HE WIND HOWLS and the rain pelts against the glass windows high on Sugarloaf Mountain. Ann and I hiked through the storm on the Appalachian Trail to the shelter of this summit house.
HE WIND HOWLS and the rain pelts against the glass windows high on Sugarloaf Mountain. Ann and I hiked through the storm on the Appalachian Trail to the shelter of this summit house.The chairlift is not in operation, no skiers are around, but we're glad to be warm and dry inside this six-sided structure which doubles as a hiker shelter in the summer months. If the day were clear we could see all the way from this mountain to Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. We've hiked nearly 2,000 miles from Springer Mountain, Ga. With less than 200 miles to go we feel the end is in sight, even if we can't actually see it due to the storm. The high mountains and cool weather of New Hampshire and Maine have brought back the euphoria we enjoyed this spring in the Southern Appalachians. Two weeks ago we walked above timberline on Franconia Ridge in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. On a perfect day the views were stunning our favorite section of the trail so far. We took a side trail off Franconia Ridge to stay overnight at Greenleaf Hut, one of eight high-mountain huts run by the Appalachian Mountain Club. The hut crew, or Croo, served a hot dinner family style. The bunkrooms, sleeping 36 guests on beds with mattresses, were a welcome change from the three-sided shelters on the trail. Being a croo member is a much sought after summer job. Once hired, croos return year after year. The hutmaster at Madison Springs Hut, now a graduate student, is working for her fifth summer. There were 200 applicants for the eight job openings this year. In addition to cooking and cleaning, the croos carry 80-pound loads of fresh food twice each week up steep mountain trails. The hut croos are particularly nice to thru-hikers. We ate with the croo after the guests had eaten, sharing the usual abundance of leftover food. In exchange, we helped the croo with their morning clean-up duties. Trails in the Whites are steep and rocky, often resembling rock climbing courses rather than hiking trails. We covered only 20 miles in one three-day period. In Virginia's Shenandoah Mountains we hiked 60 miles in three days. The weather can change suddenly and drastically in the Whites. The day after our Franconia Ridge hike we found ourselves in gale-force winds and near-zero visibility crossing Mount Lafayette. That night the temperature dropped to the low 20s in August! Maine has continued the difficult hiking. In Mahoosuc Notch we scrambled up, around and under giant boulders for 2 hours and 45 minutes just to cover one mile of trail. We like the remote wilderness feeling of Maine walking through miles of balsam, fir, and white birch forests, swimming in clear ponds, watching moose feed in the shallows, eating blueberries and raspberries as we hike, sleeping under the stars, and just generally having a good time. As we hiked through 14 states, crossing a state line was always a cause for celebration. We took a picture of the small, hand-lettered blue and white sign marking the Maine border. Welcome to Maine. The Way Life Should Be.
