Mahoosuc Range Hike

May 11th: Mahoosuc Range Hike

Miles: 31+

31 miles, 14 peaks, 12,000 feet of elevation, 13 hours. Let me repeat that: 31 miles, 14 peaks, 12,000 feet of elevation, 13 hours. Yup, that is how I decided to have fun on this nice spring day in the Whites, an all day hike that would push my limits.

A few weeks ago, I met this guy Scott on the AMC message board. I was responding to his question about a long hike, the same one that John and I had started to plan. Through a few emails, I found out that Scott is an adventure racer, which basically means that he really enjoys beating up on his body and going several days without sleep. I found out that him and a few friends were planning on doing this hike as a training day for a race they have coming up, so I got myself invited to tag along.

There were four of us in this group - Scott, Grant Berk and myself. We started the hike on the AT in Grafton Notch in Maine and headed south. The first climb of the day started off almost immediately coming near the summit of Old Speck, a 4000-foot peak. We climbed the mountain at a 3 mph pace and while Scott and Berk were having a good conversation, I was focusing on my breathing to make sure that I didn't go anaerobic. I was climbing well, but I clearly didn't have the lung capacity that the others did.

After a nice view of the sunrise poking up over the mountains of Maine, we headed down the trail to Speck Pond. This is a very popular campsite but there was only one person tenting here on this day. Still, the pond is a sweet spot to take a quick break or ham it up for the camera.

From Speck Pond, there is a short climb up Mahoosuc Arm, a jaunt over some very steep open ledges and then an extremely steep descent to the valley floor. I should mention here that were not moving as fast as we wanted at this point. Because of the mileage involved, boots and snowshoes were not an option so I was dressed in my summer gear. However, there was still quite a bit of snow on the trail over 2500' and even long patches of black ice. The postholing and sidestepping was putting up behind schedule, and tiring me out early. This also made the descent off the Arm very interesting.

Next up was the famous Mahoosuc Notch, a mile long bolder scramble through such a tight notch that you really have to see it to fully comprehend it. Two steep cliffs rise on either side of the trail, and over the years large rocks have fallen off making a jungle gym through the pass. This is known as the hardest mile on the AT, but really it is just the slowest. It took me nearly three hours to make it through here with a full backpack, but on this day we cruised through in 45 minutes. On the whole, the snow made this hike easier, but in a few spots I placed my foot only to have it punch through three feet into a whole.

From there, it was just a few miles to our first real stop of the day, Full Goose Shelter. We arrived there before 9, having already hiked 10 miles, and found several campers still in their sleeping bags. Since I was starting to slow compared to the guys that I was hiking with, I took a short break, ate some food and then hurried along up the trail. I managed to hold off Scott for a couple of miles and I enjoyed a great view of the Goose Eyes. The trail follows this amazing, open ridge that was just spectacular on this day. Scott caught me just south of the summit and we headed up together. The wind got downright nasty, and I had to stay low and keep a wide hiking stance to avoid getting blown away. From there it was a short walk over to the other Goose Eye, which is a member of the 100 Highest list. Scott and I bagged the peak, and then went back to the AT where we met Berk and Grant. One last look back at the ridge, and we were off.

The next few miles were steep climbs without too many views. The trail bounced along the ridge before giving us a view of Mt Success, the last major climb of the day. By the time I reached Success, I was officially hurting and Scott and Grant were pulling away. Berk was moving slower but still I was pushing myself to keep up. It was a very long way down from Mt Success to the second stop for the day, Gentian Pond shelter. The trail just kept going down, and down, and down some more. My legs were taking a pounding, but this hike was all about pushing my limits, so I kept going at a pretty good pace. Grant had stopped to wait for us near a river, and together the three of us headed along the trail to the shelter. At this point I had hiked 20 miles, it was 2 pm and I had 11 more yet to hike.

Constant fighting with the snow and ice on the trail had really slowed us down, especially since we were not carrying any extra gear. This trip was about speed, and we had all packed pretty light. Sitting in the sun near the shelter, I realized that I was hurting and that I was not going to be able to do the bike portion of the trip - at least not without riding several hours in the dark. Berk and I opted to hike the rest of the trail at a brisk but relaxed pace, while Scott and Grant ran ahead to get to the biked as soon as possible.

After taking a longish break and getting a chance to dry out my feet, Berk and I headed up the trail. There were still a few climbs left to do before we started down to the car. However, I was finding that while I was climbing slowly, my downhill legs were really suffering. Transferring my weight from on foot to the other was a painful process on the way down. We moved rather well up to Mt Haynes and then had only a couple of miles to descend down to the car. It was rough in spots, especially given the kind of shape that my legs were in, but we made it there in good time.

All told, on this day we hiked 31 miles, climbing over 14 peaks, totaling 12,000 feet in elevation and taking 13 hours to complete the task. A great day for sure.

-Chomp