This past weekend I took a quick trip up to Maine to try to get some hiking in. I was going from Andover Maine southbound on the Appalachian Trail to Gorham NH. I believe it was just under 42 miles I hiked in three days. It beat the shit out of me!
The first day out it was raining a good deal and at some point my right knee got a bit sore. This happens time to time when I am hiking. Usually I just compensate for it with no real ill effects.
The first and second day this was fine. The third day I did 22 miles of relatively rough and rugged trail from 6 am till 7 pm with a number of short breaks along the way. Early on that third day my right ankle started hurting too. By the end of the day I was still moving right along but it was pretty damn painful when pressure was exerted in a certain direction. I eventually made it down to the road and met up with Casey (from my Nepal Trip) who works up there and he gave me a ride back to my car. I hung out for a while and then drove home to CT. I arrived home around 2am, exhausted, sore, and tired. I showered and went to sleep.
Today I woke up and realized just how sore I was and then realized that my ankle was quite swollen, from a little blow the ankle to as far as about 5 or 6 inches up above my ankle. That's the photo on the side here. I picked up an ankle brace today and will be wearing some high top shoes for a while. I have a feeling the red area will turn to bruising in a day or two. I'll update photos if it does. In this one you get the size by side of good ankle versus bad ankle..
The other photos here are from the hike. There are a few sections of trail here that are simply brutal. Steep climbs or drops, sometimes hike in, on and around boulders . There were many times I had to use my hands to climb up or down things and even times when I had to take off my pack to maneuver in or around things. One section called Mahoosuc Notch is a tight notch between two mountains were long ago the sides of the notch caved in leaving the bottom of the notch strewn with massive boulders piled on top of each other. It's a cold wet area where throughout the year you can find packed snow lingering in the voids between and under rocks. The trail goes straight through the bottom of this notch either over, under, or around these boulders. It's terribly fun but it does punish your body as I found out. The photo to the right is of the notch and the white arrow painted on the rock is the trail.
Overall it was a great hike, however painful. Maine is my favorite state along the Appalachian Trail. Stunning scenery, lots of Moose as seen in the bottom photo here. Tons of lakes and ponds a little further North of where I was. Even in southern Maine there are a lot of good swimming holes along the trail. If you stumbled on this site from some interested in the Appalachian Trail I highly suggest you hike the AT. If you can't get the time or money to thru hike it, then hike Maine.. Nuff Said.
I bought a new motorcycle last week. This one will be set up over the coming months to be a bit of a go anywhere touring bike. Lots of off road and highway riding. I hope to do a trip to Alaska or somewhere interesting like that next summer. Plenty of time to figure that out. Right now I'm still breaking it in.
Also tonight I made some vegan soyboy raviolis with pesto. Good stuff, accompanied by some olive oil and rosemary bread and a bottle of Ting! The jamaican grapefruit soda was an odd pairing but refreshing nonetheless!
