Monday, April 11th

Doyle’s River Trailhead (890.3 mi) to Hightop Hut (906.4 mi)

Hiking Miles: 16.1

Total Ascent: 3,800.2 ft

Total Descent: 3,509.2 ft

Total Grade: 450.6 ft/mi

Steps: 42,171

I will admit I was excited for Day 2 to begin, however there were some mixed feelings knowing that Teresa would be heading back home today and I wouldn’t see her until a month later when we attend Joey and Mee-Jin’s wedding. And, I was sore – it hurt to move!

Teresa drove off right after dropping us off at the Doyle’s River Trailhead at 8:45 am; we took a quick pic in our puffy jackets (very cold morning) and we wasted no time hitting the trail. Continuous movement and conversation helped to deal with the bitter cold. Topics of conversation included Target’s accounting practices, the upcoming NFL season and player roster movements, and Taylor the Nahamsha Hiker’s first days on-trail experiences.

But “our” first trail encounter that we creatively (and frustratingly) spent some time cursing about involved a guy we named “Blaze Blocker”. Here’s that quick story: A few miles in, we passed an older couple (yes, older than me) who had stopped for a snack break. The woman was sitting in front of the sign at a juncture where the trail split in two directions, and the gentleman was standing in front of a tree that we later realized was the canvas for a white blaze on the AT. They smiled and did not signal to us when we veered off-trail down an alternate path. 3/4 of a mile later, we realized we skipped a significant stretch of the AT. However, rather than taking a short-cut leading us quickly back on-trail, we retraced our steps. It was too soon into our journey to start having a “Katahdin By Foot” mentality. Besides, I wanted to track down our friends so badly, that we actually gave the name “Blaze Blocker” to the man.

Sixteen miles into our hike for the day as planned, we stopped at the Hightop Hut shelter site and found two vacant adjacent tent spots. We set up our tents for the evening before cooking some instant meal packs (just add hot water) for dinner. I was moving very deliberately and slowly due to soreness and being extremely tired. But our dinners tasted so delicious, particularly whereas we were very hungry.

After dinner, we met a SOBO (southbound) hiker named Pebbles, who was staying in the shelter, and he shared a story about a crazy lady that he encountered who he said was so obnoxious, that she was asked to leave the Bear’s Den hostel (about 90 miles north from where we were) by Glen, the owner. We also chatted with a ridge runner on bike by the name of Bill, who was actually training to climb Mount Katahdin. When it got dark, we hung our food on a bear pole and retired to our tents.

When I was settling into my tent and shifting my things around, I realized I left a banana peel stuffed in a small plastic bag that I had not included in my hung rucksack. My first thought was that a bear would sniff that out pretty quickly. My first night in the woods and I already broke a trail rule. I possibly would be inviting a wild animal to check out a tempting scent. Stevie suggested I just keep it contained in a sealed bag (Ziplock), stuff it in a zipped pack pocket and it should be fine. That sounded logical to me so that’s what I did.

Overall, it was a good day despite that I was still very sore as would be expected. Tonight would be our first official night in the wilderness.