Saturday, September 5 9:21 pm 15.4 mi
AT 1854.0 Mizpah Spring Hut → AT 1869.4 Parapet Brook Campsite
Weather: Cold, windy overnight. Cool, windy, foggy morning. Cool, sunny afternoon and evening
Trail Conditions: ROCKY from Washington onward – worse than PA! Crowded, but GORGEOUS! Some of the best views so far, and a beautiful weather day to boot
My Condition: Exhausted, but totally satisfied. Ready for a nero and a zero!
A total rollercoaster of a day. Got up at 5:45 to try to beat the crowds. Frigid morning – had to put on gloves, my hoodie, and my rain jacket at Lake of the Clouds hut. HUGE line for the summit sign, limited capacity in summit visitors center. Bent over at one point, hiked on and took in the views. Made it about ¾ mile up the trail, realized my camera wasn’t in my pack. Came to the heartbreaking realization it probably fell out when I had bent over. Set my pack down, went back. Wandered around to the general area, remembered I had some rocks on my left when I had bent over. Looked and looked and looked, and against all odds, FOUND IT! Went from one of my darkest moments, losing my camera with all the footage I have since Georgia, to a moment of bliss and gratitude and joy. Slogged my way back, the trails markings and signage is somewhat confusing up there so I was only moderately sure I was on the right trail back to where I had set my pack down. Ran into Brent, now Oracle, who I hiked with in Georgia and NC! He ended up hiking Maine to here and is knocking out a section, intending to finish or even restart next year. Funny interaction – he recognized me, asked if I was still thru hiking. I asked if he had seen my pack, he was confused about how I didn’t know where my pack was considering I was still thru hiking. Met a bunch more NOBOs today – PTL (Praise The Lord), Brooks/Books, and Hollywood. Intended to camp near treeline at stealth site, they were all full. Went to Osgood Campsite – full. Hiked on to brook, looked in woods for a site, looked further, ran into a bear box, wound up at an actual campsite. My body aches – my feet hurt as they haven’t since the 4 state challenge, my knees protested the extra miles, but I had a great day today.
Post Trail Analysis
The hardest miles are the ones you weren’t expecting to hike! Not only did my camera detour add an extra 1.5 miles, we ended up having to go a pretty considerable amount further than we were expecting in order to find a halfway decent spot in which to camp. The light grew dim, it got dark, and we had fully given up hope and literally wandered off trail into a flat patch of woods willing to pitch our tents anywhere we could fit them. That’s when we saw it – a bear box. A bear box...in the middle of the woods? No, that can’t be right. We wandered over to inspect it, and found an open patch surrounded by rocks. Physically exhausted from the day, I didn’t even mind that my tent was set up on ruts, rocks, and ridges – one of the worst spots I’d pick all trail long. Mentally, I was surprisingly awake, and I ended up watching Cool Runnings, which I had downloaded to my phone.
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