I figured it would be the ideal time to take another zero. But first, I would have to survive The Notch.
And that’s day 174.
A version of this post originally appeared on TheTrek.co.