Yesterday was the hardest day so far. Courtney came last night to slackpack us so I was on the trail at 5:45am. It was one of those days where the only people hiking were thru-hikers. It was pouring and cold as I left. The trail has become overgrown and extremely muddy, rocky, and full of roots. Every time I hit a branch, a night’s worth of accumulated rainfall would fall on me. The shortest option for the slackpack was 31 miles because there were no other road crossings – not even a dirt forest service road. That in itself, especially with several big climbs, is a big day.

However, I also had to do Mahoosuc Notch, the hardest mile on the whole AT in slick conditions. It wasn’t too bad with just a daypack though and it was a pretty cool area. It was a mile between 2 cliffs where large boulders have fallen over the last couple thousand years. I had to climb over, around, and under these large boulders and there was even ice still in some of the crevices. I finally got done at 9:15 and gladly took my soaked shoes off. Today we’re slackpacking another 20 miles.