Welcome to Maine

We've walked from Georgia to Maine! 

Two nights ago we stayed at Gentian Pond Shelter. Then yesterday morning we left at 6:45 to make our way over to Maine. After the 5 miles to Maine, we walked about 6 more miles to Mahoosuc Notch, the most time consuming 1.2 miles on the AT. The 11 miles we did before it though, had to have been the hardest and most stretch we've done on the AT. It's been raining every afternoon for the past few days which made the rocks and roots that cover the trail super slippery. Many times we would had to walk either up or down a slanted rock face. About 300 yards before the Maine border, my shoes completely lost there grip and I went airborne but fortunately landed on my backpack. I thought I wasn't gonna make it. 

We all made it to Mahoosuc Notch though to take on the longest mile of the AT. Michael, Ayce, Chino, and I all did it together so it ended up taking us 2 and a half hours with about a 10 minute break. It was so much fun! We had to navigate our way over and under boulders. Sometimes we would have to take off our packs to fit through cracks. To make more interesting, the rocks were really slick, and it rained some. At one point, it started to pour, but thankfully the trail took us underneath a big boulder, so we just waited it out for ten minutes. Another cool thing about the notch was that in some lower places, it was probably 20 degrees cooler and there was ice! It felt great. 

Many times we had to use our arms and hands to get us through the notch. That was a nice change. 

We ended up only doing 12.3 miles yesterday, but it was fun and we survived. 

We've now walked over 1,900 miles and have less than 280 miles to go to make it to Katahdin!

This morning we woke up to rain, but it soon stopped and after a few hours the sun came out! We climbed Speck and Baldpate Mountains and it has been beautiful. We are going to try and get 23 miles in today to make up for yesterday and take advantage of this good weather.