Day 24, July 8
12.8 miles
Campsite north of Mahoosuc Notch
It was windy and wet when Relish, Eclipse, and I summitted the Baldpates, which is a shame, because they have some stunning views in good weather. Luckily, by the time we were descending, it was already clearing, and all the way up Old Speck, I had bluebird skies. I had forgotten just how beautiful Old Speck is. It was a grueling four-or-so-mile climb, but the views and the terrain were gorgeous. When I got to the ridge, I took a 0.3-mile side trail to the summit and climbed an observation tower. Even though it was a hazy, humid day, the 360-degree view was breathtaking. The mountains that surrounded me were noticeably bigger than those in northern Maine.
All the nobos I encountered stopped being surprised and indignant that I didn’t have a trail name and just started asking if “Hannah” was my trail name when I introduced myself. I was exhausted when I reached the Speck Pond shelter around 5:00, but Relish and Eclipse had pushed on, so I decided I could too.
The Mahoosuc Arm just kept going down and down and down, but I finally made it and set up camp. Other than the three of us, no one showed up that night.
Day 25, July 9
12.3 miles
Gentian Pond Shelter
I decided to sleep in until around 7:00 in the morning, to take advantage of the fact that I was not in a shelter and was therefore not being woken up by everyone else getting ready to go.
I had done the Mahoosuc Notch twice before, the previous summer, back to back, and both times it had taken me two hours and fifteen minutes, a decent portion of which I had spent crying. For those who are not in the know, the Mahoosuc Notch is a little over a mile of scrambling over, under, and between a jumbled mess of giant boulders. Some people even find they need to take their packs off to crawl through some of the caves. It is rumored to be the most difficult mile of the AT, but most people find that title misleading, as it is certainly one of the most technical, and decidedly the most time consuming, but is not particularly physically challenging. If approached correctly, it can be like a giant, adult-sized jungle gym/obstacle course. This time, I was determined to enjoy the Notch.
Luckily, it was a dry, beautiful morning, and I had fun in the Notch. The chunks of ice that still remain under some if the boulders provided wonderful air conditioning, which was welcome on such a hot day.
At the top of the next mountain, Taco caught up to me. Taco and I had started the same day, but I only met him for the first time in Monson, after the 100 Mile Wilderness, and then again a couple weeks later. Taco is one of those people that everyone on the trail genuinely likes, and his company is always welcome.
At around 4:15, I finally made it to the New Hampshire border. I had started to forget we were ever going to be hiking anywhere other than Maine, and because the border was just a sign in a pit of mud, it did not feel terribly climactic.
Unfortunately, I still had five miles to go and did not make it into camp until 8:00. The view from the shelter was stunning, which helped make up for the long day.
Day 26, July 10
11.8 miles
White Mountain Lodge and Hostel, Gorham, NH
I hiked with Taco and Weasley for the morning. It turns out Witch and Weasley had had an even later night than I and wound up camping on top of a random hill a mile or two from the shelter. It was nice to hike with other people for a change. Near the peak of one of the mountains, Taco noticed ripe blueberries, and we spent almost half an hour picking and eating them.
Taco took off, because he was not planning on staying in town, so he wanted to get in, resupply, and get out, and Weasley and I kept hiking together. I dropped back at one point, around 3:00, because I’ve been hitting a wall around 3:00 every day, but caught up later when she was taking a break. Witch caught up with us at the next mountaintop, and we all hiked the last few miles to town together, talking about fresh fruit and vegetables and yogurt the whole way. We had a pretty dry week, and ran out of water several times, so we were all out by the top of the last mountain, several miles from town. When we got to the first road, someone had left a case of little water bottles, one of the best instances of trail magic I’ve seen.
At the second road, we walked the wrong direction for about half a mile, until we realized we were confidently striding towards nothing. We got a hitch to the hostel in the back of someone’s pickup truck. I had just been talking about how I did not plan on yellow blazing, then promptly hitched a ride that skipped 0.3 miles of road walking. I decided I didn’t really care because we had just walked more than that on the same road, just in the wrong direction.
I did not have a reservation at the White Mountain Lodge and Hostel, but luckily Witch and Weasley did, and since I walked in with them, Marni, the owner, was kind enough to fit me in anyway, even though they were full. She put me on a futon on the floor in the same room with Witch and Weasley and Wes and Cady, who were also in town. I had one of the best nights of sleep in my life that night, even sleeping through everyone else in the room getting up and going down to breakfast.
Witch, Weasley, and I hitched into town, which was a surprisingly difficult hitch, and ate large amounts of fried food, then felt full before we could even make a dent in our pizzas. It was nice to get in to town around 3:00, especially considering that similar-mileage days had been taking us hours longer. The terrain has been so unpredictable that I never know how long a day will take me.
Day 27, July 11
1.9 miles
Rattle River Shelter
After an amazing breakfast at the hostel, Witch, Weasley, and I hitched to Walmart to 
resupply. Shopping at Walmart made my soul die a little, but it was the most comprehensive resupply we’ve hit yet, and I was very excited by the produce section. After a couple days low on water, I was thirsty, so I bought one of the big jugs of raspberry lemonade and drank more than half of it just while we were shopping.
We had an interesting hitchhike back to the hostel. After a few minutes baking on the side of the road, laden with plastic grocery bags, a woman finally pulled over. She told us that she was only picking us up because we were women, and women had to help other women. Then she said that if there had been a man with us, she would have left us because he would have been able to “figure it out”. She went on to advise us to always keep our keys in our knuckles while hitchhiking, then describe at great length her childhood in Puerto Rico while her parents were on the run from the law, and her complicated relationship with her sister and niece. Then she dropped us off a couple miles short of our goal and a nice old gentleman with a lot of guns drove us the rest of the way.
We spent most of the afternoon sitting outside the hostel, repackaging our food, then Witch, Weasley, Wes, Cady, a friend of Cady’s, and I all walked the easiest 1.9 miles yet into Rattle River Shelter. There were a bunch of people there, including my good friend Marissa’s cousin, whom I had met earlier in the year. Getting to New Hampshire means I know more and more people that I run into.
Rattle River had the most beautiful, crystal-clear swimming hole I had ever seen. Weasley and I had to go swimming, even though it was pretty cold by then.
We decided my trail name is going to be Zucchini, because I talk about vegetables a lot and always carry onions and zucchinis and other vegetables.
zucchini walking 