The Start of the Balds: Max Patch

For the first time in a while, I actually got my stove out to make breakfast this morning. I always love the idea of a hot breakfast, but in reality I feel like I either don’t have time or it’s raining and I’m not in the mood.

We got all packed up and started moving...straight up. The hike wasn’t awful but it was hard enough, especially after my first 20+ mile day yesterday.

Light Saber (Raymond) was killing it keeping a good pace. Oh yeah, last night Raymond got a trail name within like 3 hours of being on the trail. They were joking about how heavy his pack was and all the crap he had in it. Then he proceeds to pull out a full sized light saber and that’s where he got his name. I also taught him that, especially now, we lighten our load by not carrying 4L of water at once. I’m determined to turn his Boy Scout hiking mode into AT hiking mode even if it’s just for the week.

As we were climbing up this hill nearing Max Patch, a guy walked by with his two dogs and told us that there was trail magic in a couple miles at the road crossing. I had never had someone tell me about trail magic beforehand before so I got super excited. The sad thing was, there wasn’t anything. I have no idea what he was talking about because, between us and the other hikers he told, none of us saw anything.

We kept pushing through the rest of that first part of the hike because we just wanted to get to Max Patch for lunch. By the time we got there it was about 2:30, but it was oh so worth it. The view was gorgeous and such a great lunch spot as long as you are okay with the wind trying to blow things everywhere. There was a whole raft of hikers sitting on top of the bald, many reconsidering camping on top for the night due to the wind.

After a nice break, we headed out to knock out the last few miles. The first 5 was so easy with everything being downhill or flat. The last couple weren’t awful but I was feeling it after the miles I’d put in the past couple days.

Finally at the shelter, I was ready to set up camp and chill. I ran down to the spring to grab water so Light Saber could get dinner ready. Tonight was pretty low key. I think everyone was tired after the last couple days. Tomorrow we only have to hike 10 miles so I’m not worrying about getting up early because we can bust that out quick.