#226 ME 26/Grafton Notch to East B Hall Rd - Day 144: ATMM1925.8 to ATMM1936.1
I must say - I’m diggin’ on this self-slackpack bid’nez. Light packs by day, heavy food by night.
9-18-2024
We load the truck and drive back to Grafton Notch trailhead. Today is the first day of our self-slackpack excursion. We don’t know how many days we’ll do this - until it doesn’t make sense to do it anymore, I guess. We’re going to just play it by ear.
We leave unnecessary things for the day’s hike, like sleeping bags and tents, in the bed of the truck, which has a shell that locks on it. We will carry things like water, filters, snacks, first aid kit, rain gear, etc. - our own abbreviated versions of The Ten Essentials for Hiking.
Our packs will be light, allowing us to traverse the rugged mountains more quickly and safely, while allowing for a more enjoyable hike.
Bubba Lip and Railroad Bill drop Side Quest and I off at Grafton Notch. We begin hiking north from there. He hikes faster than I do so he is carrying the spare truck key.
Bubba Lip and Railroad Bill drive the truck around the mountains to East B Hill Rd. at Dunn Notch and begin hiking south.
Like most days, the first steps are upward. Like most days, these upward steps are steep and require a lot of assistance from my hands to get over boulders. I am thankful for the light pack in my skirmish against the rugged two-thousand-foot climb and the occasional man-made assist like wooden ladders and such.
I take a break on Baldplate West with Baldplate East, the highest point of today’s hike, in view. The Baldpates fall just short of being one of New England’s famed 4000 footers.
To get there I’ll have to drop a few hundred feet in elevation, then climb up a bit higher to its summit.
One of the Appalachian Trail’s nicknames is The Green Tunnel because of all the time spent walking through the forest, but there are plenty of balds where trees have long disappeared or perhaps have never existed.
The Green Tunnel is full of beauty and wonderment, but for me, there’s nothing out here more freeing than walking across the top of a high mountain below the big blue sky.
Every mountain top is its own world.
Looking out over the expanse can confound the mind. We the people are so used to our own small worlds that it can be daunting to see on the horizon countless worlds all at once.
Speaking of small worlds, the magic of this big world is disrupted by my two and a half inch wide by five-and-a-half-inch long world, which now requires my attention. I pull my phone from my pocket.
First order of business - I forgot to purchase Maine’s section of the A.T. map on the Far-Out App last night while I was in town.
I ask Newt if she’d help me since my eyes are bad and my glasses are deep in my pack. The real reason I need help is because I am one of the least tech-savvy people on planet earth.
I will need to involve my wife in this transaction since a verification code will go to her phone for whatever reason, so I contact her. My wife sends the code, Newt makes quick work of things on our end, Glass and I stand to the side like two guys who haven’t got a clue.
My wife confirms the charge went through.
Newt confirms the app is working.
I confirm I dislike tech stuff.
My wife sends a message, “Thank goodness for on trail tech support!”
Second order of business - Just before on this trip I did a big job for significant pay. The guy is “having trouble” paying the bill. While I was driving up to New Hampshire from Kentucky a few weeks ago he said in a message, “The check is in the mail.” Now, even though my wife dropped off another copy of my W-9 this morning, he can’t seem to find it - so I have to send him a picture of it that is saved on my phone.
I dislike dishonest people more than I dislike tech stuff.
I put my phone back in my pocket and slip back into the spirit-freeing sensations of my mountaintop world.
On my way down the steep mountain side, I run into Bubba Lip and Railroad Bill.
A few minutes later I reach Frye Notch Lean-to. Three miles back at Baldplate Lean-to the shelters in Maine start being called Lean-tos. They look the same and they serve the same purpose - only the name is different.
When I reach the truck at East B Hill Rd. Trailhead. Side Quest has the door open and has already loaded his pack.
I was hoping Newt would come out before I left - I told her we had drinks in the truck and was wanting to give her a Sprite for helping me with the Far-Out App.
Glass walks out of the woods just before I get into the truck. He says she’s not far behind, so I give it to him to give to her.
In the middle of nowhere on the gravel road we reach an old rickety bridge with a small river far beneath it. The river is filled with large boulders.
The sign beside the bridge reads, “Cross at your own risk.”
I pause.
It’s the only way to our friends, who incidentally own the truck, so we proceed to cross at our own risk. We figure the truck crossed this bridge this morning to get to the trailhead.
Here we go…..
