You Are Here: Mack, Anna & Shannon

The thing with redlining is, you often have to repeat peaks multiple times to cover all the trails in that area. I'm not an ultra-endurance hiker who can do miles and miles all in one go.. so multiple trips it is. Today I set out for 2 more trail completions towards my redlining patch. I had anticipated around 8 miles. Ended up being 9, which was fine.. but the journey was one of self doubt and a mental struggle to "just keep swimming". I parked at Hidden Valley Scout Camp which is a beautiful area in which the Scout administration allows hikers to utilize the area to access the trails. I knew there was roughly a 0.5 mile hike to reach the trailhead and I set out enjoying the scenery of Lake Eileen and the camp itself. I reached a fork and contemplated which way to go, while watching my Suunto expecting the trailhead at any moment. When it didn't arrive I kept thinking "just a little more, must be just up here".. when it still didn't arrive, I stopped, pulled out the map and tried to figure out where I had gone wrong. I had previously seen some blazes, so knew I had been on the right track.. I spotted a worker and asked him, but he had no clue, so I backtracked to find where the blazes had stopped.. and sure enough (and thankfully only 0.3 miles... which was 0.6 miles once I backtracked) I found the last blaze and there was the trailhead sign. Whoops! I had read it was well-marked, (which it is), but I was anticipating a larger sign I think and just waltzed right past this one the first time. So I headed off down the trail. During my pre-hike research, I had read the Mack Ridge Trail was better to ascend as there were some areas of steep rock to scramble up. I was grateful to have this knowledge as it certainly was a little steep in places, but nowhere near as bad as I had mentally prepared for. The Mack Ridge trail covers a variety of terrain from the rock scramble, to woods, to ledge.. the lower half is much "cleaner", I found the top half rather overgrown and messy. Easy to follow though. The worst part today were the bugs. I cannot express how awful the bugs were. I had sprayed bug spray, but stopped to reapply about 2 miles in. Just awful. There were some areas near the top where the breeze picked up slightly and kept them at bay, but overall it was just a buggy nightmare. I reached the intersection with the Round Pond-Mack Trail, which the boys and I hiked 2 weeks ago, this time staying on the Orange trail and finishing the 0.3 miles to the little campsite area we had lunched at previously. Thankfully this area was not so buggy (which made no sense as it's by the pond) and I stopped for my sandwich. Heading down to the pond I spotted my first snake of the year and as always jumped a mile and screamed. I hate snakes. Hate, hate, hate. Saw another one (or perhaps the same one) slither into the pond itself and swim away. So, I quickly packed myself up and headed back on the trail saying a small prayer that would be it in the reptile department for the day (it was.. Amen). Instead of backtracking the way I came, I made a little lollipop loop around the Red trail and Red/Orange trail and made my way up to Mt Mack. Even though I was just there 2 weeks ago, I snapped another quick summit picture and kept moving towards Mt Anna. This is where I started to really fatigue. I had to start really talking myself into taking each step. I am not sure what it was.. it was the first warm day of the season, and although I didn't feel hot, I don't know if that affected me. I had plenty of water and didn't make the same mistake I did last year on my Pemi attempt.. I drank even when I didn't feel thirsty. I had some orange energy chews, so I had a few of those and felt a little better. Made it over to Anna, took a quick summit picture and headed down my 2nd new trail of the day.. the Anna-Old Stage Road Trail. This started out a lovely hike with some pretty ledge views but quickly turned rather steep, made a little hairy by all the dry leaves on the trail. This slowed me right down. I'm always hesitant hiking in dry leaves. I slipped quite a few times and fell once when stepping on a patch of mud. It always seems to happen in slow motion too, as soon as I plant my foot my mind realizes what is happening and I see it all go down. No injuries and I was up and continuing. This trail is not as well used and was a little overgrown in places too. I became more tired and was just ready to be back at the car, but my plan was to ascend one more peak. I contemplated not doing this, but stuck it out with Plan A and once at Old Stage Road, continued on the Blue Trail heading for Mt Shannon. This trail was mostly flat with some up and down, which in my tired state just felt like forever. I fell again on some loose dry dirt this time and banged my elbow. I was mentally done by now. By the time I reached the final ascent to Mt Shannon, it was all I could do to keep going. I've hiked further distances and greater elevations, but it's always the mental challenge that gets me. I "felt" OK physically, I kept saying to myself "your legs don't hurt, you can't feel any blisters, suck it up buttercup".. I finished the last of my orange energy chews and slowly ascended what was probably 0.3-0.5 miles at most up to Mt Shannon. At the top were some really pretty, unexpected views back over the Scout Camp and Lake Eileen and a couple other smaller lakes I don't know the name of. A really, pretty spot. I often find these smaller, less known and less traveled peaks are just waiting for someone to find them so they can say "look at me, I'm beautiful too"! It was really buggy on Mt Shannon unfortunately, so I didn't linger. I could actually see my car from this summit, so my mojo was somewhat restored and I headed on down. Back at the car, I was able to look back up at the Mt Shannon summit and reflect on the day. It may have taken me longer than I had anticipated, but I did it. Body beat out mind. Now I just need to find some better bug spray and perhaps some bug resistant clothing... I am covered in black fly bites. I cannot believe how many I have, at least 2 dozen, and I didn't feel them biting me at all. Plus 2 ticks. The warm Winter and then long wait for Spring must have all these bugs just chomping at the bit to get their fill on us poor hikers!

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