Note: This is written as if I wrote it all the day of the hike. It was actually compiled from my memories and notes that I took on my phone as I hiked and written much later.
Planned Schedule:
5:30am – Head out
6:10am – sunrise on Bromley?
9am (8.2 [4.25]) – Snack at Peru Peak Shelter
10:30am (12.9 [6.5]) – Lost Pond Shelter
11:15am (14.6 [7.5]) – Big Branch Shelter
12:30pm (17.9 [9]) – Lunch at Little Rock Pond (Peanut Butter/Tortillas)
3pm (22.9 [12.25]) – Snack at Greenwall Shelter
5pm (28.2 [15.5]) – Minerva Hinchey Shelter
7:21pm – Sunset (13h 11min)
9pm – Sleep
On the way out of Peru Peak past the tenting area, I saw a hiker ahead of me on a skinny trail. I was just about to say hi when he ran right into a tree and fell down. He said he was alright but it looked pretty painful. I think it was just mortifying..he probably hadn’t seen another person in hours and the one minute he sees some one, he ran into a tree. Bad luck. 🙂
Baker peak was the first real view that I had had since I started, tragically. And it wasn’t even that great. Missing Stratton and Bromley views had bummed me out, but I had good mountains coming up.
I had lunch with a good mixed-gender group of SOBOs. They were showing off their gnarly feet and were talking about food. They were doing generally twenty mile days. They said they were going to try to get to Bromley, but I think they were underestimating the amount of time they had left to hike. Hopefully they made it.
About the time I left them I realized I was two hours behind my schedule. I passed by Little Rock Pond and it looked like a great place to stop, but I didn’t. Around that time, perhaps related to my stress, I started having heart palpitations. This stressed me out as well as I’d never have it happen this consistently before. I still had energy though so I powered through White Rocks Mountain with the cool, creepy rocks near the top. I saw another Princeton orientation group as I was coming down. Apparently there are two groups that cross in the middle of their orientation hike.
By the team I started climbing Bear Mountain I was pretty shot. My legs weren’t cramping but I was out of energy so I was plodding up steep but easy terrain. By the time I got over the mountain to Minerva Hinchey Shelter I was exhausted, annoyed by it being 7pm, and worried about my heart. So I pulled up short for the night. It helped there were two section hiking brothers at that shelter and they had extra rotisserie chicken. It was good.
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| Blisters very painful |
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| Peru Peak Shelter |
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| Little Rock Pond? |
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| Greenwall shelter |
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| Creepy white rocks mountain cairns |