On the 10th we hiked 16.5 miles to Baldpate Lean-To across some of the hardest terrain we have seen. The Mahoosuc Notch and Arm are well talked about as being very tough. The notch is a large bolder field were you have to climb, hop, and squeeze under huge rocks. This was fun for about 40 minutes and then became very strenuous. We made it through the 1.1 mile notch in about one hour and 40 minutes. The arm is a straight up 1600 feet in 1.4 miles not an easy task. However what killed me was the constant short steep ups and short steep downs for the 8 miles before the Mahoosucs.
The next day was a little bit easier but was no cake walk. We went over four more mountain with a fair amount of steep climbing. We ended the day 18 miles in at a campsite right next to South Arm Road. When Redwood got off the trail he kept the tent we were sharing and I took an old rain fly from Chet's place (as a make shift shelter). However we knew it was going to rain and Grad School is caring a 1.5 person tent so we squeezed in together. It made for a hot, humid, and very smelly night.
Starting on the 12th we wanted to put in some more big days to get to Caratuck, ME by the 16th and give us plenty of time to finish Maine. We ended up doing 21.6 miles to Little Swift River Pond Campsite to set up an in and out of Rangeley. This was the first day in Maine that did not kill me physically. The last several miles we could actually hike and move at a decent pace. This night I actually set up the "trap" and it kept me dry when it rained for 15 minutes in the middle of the night. However it did not keep the bugs out.
The next morning we got moving fairly early because we were heading to town (Rangeley, ME). With a quick hitch we made it to the post office, then hit a dinner, and then raided the grocery store. With another quick hitch we were back on the trail in just over 3 hours and climbing up Saddleback Mountain. Crossed over The Horn and then Saddleback Junior and then found a place to camp on a logging road part way up Lone Mountain. We covered 20.2 miles.
The next day seemed a bit unlike other parts of the AT because we climbed up the sides of several mountains but never went directly over the top. The hardest, steepest, and longest of them came at the end of the day to Horns Pond Lean-Tos where we spent the night. Total milage for the day was 22 miles. Another odd thing about this day and the past several days was the large number of kids groups out hiking the trail. I guess Maine on the AT is the place to be in the summer.
On Friday we needed to do as many miles as possible so on Saturday we could get to the post office in Caratuck before 11:30am. In the morning we still had 10 miles of mountains before the terrain flattened out like a pancake. After leaving early we were able to make it to the third shelter Pierce Pond Lean-To, 27.5 miles away. My feet were hurting but it felt good doing a huge day (my biggest I think) and still got in before any of the previous days.
This left a short 4 mile down hill walk to town. In that stretch, we had what is known as the most dangerous stream crossing on the trail. Upstream is a hydroelectric dam making the large fast moving Kennebec river's current even move unpredictable. The ATC has a person ferry hikers across by canoe. When we got to the post office I found out that my packages were not there. In most towns not a huge problem but Caratunk is not most towns. There is nothing but houses, the post office, and a restaurant/bar two miles away. I only had snacks left and need food to get to Monson, ME which is two days away. I was lucky because a section hiker was ending his trip and had leftovers that he gave me. Also the hiker box at the post office had enough to get me to Monson. We hitched to the restaurant/bar to get burgers and hitched back. That afternoon we climbed over Pleasant Pond Mountain to Bald Mountain Brook Lean-To finishing the day a 18.7 miles.
The 17th was our first of several lazy days to come. We left the shelter late (9:30am) climbed to the top of Moxie Bald Mountain and then the rest of the day was down hill. And I mean down hill. We planned to only go 13 miles to Horseshoe Canyon Lean-To and that's all we did. We got there around 4pm and relaxed the rest of the day. At some point over the last few day my feet have started hurting more then normal (blisters on the inside of both heels) and it was nice to be horizontal in a shelter by the middle of the afternoon.
The morning of the 19th we moved quickly over fairly easy terrain to make it to the post office in Monson. My boxes from Caratuck were to be forward to Monson and arrive on Tuesday morning, so we modified our plans to stay the night in town. Monson is a small town but is a haven for hikers both heading north and those coming south. When we leave here, it starts the 100 Mile Wilderness. It is a long stretch of untouched land with many lakes and ponds with little to no signs of human influences. For north bounders, this means the last resupply, laundry, hot shower, town food before finishing. So it is nice to soak it in before heading off in the morning.
LEGO
No comments:
Post a Comment