Mahoosuc Notch Loop

October 16, 2010

    My hike today was first proposed as a backpack by a friend and we had planned to go a couple of weeks ago but we both ended up working. The hike consisted of  a road walk and bushwhack to the East end of Mahoosuc Notch then through the notch, up Fulling Mill Mountain and along the AT to the North branch of the Wright trail and back to the vehicle. Sounds simple on paper. 12.2 miles IS doable and I have done it a couple of times. However those hikes did not include Mahoosuc Notch or The North branch of the Wright Trail.

    I set off from the trail head at about 8:15.The First part was straight-forward enough, I hiked the road that goes past the Wright Trail parking lot.  This I did a couple of weeks ago to do some scouting. I found that the supposed bushwhack was actually a flagged trail. I hike nearly to the end of this (bushwhack) and discovered that a moose was moving along ahead of me as indicated by the very fresh tracks. I believe it was a bull if the rubs along the trail were any indication. Since this is about the height of the rut and bulls are exceedingly aggressive and unpredictable at this time, I was going slow and watching for signs of him wanting to stomp my guts out. Evidently he had better things to do because  I  never saw him. The last part of the bushwhack turned into a real but still flagged bushwhack with a steep downhill and a crossing of Notch Brook before hooking up with the AT. I arrived at the AT at about 10:25.  At this point I kind of thought I’d hike up into the notch and if  it was not too bad I’d hike back down and go out the same way. The amorous moose was in the back of my mind though.

    Mahoosuc Notch is billed as the toughest mile on the entire Appalachian Trail. It might just be!. It took me nearly two hours to go a mile and I whacked my head, scraped my knees and became thoroughly tired out. There were crawl-throughs, crawl-arounds and crawl-unders. Sometimes I’d go up then down 8 or ten feet to go ahead twenty.

My usual hiking speed is about 1.3 miles an hour uphill or a bit less if it’s really steep and up to three miles an hour on good trail on the level or slightly downhill. My speed was less than .75 MPH through the Notch.  Pictures do not do justice to the jumble of car sized boulders that make up the trail here. There is a brook that runs through the notch as well and it is underground much of the way. Occasionally you can see it ten or so feet below you. At other times you can’t even hear it. I got to the junction with the Notch Trail at 11:50. Only a little over 7 miles to go!. The next section was a steep climb up Fulling Mill Mountain and my legs were feeling the effect of coming through the notch.  I was slower than usual on this section but after I got to the top I was rewarded by some nice views and the alpine bogs were interesting.I also found a fairly new EMS pack cover caught on a bush. At 1:15  I made it to Full Goose shelter and stopped for a few minutes to rest and have a bite to eat.

With 5.5 miles left to go and another mountain to climb I wearily set off hoping the trail would soon lead downhill. Be careful what you wish for! I dropped down for a way then climbed the shoulder of North Goose Eye.  A half mile of alpine bog was welcomed since it was quite level and I could move along quicker but the wind had picked up and a cold fog moved across the summit along with some scattered showers and sleet. I noticed the bog bridges are in dire need of repair or replacement. Many are under water or rotted so as to be unsafe. Their purpose is to keep people off the fragile alpine vegetation  but here they are failing. I dropped off the mountain and was soon at the Wright Trail. As I said before, be careful what you wish for. The North branch of the Wright Trail has to be the worst trail I have ever been on. The  first part goes straight down a very steep gully and the log steps and bridges are rotting and ultra slippery in areas where the only other choice is equally dangerous steep ledge. The trail is horribly eroded in many places and water bars are non-existent. Tired as I was this trail was torture as I slipped and fell my way down. I was being extra careful because I knew I was fatigued yet I fell once and slipped once and caught myself in a place where a fall would have meant a 100 foot slide down a wet ledge with devastating consequences.

I struggled down this stretch and after an hour plus I made it to the junction with  the South Branch of the Wright Trail. It was 4:00 and I still had 2.5 miles to go. From there it was a cruise back to the vehicle. I spent nine and a half hours hiking and stopped a very few minutes. A very strenuous hike but so rewarding. I had seen some awesome scenery and faced some challenges and had not seen another soul all day.