Getting Warmer/Colder

Closing in on it, "good Lord willin and the creek don't rise" hope to finish in a couple weeks. From the Whites to now near Rangeley ME (Rangeley is known for being half way point between the equator and North Pole) the trail has been absolutely brutal but incredibly beautiful. 

The terrain is insane but I'm hearing aside from Bigelow and Sugarloaf the worst is behind me.

The roller coaster of mountains slows me down to 1 mile per hour 

Slow ups:

Up, 

N up:

Slower down:

but offers great vistas in between:

And sometimes a place to sit, relax and enjoy:

Anyway, who really cairns?

The cairns are actually signs. 

The "Arctic Zone" is above tree line (either no trees above 8 ft or none period) so the cairns replace the blaze:

SPEAKING OF the blaze, in 2002 NoBo thru hiker Gary Monk (bet he hiked alone bahaha), trail name "Blaze" counted every blaze he passed 80,900. I say there were still only 7 or 8 in the Smokeys but hey that's ancient history.

I've been going thru some old pics that I don't think I shared. This one was a sign that I should either have escargot for breakfast or I really was moving too slow.

Speakin of slow, tho I will forever remain Sparky, I thought of another trail name, Creepy Crawler:

Speakin of makin momma proud, look ma, "crussoo";

What DOD would call "skutah":

Another name could be Jimmy Feral!

I've lost so much weight so fast that the skin of my fingers can't keep up,

Speakin of signs, this one said to go back; right, eyeah, okay, sure, not, indeed:

Speakin of sign:

In moose country. Scat and track all over and in the trail but I haven't seen one yet.

Okay, you decide. Since day one April 9th I have had only one single eating utensil, a titanium spork that fits in a pocket on my JetBoil. I've used it virtually every single day in the woods. It's all I got to scoop the food! Ya feelin me about the spork? Several days ago, woke up at 5am, snoozed till 530, fired up JetBoil for coffee. "WHERE IS SPORKY SPARKY?" I swirled the coffee and Truvia(Christian sweetener) that worked fine but I have no other utensil to eat with. Went thru the pack, sacks and tent, it's gone. Then it "dawned" on me, the very night before, however many nights there have been, I had scoped out the only other two tent sites, there are no other humans mind you, on a rock next to a fire pit I remembered spotting this:

While one technically could make this up, I did not.

Speakin of (aren't u sick of that phrase now haha) food and signs. Check this privy sign out talkin about composting your human waste:

Y'all be likin that humus?

Nummy num num.

I see red:

Do see see a creature?

That was easy. Hey kids, how about a creature double feature? This ones not so easy:

Do you see what I saw?

I also saw signs of spiders:

Thousands of them:

And sometimes just one:

They don't survive if they venture into my space btw.

What every other state calls a shelter:

Maine calls a lean to:

Signs are everywhere, aren't we all always watching, for signs?

I am looking forward to the conclusion of the hike, looking forward to what lies ahead though not too excited about returning to what this devo describes as the unstable world in flux. Perhaps reminders will help to fix the gaze.

Cow Hampshire

Back in my dad's day they called it Cow Hampshire as apparently at one time there were more cows than people in New Hampshire. All I know is big huge hills. The Whites kicked my butt "8 ways to Sunday".

In the reading I did a year ago, one book said; when a single season NoBo thru hiker reaches the Whites, they have spent only 20% of the energy needed to finish. Until now I've questioned that statement.

I have aches and pains not felt since GA and NC. The daily mileage is back down to 10 but indeed the views are spectacular:

Btw the word indeed is a man's word. Think about it. If you're one of the women reading this blog

Go ahead and say the word.....indeed. Feels awkward doesn't it? You can use certainly, absolutely, etc. Whenever a guy uses the word indeed, think of him like this:

Speaking of words, the hike and audio audible have given me a great opportunity to further my way along a list I started years ago. The 100 books everyone should read before they die. A couple things about said list; there are a hundred such lists with wide variations yet many books in common. Unfortunately the Bible rarely appears on the list, ironic as it is alive and active not to mention the Worlds best seller for generations. Did you know the first US Congress, the same which wrote of government and religion, actually used tax dollars to print and distribute the Bible as a school primer? So back to the list(s) of 100. Another facet of the list is not to finish so as to prolong ur life, get it? Well there are several books common to most lists regardless of variation and here's how I felt when finally finishing one such most commonly listed:

If you're interested in reading the most verbose(wordiest), blue bloodiest, soap opera yet perfectly well titled books or you're expecting an interview with Loyds of London, try Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. In Ct I came across a retired English teacher who loved the book then laughed admittedly when I said "of course, it's filled with gossiping women".

Gee, this post has taken on a somewhat gendered tone, let's go back to the scenery.

The Whites remind me of PA in some way as there's no small amount of rocks.

Both on and off the trail:

But these rocks are different, they tend to be more level, and stickier though just as hard.

Some rock trails lead up to:

Places like Mt Washington;

On a sunny day no less;

That for a little while got a bit uglier:

Then prettier again:

Then about 2 hours and just 4 miles later I was given a sign saying "stop here".

"Down here at this very place, the Madison Hut"

Ok I did, before crawling up and down that nasty beast behind it. The night before, I tented 4000 ft up to watch the blood moon. This was the moon at 7ish

Unfortunately this camera did not capture the lunar eclipse that looked like a natural orange hanging in the sky at 10:30pm.

Surprised (not) by waking the next morning, to find a morning after what many said would have been the world's end, I was able to capture a great sunrise:

Then at the day's end a great sunset: