It was a late night last night. To be clear it wasn’t a late night for me. I was in my hammock by 9pm. But it was a late night for some of the locals who decided our campsite was the perfect spot for a party. I knew we were in trouble when I heard them loudly say “oh look some tents!” Without breaking stride. They then set up not 25 yards away. But I didn’t expect them to be up til 2am. But that’s the way it goes sometimes when you sleep in not your house. 

When I eventually got out of the bed in the morning, i was not especially well rested. But I needed to get my energy up somehow. Within the first mile this morning, I was making a pit stop at my old summer camp! I shoveled cold oatmeal into my mouth and hoped that would do the trick. 

There wasn’t much question on where to go when I left the woods and hit the road. Directly across from the trail was a driveway and a big sign that said “Camp Mousilauke.” 

I walked down the road and was immediately transported to 15. Aside from the road I was currently walking on (which had apparently been moved in 2017), I recognized everything. It felt like walking into a time capsule. The same soccer fields, then baseball fields and basketball courts. The main office area hadn’t changed at all. The lake had a new dock but that was all I noticed. I could have navigated the place in my sleep. The biggest difference was the lack of campers. It was empty. 

But as I sat down on the front porch of the office, I heard a large cheer from up the hill and realized all the campers were at breakfast. I made myself at home, plugging in my charger to an outlet I saw outside and using the bathroom. I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to use indoor plumbing. 

Soon enough a flood of campers came running down the hill and within a few minutes all were at their morning activities. It was so funny to watch, know that 17 years ago I had done just that. That I too had tried to go to the activities I wanted to do (it was always wakeboarding) instead of where I was assigned. 

Once the campers were all in the places, the owners came over to chat. First Bill, a one time highly intimating man who was at least 6’8” when I was a camper but is now a much less scary 6 foot or so, and then Sabina. 

We had a lovely chat. Catching up on the camp, our lives and how much smaller everything is when you’re more than 15 years old. Their son was starting to take over the camp, they said. The changing of the guard. 

Suddenly Bill said, “wait a second. Did you know Benton McKay was a camper here in our first year?” Benton McKay is the designer and creator of the AT. Apparently in 1904, he too spent at least one summer sitting in the shadows of the white mountains and thinking about walking through them. 

I wanted to stay longer but as per normal, i had miles to get done. The AT, as I walked away from Camp Mousilauke, took me down memory lane of those summers years ago. Thinking about all the people I hadn’t seen since then and all the memories we had made together. 

Then the trail took me to Mount Mousilauke – the first 4,000 ft mountain since the south. Just as I was setting in to climbing mode, I saw a group of sticks on the side of the trail. “1800” wow! 1800 miles walked. Less than 400 to go! I wonder what 15 year old Jamie would say about that. 

The climb up Mt Mousilauke was tougher than expected. It was steep and rocky and all around challenging. I was constantly stopping and staring up, wondering when I would finally get to the top. I drank water I didn’t need and ate snacks when I wasn’t hungry just to give me excuses to stop. 

When I finally made it to the top, it was eerie. The tree line on the white mountains is pretty low, somewhere around 4000 or 4500 ft due to the weather being so terrible. What that means is that on top of the mountain, and as you get toward the top, the sounds of song birds stops and an absolute silence takes over. If you stop moving, there are no sounds. It’s just quiet. 

And to top it off today, there was still the smoke from the Canadian Forrest fires and a low hanging cloud. So there wasn’t much view, there was a cloud actively passing by at eye level and there was no noise. The only thing I saw besides mountain was an almost human sized raven that was perched up there. It broke the silence with a loud caw. 

It was too much. I hustled down. I half ran to camp. Running away from the raven and to beat the quickly receding day light. 

I ate quickly and climbed into my hammock, ready for a good nights sleep. 

Key stats:

Miles: 17

Elevation gained: 6300 ft

Mile marker: 1807

Years since I had last been at moosilauke: 17, almost to the day