Appalachian Trail

Appalachian Trail – Round 1 July 21, 2021

Gary hiked with several thru-hikers on his roughly 150-mile section hike of the Appalachian Trail (AT) this past May and June (2021). A section hiker is someone who hikes some of the AT, whether it be a few miles, a hundred or a thousand miles at a time, then returns to hike more on a different trip. Gary thru-hiked the AT in 2014. 2,186miles in 126 days (4 months and 3 days) without coming home. A thru-hiker makes their 4-6-month 2,100+ mile journey, from Georgia to Maine (called a NOBO – north bound) a priority in their life. They hike the entire AT in one hike. Gary has also section hiked the AT a lot over the years and is just about 300 miles shy of completing the AT for a second time – a complete section hike! I have been introduced to many of the hikers Gary section hiked with this summer. I have enjoyed meeting many of these strong-willed hikers. Gary figured out where they would be on the trail and we have been meeting them at a trailhead or at a hostel throughout NH and ME!

We have been planning to connect with a married couple in our age category who Gary really enjoyed hiking with earlier this summer.  Gary has been communicating with them via text for weeks. AZ (Gary’s trail name), Rangeley and I met up with Grasshopper and his wife Metta (their trail names) at the Town and Country Motel in Gorham, NH. Grasshopper is a retired orthopedic surgeon and Metta is a retired teacher/principal from Michigan. Trail names are either self-given or started by others once you are on the trail. Gary called himself AZ because he is from Arizona and it stuck. A few years ago, we did a lot of trail magic (explained further down) and some hikers started calling me “Miss Arizona” … the trail name “Talks-A-Lot” was already taken! Some other acquired trail names given to hikers once on the AT are: “Little Pot”, a woman that had a tiny cooking pot. “Fuego” (Spanish for fire) was given to our oldest son, Cooper, who section hiked with Gary 3 years ago, because Cooper was determined to start a fire each night, rain or shine. “British Detective” (he was one!), “Go Far” – a guy that was from Fargo, ND but his fellow hikers liked Go-Far better. “Skittles” liked Skittles and “Chef” is one. You get the idea!

Metta and I hit it off right away. She planned to take a “0” (zero) after we arrived which is what hikers call it when they do not hike for an entire day. Taking a “nearo” means taking half the day off from hiking. Metta and I did trail magic together while AZ and Grasshopper took the Cog Railway to the top of Mt. Washington and then hiked north along the Presidential Ridgeline.

Gary writes:  The ridge was in the clouds the entire time, except for about 15 minutes when we could look back and see the summit and the next round of the Cog climbing its way to the top. Most of the time we had no trouble seeing the cairns that mark the way along the ridge. At times, the clouds would get very thick and we would have trouble seeing the next cairn, even though it was only 50 feet away. Mt Washington is referred to as the “rock pile” and for good reason. It makes for a tough hike going from rock to rock. The ridge is all above tree line and offers spectacular views (when not in the clouds). This was my 4^th or 5^th time hiking across over the years. The first time in the 1980’s with Glenn, my older brother. There was some up and down, but the AT skirts the summits along the way. Even though we started at the highpoint of the northeastern US, and skirted the summits, we still climbed 1,500 vertical feet up so that meant we did almost 7,000 vertical feet of descent, most of that at the end on steep, slippery, rocky terrain. My legs were tired when we reached the parking lot. Now back to your regularly scheduled journal….

 Trail magic is a term used to mean performing any kind gesture for hikers. It can be a ride to a grocery store or to a hostel for the night. It commonly refers to supplying food and drinks to hikers at a road crossing or parking lot. It can be as simple as leaving water and snacks on the trail, beer in a cold stream, handing out Gatorades and cookies from the back of a car, or a full -fledged cookout with burgers, chips and homemade desserts given to the long-distance hikers for free.

Metta and I handed out donuts and cokes as well as having soap, hair ties, Band-Aids and toilet paper on hand for those who had run out.  Rangeley is a hiker magnet as many of these trekkers, whether they are 18 or 75, have dogs they have left behind at home. Rangeley was not lacking for attention!

The next morning, Wednesday, Gary took Grasshopper, Metta and their hiking buddy Baked Potato to a trailhead. Gary and I did trail magic at Grafton Notch State Park, ME. About a 40-minute drive from our hotel. We had about 25 people enjoy scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, hot dogs, chips, carrots, cookies, soda, beer, Gatorade and more. It was very much appreciated and we loved doing it for the hikers.

We then drove a couple of thru hikers part way to their destination in Andover, ME because we were going the other way into Bethel, ME to have a late lunch with more of Gary’s AT friends from June. We picked up Ranger (he was a park ranger) and Sticks (she had two sticks to walk with) and went to The Good Food Store, a healthy restaurant with lots of vegetarian options for the two of them. Rangeley loved the trail magic and attention so much, he slept thru lunch under the outdoor picnic tables!

We spent Thursday morning taking a trail angel’s nearo ; ) Those who perform trail magic are referred to as trail angels. We did laundry, Gary caught up on work, I ate in the hotel restaurant and later that day Gary went to get himself a pizza. Then at about 2pm we packed the car to do trail magic at Grafton Notch again.

We only had three people that day but we mainly went to greet Grasshopper and Metta after their two day, 31 mile hike which included the AT’s most famous mile –  Mahoosuc Notch. These 31 miles includes some of the toughest terrain the thru hikers face on their journey from Springer Mountain to Mount Katahdin. At about 5PM Gary drove 15 minutes south to get cell reception and an update on their progress. They still had a bit more than 3 miles to go. At 6 we walked south up the trail to greet them. Elizabeth stopped at a stream about a half mile in with some cold drinks for our tired friends. Gary and Rangeley continued the climb along the stream. Rangeley was off lead and enjoying the many waterfalls along the way. We also stopped and did some trail maintenance, removing two downed trees from the trail. At 7, about a mile in, Rangeley heard Metta’s voice and bolted up the trail to meet her and Grasshopper. We then all descended to the parking lot (meeting Elizabeth and the cold drinks on the way down) where we enjoyed a wonderful cookout before packing up and returning to our hotel.

Friday: We dropped Metta and Grasshopper at the trailhead and we are on our way to Acadia National Park. We will post on the National Park section of our blog. After which we will head to Rangeley, Maine, our pup’s namesake, for more trail magic and adventures to write about on Roaming Rangeley!

We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us!

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