After taking photos with Terodactyle, we headed out. The wood bear Terodactyle and I are standing in front of was a gift from a hostel, “Chet’s Hiking Hostel.” I believe he said he helped with shuttling people to and from the trail.
So, while I did not specifically outline blogs for these days on trail, I still took notes, but some of these notes are very hard to understand as if I wanted to take the note quickly and get back to whatever I was doing. This is what I have under day 132:
| On Trail Note | After thought (Post Trail) |
| The whites are like a jungle gym.
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The trail changes as you step into the whites (NOBO). They are another animal in difficulty. It is like the feeling of difficulty right after you unlock a more difficult level in a game. I 100% was being challenged with this new terrain and I loved every second of it! At this point, I really needed a challenge too. |
| I will likely not finish when I expected to. | I planned on taking advantage of the weather with at least 15-mile days and now I am likely rethinking if that is even possible. |
| My pack is much heavier with the 5+ days of food I am carrying. I should have planned more stops thru the whites with my winter gear. | I am thinking this b/c the terrain is rough and a heavier pack will only make it more difficult. I mentioned “with my winter gear.” I was not carrying my winter jacket prior to Hanover, NH. Looking back, while I could have, made more stops, I am glad I didn’t. It was much easier logistic wise. |
| I am now reading “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek. | This was a book that was recommended to me by a section hiker like 1000+ miles ago, I finally got around to listening to. It was a very inspirational book. It gave me hope to work for a company in the future with a great leader. |
| Camping with Peasant Melon, Dozer, and Umbrella Face for the night showing videos to each other and talking to the day hikers. | I am not too sure what videos we were sharing, but I do remember camping for the night at Kingsman Pond Shelter, a pay shelter. Lucky for us, there was no caretaker to be seen to take the $10 overnight camping fee. I believe if you are through hiking the fee is instead $5. I was going to stealth to get to a lower elevation, but it was about to rain, and the temperature was starting to noticeably drop. It was the first time I wore my puffy since snow in the Smokies, so it was quite the temperature drop. |
| Took a very interesting picture of a tree by the Eliza Brook Shelter. Can you tell where the tree started to grow? I can’t. |  |
Took some beautiful landscape photos as well:
If you look closely in the 2nd photo, you can see the power lines from the 1st photo next to the pond.
Side Note:
Tomorrow, as in day 133, is intense and probably one of my best days on trail. That being said, I will try my best to encapsulate its beauty to the best of my ability now that it has been almost two years.
