Day 120 - Thursday, August 5, 2021

I have been having issues with my right eye the last several days where I was treating it with OTC drugs; it seemed to get better until Wednesday where it flared up again so I went to a local family practice where I was diagnosed with “trail eye” or more commonly known as conjunctivitis 🤢🤧. That was the easy part - as the nearest pharmacy was 50 miles away 😲 so I spent the remainder of the morning driving to pick up my prescription. Not like back in New York where you can find a CVS On every other corner 🙄.  Needless to say this turned the day into a “Zero” 🤭. 

You’ve been hearing how restaurants and the service industry in general are having difficulty with maintaining staff due to extended unemployment benefits which results in some making more staying home in lieu of returning back to work. This is definitely the case in the restaurant business where they are so under staffed where they aren’t open every day or have to suspend seating during the lunch/dinner hours just to clean tables 🤔. This happened to us yesterday where there was a 45 minute wait and the restaurant was only at 50% capacity… so we had ice cream for lunch instead 😉. Their loss, our gain 😂.

So here we are,  back on track. Today we are hiking continuing from South Arm Road (1946.3 NoBo) to ME 17 (1959.5 NoBo) equaling 13.2 miles.

We began hiking at 8:00 am under clear skies; temperature was 56°.

Mooselookmeguntic Lake.

AT /  Myron Avery Trail head monument at ME 17.

Summit of Bemis Mountain.

Wild blueberries make a great snack.

Views from Bemis Mountain.  

Bemis Mountain Lean-to. Shelters are called lean-to’s in New Hampshire & Maine. 

AT survey trail marker on Old Blue summit. 

USGS survey marker on Old Blue summit.

Turtle Power climbing down a steel railing and rungs grouted in the bedrock. 

Making my way down the steel rungs. 

ME 17 seen from Old Blue.

We finished hiking at 4:30 pm.  Skies were clear and the temperature was a warm 72°. 

If some of you have been keeping an eye on our hiking rate/mph, you may have noticed it has decreased a little over the past few weeks. Before we hit New Hampshire we were always averaging over 2-2.5 mph. Now we are under 2 mph and sometimes as low as 1 mph depending on the terrain - take Mahoousuc Notch for example. New Hampshire was probably the most difficult hiking we have encountered so far which attributed to our slower pace… but I think our weary bones may be getting a little tired as well 🥴.  We will keep chuggin along the best we can… 😉

Till next time... Happy Hiking  🥾 

😋

“Acts of generosity in this wild and primitive setting…where basic amenities…are intentionally absent–are often received in a heightened sense of wonder and gratitude by hikers. These acts of generosity are referred to as “trail magic.”

                  (Appalachian Trail Conservancy)