Stratton, ME to Gorham, NH

Gorham for the Fourth!

We got up early on the 4th and hiked 7 miles into town (after a confusing bit on the Mahoosuc Trail- be prepared for a detour if you take it!) getting in around 10:30. Way up on the mountain that morning we had looked down and seen the little town and the carnival set up in the commons. It was a wonderful incentive to hurry down the mountain. We checked into Hikers "Paradise" and showered and got down town for the parade and carnival. We do not recommend the hostel we stayed in and in fact found it rather hostile. The holiday was nice because we got to spend part of it hiking and part of it relaxing. Gorham is the biggest town we've come to so far and it has way too many choices for fast food. Garrett got the Burger King special of 2 whoppers for 3 bucks and I got the veggie burger... this was just a prelude to carnival food! we went out for a birthday dinner later on at a Chinese buffet which was nice.

Gorham is surrounded on 3 sides by the towering White Mountains, the most formidable range on the AT. For the next 2 weeks or so we'll be climbing straight up and straight down the Presidentials (including Mt. Washington, which I believe has the fastest recorded wind speed in the world). A good portion of the hiking will be above tree line on rocks so we're hoping for good weather!

On July 3rd we had our first day in 10 with no rain. The days haven't been rainy all day but thunderstorms would pull up at inconvenient times and make us hustle to the nearest shelter, or just get wet. We had beautiful weather for every summit of the southern Maine mountains except for Saddleback, which has a three mile stretch above treeline. There were driving winds and rain that day (possibly the scariest and hardest 3 miles of the trail so far) and a thick fog all around. But we safely made it down with no major slips or falls and warmed up after the cold, wet adventure.

Two days ago on our way out of Maine (!!) we passed through Mahoosuc Notch, called the "hardest mile on the AT." It's a deep ravine between two steep mountains full of car-size boulders. The AT makes its way over, under and around the rocks sometimes with white blazes going through holes and caves (where there was still ice!) where no "trail" is discernable. It took us about 2.5 hours to make our way through the mile with a quick stop for lunch.

We hiked through the notch with a guy named Joe Dirt (or Diarte') who normally does 20-25 mile days but had slowed down to spend the holiday in Gorham and wanted company for the notch. Halfway through the notch we came across a shattered tomato stake that Garrett immediately recognized as the walking stick of E.T., of two Mennonite brothers from Lancaster PA we had hiked with 2 weeks early through the wilderness. We knew this was hard terrain when even E.T.'s stake broke. It was left there like a symbol of the perils of the notch.

Crossing into NH was a big milestone. We've now walked 297 miles.

The new and lighter backpack has been working great for me and we both really like our trail runners. Garrett just bought a new cooking pot that is more like a mug and is much lighter (titanium). Trekking poles have been holding up fine. I'll send home my winter sleeping bag after we get through the Whites.

We've already found 3 ticks just since we got into NH (the section from Gorham to the NH line is heavily overgrown). We were told to use flea collars around our ankles to help keep the ticks off. Blisters are all healed/healing; getting our knees a bit stronger is the only challenge now.

We are still hiking with Hansel and have caught up with a few more southbounders who were in front of us. Just today we met the second person the whole trip to have come from behind us and pass on by. One of my friends from the dancing community, Tom, is coming to join us for several days in the Whites.

It will be about 100 miles before our next re-supply in Glencliff, and a hard 100 miles at that. We'll post again from there!

Bluebird and Buster