My Trails

9/11/12 – 1996 miles
We had planned on four days to get to Stratton but a rough day getting over Bemis Mountain put us behind on our planned schedule. We ended up camping near ME17 the first night, Piazza Pond Lean-to the second night, and by Orbeton Stream on the third. All of us were low on food, especially me, leaving the prospect of rationing what I had to stretch for one more day, or finding a way to get to town early. Kleenex noticed there was a gravel road ten miles before the main road into Stratton and X called Susan to make arrangements for an early pickup.

Today we slackpacked the rest of the miles we missed and are back in Stratton at the motel. I was thinking today of the transition we will have to make when we get back to normal society. It is common for us to blow snot-rockets, belch, pass gas in mixed company, and cough up lugies anytime we want. The girls still walk out of site to pee but us guys will stop on the trail and tell the girls to keep walking. A couple of times I’ve come upon a girl with her pants down and I have been caught by females coming up the trail. It’s all part of the life we live in the woods, quite different from the accepted norm, and something we have gotten use to.

The next stop will be Caratunk and then Monson(I love saying those names). Tomorrow we go over Bigelow Mountain and them the terrain should get easier. We are really getting into the wilderness of Maine, with few towns and roads, and of course poor cell signal.

9/8/12 – 1966 miles
We are just .2 miles from having 90% of the trail done. In a few days we will hit 2000 miles. That’s a long way on foot. My knee hurts a little every day but it will take a lot of pain at this point to stop me.

We set out yesterday from Andover, early in the morning with heavy packs. No one has been sleeping well so the continuous climbs had everyone tired and sapped of energy. We had planned on hiking 15 miles, but when we arrived at a campsite at 12, everyone was ready to stop for the night. I think we were all in our tents by 7:30 and asleep shortly after that.

I was the last one to wake up – which is unusual – and everyone finally began a day feeling rested. The trail was more gentle today, even though filled with the ever present rocks, roots, and bogs, the terrain was more level. We made it 15 miles to the Piazza Rock Lean-to where I am camped for the night.

I hiked for a while today with some people I’ve seen recently and some I have not seen in a long time. Blue Sky, Nooga, Johnny Walker Red, and I walked out ahead of the foursome I’m in and enjoyed catching up on trail gossip.

To see many more pictures and detail of my hike with the Troverts go to http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=12940

9/6/12 – 1937 miles
Only ten more miles today. The roads are few and far between up here in Maine so it is tricky to pick up sections that cover descent mileage. This will be the last day to slackpack for awhile, our trail angel has to go back home. Tomorrow we will put on full packs and set out for Stratton, ME.

It seems like the trail today was extraordinarily rooty. We have to be extra careful not to step on slanted roots, especially after a rain. You can fall so quickly you will still be smiling when you hit the ground. The other day I slipped on a root and bent my leg back under me as I went down. It was sore this morning but limbered up quickly.

Maine has several rivers that you have to ford. Just as we were getting to the road we came to a swollen stream that I could have rock-hopped across but decided to wade for the sake of cleaning my feet. When I got to the other side, I noticed what I thought were pine needles all over my foot. They were leeches! It took me forever to get them all off. They were even sticking to my crocs. Yuck!

9/5/12 – 1927 miles
We are still slack packing the AT over the mountains near Andover, ME. Today started out with light rain but we decided to take a chance and head out anyway. It wasn’t long before the rain turned into a mist and the sky began to brighten. The trail was still soggy in some places and we all ended up with wet shoes by afternoon.

It was a little tricky climbing Bald Pate Mountain. There was a solid rock face on top above treeline that left us crawling and scrambling over a wet surface to reach the summit. Normally, there would be great views in all directions, but all we could see was the swirling mass of mist left over from Issac.

We will slack pack again tomorrow. The Trovert’s friend Sue is a real angel taking us to the trail each morning and picking us up each afternoon. Not only does she shuttle us to and from the trail, she drives us to restaurants and grocery stores. It sure makes the planning a lot easier.

9/4/12 – 1917 miles
Mahoosuc Arm was not as bad as I thought it would be. The SOBOs said it was very treacherous, and I agree that coming down would be the worst way to do it, but the climb up was not anything harder than any other mountain in Maine.

Tonight we are at Pine Ellis, a hostel in A
ndover, ME. Remnants of Hurricane Issac are headed this way so we may take a zero tomorrow. The Trovert’s friend Susan met us at the trail and took us to the hostel where we cleaned up and then went out to eat. The waitress was shocked at how much we ate. She brought a whole loaf of bread which we devoured before our meals, and then ordered more bread after we ate our meals, and then we ordered big deserts.

If it is not raining in the morning, Susan will slackpack us over the next section. We will keep an eye on the weather. There are several fords we have to make in Maine and the streams can get high and dangerous after heavy rain.