Woke up to rain this AM but luckily it tapered off long enough to pack up camp. I hiked though quite a bit of high alpine bog after the summit of Col Carlo.
Are you kidding me?
The clouds started to lift by late morning and it would turn into a beautiful day….
and then the infamous Mahoosuc Notch. One mile of car/truck size boulders piled up in a heap you have to pick your way through. A lot of it requires sketchy acrobatic moves to maneuver your way ovet and under. I’ve seen a lot of a beat up southbounders the last couple days.
It’s so deep and shaded that snow/ice remain year round. The temp drops about 20 degrees from 10′ above this.
I like how they provide an arrow to convince you this is actually the right way to go (pack came off).
More great views.
Then the Mahoosuc Arm, is a 1500′ climb in one mile. By the time I got to the top of this I was 8 hours into the day and had covered 8 miles with one 20 minute break.
After one last climb and a (normal) steep descent I made it to Grafton Notch where Sprinkle had moved the camper. She was kind enough to pick up my package that was late arriving to Gorham, which had replacement tips for my poles. They had been sucked off in all the rocks of NH. This will make my poles much more effective now.
All in, I got my ass kicked today! The saving graces were my leg felt better and the skies cleared…The notch would have been even more precarious in the rain. Plus it was surprisingly comforting seeing that little airstream camper sitting there when I arrived. A cold Gatorade and a chair to sit in didn’t hurt eithe.
GoBugJuice.com 
I had read about the notch & Mahoosuc Arm & also saw these tortuous boulder blocks
on a video about the AT. I’m glad you had dry weather since one description said to
“avoid in rain”! One hiker said it took him 1 3/4 hr. to complete the 1 mile Notch and
that it’s the longest (slowest) 1-mile stretch on the AT. And then he wrote that the Mahoosic Arm goes straight up on the map but appears inverted in person! With no metal rungs to aid the climb, he figured the AT planners wanted hikers to experience “torture as Mother Nature intended!” I’d love to see a video of someone climbing the notch or the arm because it’s very hard to imagine accomplishing even a few safely placed footsteps here. So glad you made it safely; I was astonished & happy to read that your leg actually felt better despite such a
punishing trail section.
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Congrats on making it through some of the hardest parts of the trail! Did a day hike once up into Mahoosuc Notch, wild place!! Enjoy Maine…
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The notch and Mahoosuc arm were brutal!
Sent from my iPhone
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