Trail Update: Hanover, NH to Lincoln, NH
I'd like to dedicate this blog post to one of my favorite trail angels:
Kizmit. She is one of the most selfless, genuine and generous people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. I cannot thank her enough for driving me to the hospital, shuttling us between hostels, showing up at the exact moment we need a hitch, and giving us love and food and advice and trail stories. Seriously, thank you.
Day 98: September 11th: Star-gazing
Leaving town is always hard - Hanover was no exception. We woke up in the frathouse movie room to the sound of heavy rain - convincing us all to go back to sleep for just a tiny bit longer. When we finally collected ourselves, we ended up walking around town eating more food and resupplying.
Seeing as I'd already slackpacked/skipped this upcoming section, I told my friends I'd hop ahead and meet them at Bill Ackerly's house (The Ice Cream Man).
Dave was generous enough to give me a ride back to Moose Mountain - on the way, he informed me all about his legal troubles with the town. Apparently Dartmouth is contributing to the heavy pollution of a local river that flows through Dave's backyard... Scandalous.
Holts Ledge was beautiful. So many hawks flying around!
Really unnecessary silhouetted selfie.
After a really awesome 3.6 mile hike (ha!), I found myself at the Ice Cream Man's house. Bill has let hikers camp in his backyard for years. Such a sweetheart!
Free ice cream? Delicious water? Yes please.
The cutest man I've ever met in my life!
Soon after, Secret Squirrel and Big Deal arrived! We played croquet, made dinner, and watched the stars. Big Deal and I set up our sleeping bags on the deck and looked for shooting stars until the early hours of the morning. That night's sky was the most fantastic thing I've seen in quite some time.
Shelter: The Ice Cream Man's (Bill Ackerly's home)
Miles today: 3.6
Total miles: 877.8
Miles from Springer: 1760.7
Miles to Katahdin: 424.6
Day 99: September 12th: A Deathly Reaction
So, I woke up to a really wet tent. Not sure why tent-designers would manufacture rain-fly's that aren't water-proof, but I digress. I did my usual camp chores, ate the peach I'd been carrying around for a few days, thanked Bill Ackerly, and made my way to the trail to get a head-start.
About a half hour later, my feet and hands became so incredibly itchy that I needed to sit down and take my shoes off so I could scratch. I had eaten a peach about 3 weeks prior, which resulted in an itchy, blotchy face, but I figured it was just a fluke - I've been eating peaches my whole life!
My eyes started to feel severely itchy as well, and when I looked in my front-facing camera, I saw that my eyes had begun to swell - badly. I quickly took a benadryl and came to the conclusion that I needed to get out of the woods immediately.
"Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit."
This picture is incredibly unflattering/embarrassing...
Needless to say, I was freaking the hell out! I started hiking as fast as I could back to Bill Ackerly's, just in case I started going into anaphylaxis. My throat did start to close, but I knew it was just a result of my slight panic attack, so I forced myself to relax and calm down. I didn't really want people to see my face all swollen, but I needed to find a person with a car.
So I made my way back upain the driveway and surprised all my friends (both with my arrival, and the appearance of my face).
Breeze: "Are you Okay?!"
Me: "Guys, I'm really allergic to peaches..."
As I sat on Bill's front porch, the swelling began to subside a bit ("Alright everyone! Go about your business! Stop staring at my face please!"), but then I began to break out in hives all over my body. I've never gotten hives before - it was all pretty terrifying. Luckily someone there was medically trained and instructed me to chew another benadryl - while a new friend, Kizmit, offered to drive me to the ER.
Taking selfies in the car while simultaneously scratching my entire body.
When I got to the hospital, my symptoms had begun to subside. I debated just waiting it out, but the receptionist looked at me and said "Excuse me miss, I'm not sure if you've seen your face... but we need to admit you."
And so they slapped on a hospital bracelet, gave me warm blankets, and kept an eye on me for a few hours. I had a really fantastic nap (I'd like to thank the large amount of benadryl I consumed), they gave me some steroids, prescribed me a few epipens, gave me a long long list of foods I should avoid (which includes apples, almonds, carrots, peanuts), advised me that I could die if I ate another peach, and sent me on my merry way.
Well, at least the swelling went down.
#hospitalselfies
Afterwards, Kizmit drove us uptrail to the Hikers Welcome Hostel, where Sunshine and I would wait for the rest of the group to arrive in a day or so. Kizmit is an absolute lifesaver - I cannot thank her enough.
My body was completely drained the rest of the day. I was exhausted and everything ached. We chose our bunks, I gave sunshine all my food that contained peanuts, and Kizmit drove us to Lincoln to get some pizza!
That night, I awoke to Sunshine making a fuss - a skunk was trying to steal her pack! He had dragged it under a nearby bunk and began to chew through the pockets! Unfortunately for sunshine, I wasn't feeling well - so I was of absolutely no help. In fact, I was so tired and apathetic, that I didn't even switch to a top bunk to avoid potential future skunk encounters.
Shelter: Hikers Welcome Hostel
Miles today: 1.0
Total miles hiked: 878.8
Miles from Springer: 1786.6
Miles to Katahdin: 398.7
Day 100: September 13th: My 100th Day!
Sunshine, Kizmit, and I waited around the hostel all day waiting for the group. We assumed they were going to arrive early in the morning, but they didn't show up until late afternoon.
My bunk was the one on the bottom left!
The hiker life can be grimy sometimes.
Movie library, kitchen area.
When they arrived, they needed to resupply at the gas station/get dinner. We had planned to slackpack Mt. Moosilauke southbound, but due to the late hour and the desire to not pay for another night at the hostel, we just hiked out a few miles and camped on the trail.
So many shelters.
I decided to tent though!
Shelter: Jeffers Brook Shelter
Miles today: 0.9
Total miles hiked: 879.7
Miles from Springer: 1787.6
Miles to Katahdin: 397.8
Day 101: September 14th: The Whites!
Today was finally the day to enter The Whites! Rumor has it that this is the most difficult, and most beautiful section of the trail!
I eat balanced meals.
Living on the trail = anarchy.
"Welcome to the Whites. Don't Panic!"
I'll do my best!
I left camp before most of the group in order to give myself a bit of a handicap. Though they eventually caught up, I'm proud of the pace I was able to maintain.
Twister leaving me candy and encouragement!
This is the trail. What.
I was happy to see my trail-family waiting for me just below the tree-line, so that we could summit together! Though we missed out on the view, it was really interesting to hike in strong winds and fog.
Protection from the wind!
My first major mountain since the south.
It was cold. I was in a dress.
We heard that the descent was pretty brutal - especially in wet weather. We stopped at Beaver Brook Shelter on the way down to have hot lunch - it was freezing. I put on all my clothing and we huddled in the corner to get warm.
The descent wasn't as bad as I was lead to believe. You just needed to take it slowly.
You can take the girl out of the sorority...
The sketchy, slippery wet steps.
"Caution: this section of trail is extremely difficult. Do not proceed unless you are very experienced."
Well once we made it to the road, we decided to hitch into town and spend the night at Chet's house (a trail angel who has a free bunkhouse in his home).
It doesn't get much more simple than that: One Step AT a Time
Wonderful SOBOs.
Yay for eating pizza and sleeping indoors!
Shelter: "Chet's"
Miles today: 8.4
Total miles: 888.1
Miles from Springer: 1795.9
Miles to Katahdin: 389.4
