Day 118: October 1st: A Family Reunited!
I woke up that morning knowing my trail-family was hitching up to Rangeley and would be meeting me that afternoon! Finally, after nine days on my own, I would have a stable group once more. Braveheart wasn't feeling well at all, but decided to get back on trail with Dixie in an attempt to stay "on schedule". (Everyone was feeling the tension to finish before October 15th).
I packed up my stuff, got my hair french-braided by Peach, read a book, and then was surprised to see Twister had unexpectedly appeared at the hostel! He was visiting a trail-friend (Foxfeet) who had been doing an extended work-for-stay at The Farmhouse, and he informed me that the group was getting food in town.
The plan was for me to meet Sunshine, Ambush and Breeze at the trail-head, so I hopped in The Farmhouse shuttle. On the way, we (luckily) took a detour into town - where I saw Breeze and Ambush lounging like hobos outside of the supermarket! We drove up close and told them to get in. Sunshine was still inside - so I went to find/surprise her! So excited to see them all again.
We went back The Farmhouse so that everyone could organize their food/check it out. Of course they took advantage of foot massagers and we relished in the company of the hostel staff.
The kitchen where I ate real food and loved it.
I had slept on the top bunk!
(Dixie was my bunk-mate)
Twister stayed at The Farmhouse that night to spend time with his friend while the rest of us got back on trail around 5pm, where we proceeded to make camp after about .3 miles. I don't exactly remember why we didn't go to the first shelter, but it was nice to have camp set up before night-fall. We made a fire (which insisted on blowing smoke in our eyes no matter where we situated ourselves around it), I made some burnt garlic bread from my leftover perishable foods, warmed up some rocks, and went to sleep!
Shelter: Camping by Sandy River Footbridge
Miles today: 0.3
Total miles: 1004.1
Miles from Springer:1965.2
Miles to Katahdin: 220.1
Day 119: October 2nd: Caves and Cribbage Boards
The morning hike started off really gradually and I was pleasantly walking along with Sunshine when we saw Braveheart approaching us from the north looking extremely sick. Despite having left town the previous morning, she was only able to make it to the first shelter (less than 2 miles). Despite having extreme stomach symptoms, she was having a hard time coping with the thought of turning around. Due to it being so late in the season, she would be foreced to take a few days off and yellow-blaze up the trail a bit (rather than having the option to wait it out). The past few days had been full of discussions in regards to what a true "thru-hiker" is - and this yellow-blazing would technically "disqualify" her from it - but FUCK THAT. There's a difference between people who constantly hitch from town to town in order to party and do drugs (and then still have the audacity to claim they thru-hiked) and those who make an honest attempt to hike the entire thing but choose to put their health and safety first. Considering the fact that she couldn't even keep water down, I told her she had absolutely not choice but to go back to town and seek medical attention. The next road-crossing north was in 30 miles - she was so weak she couldn't even walk 2. I tried to cheer her up a bit, and sent her on her way. It turns out she had Giardia (an intestinal infection caused by contaminated water).
The first shelter we came to had a caretaker (but no fee), caves and the giant over-hanging rock, and a privy with two seats and a cribbage board. Not that I even know how to play cribbage...
Lol
The notorious cribbage board.
"The AT is all about sharing experiences with others. So grab the closest hiker and head to the privy. You can even hold hands!"
"This is where me and my boyfriend come to make out. PS I'm a boy!"
You never know what you'll find in these log-books..
The Trail Devil at it again.
"Life is like a box of chocolates, it always contains the same thing good or bad and if you do a little reading and some critical thinking you can figure out most, if not all, of what you're going to get"
"Writing with a pencil almost makes me feel 12 again."
I AGREE. I HATE PENCILS
Typical conversational questions from Muggles (AKA non-thru-hikers).
The view from ontop of the giant over-hanging rock.
(Feat. Sunshine)
After resting for a minute or so at the shelter, we decided to explore the caves - sorry I dont have any pictures! I put my phone down on a rock before I entered the caves so I wouldn't drop/crack it.
Random waterfalls.
We stopped for snacks at Eddy Pond - which had a canoe! If only we had time to spare.
And then up we went - over the Saddleback range!
I fell behind my group - but got sweet views to keep me company.
This is where I got 4G service and found out Appalachian Trials had re-posted my "1000 miles" instagram pic.
I'm basically internet famous.
(I really liked the painted AT and arrow)
When I got to the summit, my friends were waiting for me! Even though it was extremely windy and cold. THANKS GUYS!
French braids are never as good the second day.
But climbing 2500 feet to elevations of 4000+ makes my braids kind of irrelevant.
FALL! LAKES! MAINE!
The trail lead us down into a little valley, and then right back up again to The Horn.
Ugh I love clear, concise, directions.
We made it to Poplar Ridge Lean-To and decided to get a fire going after setting up in the shelter. Mongoose, Ryan/Boston, Little Lady, and Cash joined us that night - but Twister still hadn't arrived yet. Poplar Ridge Lean-To is really awesome due to the binder full of information that was provided. The main caretaker had helped build the shelter in the 60s and looks through the log-books every season so that he can create an "FAQ" binder for the next season. I wish I took pictures of it - BUT MY PHONE STARTED BREAKING THAT NIGHT. It was probably due to the cold (because once I heated it back up with my body heat it turned back on), but after that my phone started malfunctioning pretty regularly.
Shelter: Poplar Ridge Lean-To
Miles today: 10.4
Total miles: 1014.5
Miles from Springer: 1975.6
Miles to Katahdin: 209.7
Day 120: October 3rd: The Secret Garden.
One thing about me and Sunshine: we both love The Secret Garden and A Little Princess (both the books and the movies) - we talked about them quite often. One of our favorite things was stopping at a particularly magical/perfect spot and stating "this looks exactly like the secret garden". This happened the most on the 3rd - it really made us appreciate being on trail in October and having the opportunity to experience Autumn up close.
I mean just look at these perfect stepping stones framed with perfectly fallen colored leaves!
SO HAPPY!
Leaves and rivers - two of my favorite things!
That morning, Sunshine, Breeze and I got "lost" on a logging road. In actuality - we missed a blaze that would've lead us up a hill and instead walked down a flat road-bed (that fit all three of us across!) while saying "I really don't think this is the trail, but its just so pleasant that I want to walk for another few minutes and just pretend that it is..."
We eventually turned around and found the right path. Boo.
Stopped at Spaulding Mountain Lean-To, where Guru had saw a baby moose a month or so prior!
Tunez was apparently still sleeping in his tent when the moose made his appearance.
I don't know who this person is, but I like their drawings.
Pesky squirrels like to steal things, apparently.
A bit later we stumbled upon a plaque that celebrated the fact that this section of trail was the last to be completed - it was here that the trail finally came together to fully connect Georgia to Maine.
Thanks Maine!
Sunsets... Uh oh. Looks like night-hiking is in our immediate future...
Sometimes Sunshine looks like Toad from Mario in her hat.
Toad is pretty awesome - so is Sunshine.
Braids on day 3. Oh, and the view from Sugarloaf.
(Though, we opted out of taking the 0.6 blue blaze to the summit.)
Even though it was getting dark, it was okay because I wasn't alone. Though, my headlamp was pretty pathetic due to my dying batteries. Luckily, we found Breeze and Twister waiting for us at the top of a rock-pile. Unfortunately, Breeze slipped and mangled his hand pretty badly - and I kept tripping due to my shoes. This wasn't really a section of trail where you wanted to slip/trip. We're lucky we didn't fall down a bunch of boulders...
At one point, I asked Sunshine to shut off her headlamp so I could see what I would've been working with if I was alone. YIKES. It went from "oh, night-hiking isn't so bad" to "wow, this is terrifying, I can barely see the ground/3 feet in front of me". Thank goodness for friends, right? And new batteries that were in the bottom of my pack.
We came upon a river - the first big river we would need to ford, actually. Fording rivers in the pitch-black is an interesting experience. The water was pretty cold, but we knew that our campsite/Ambush was directly on the other side - so I just walked right across with my hiking shoes (I haven't had camp shoes since I got back on trail). We weren't in the best of moods, but Ambush fixed up the fire for us once we arrived (he had been there for a few hours), and we all ate/dried our stuff and headed to bed relatively happy.
Shelter: Camping past South Branch Carrabassett River
Miles today: 13.1
Total miles: 1027.6
Miles from Springer: 1988.7
Miles to Katahdin: 196.6
Day 121: October 4th:"The Gang Reaches 2000 Miles"
I woke up and immediately went back to the river crossing to take pictures - ugh, they don't do it justice AT ALL.
Just try to imagine being completely surrounded by all the changing leaves.
Its times like these that I wish I had my DSLR camera.
Oh well, smudgy Galaxy S4 cameras will have to do.
The morning started off with a really big up-hill. My shoes kept getting caught due to a rip in the top of my toe-box which would cause me to completely face-plant due to my momentum- and the fact that I was carrying a 30+ lb pack. My knees were just bruises on top of bruises - and I ended up smashing my finger on a bunch of rocks (and my poles almost impaled me due to the awkward angle in which I fell). The swelling wasn't too bad, but I couldn't fully straighten it - so I was thankful for all the ice-chunks I found ontop of South Crocker Mountain. The trail always provides!
Anyway, my friends waited for me to catch up ontop of North Crocker Mountain. God, I'm so slow.
And then we stumbled upon the 2000 mile marker! Unfortunately, I don't deserve to take my photo with the 2000 mile marker just yet. But we attempted a group-photo with a selfie-stick that needed to be taken multiple times. I have yet to see the likes of that photo. But it exists. I swear.
SoOoOo fancy.
Twister is beat.
This photo-shoot included various jumping attempts, and an "American gothic" tribute.
So, as you probably already know, I absolutely love staying in hostels. And since the group plan was to camp less than 2 miles out of town, I decided that I was going to stay at the Stratton Motel Hostel for $25, and just get up really early to make up those 2 miles and catch up with the group (hopefully).
"Inchworm" was a 2013 female hiker who disappeared in this area.
When I passed through this spot, her whereabouts were still unknown,
Since I've gotten off trail, her remains were found.
Theres a little shrine dedicated to her right below this sign.
When we got to the road, we found a section-hiker who was waiting for a ride from the Stratton Motel shuttle (score!). We decided to ask for a ride into town as well (especially since I was planning to stay there anyway), and ended up meeting the owner, Shane (who also owns The Farmhouse). Before we were even in the truck, he offered to let the 5 of us share a motel room for $60 - which came out to $12 each. Of course my group was all for it. Shane explained that the temperature was expected to drop significantly and he just wanted to ensure that as many people slept inside as possible.
So we checked into the motel (it was pretty nice), and head over to the Wolf Den Bar to get some food.
"I conquered the Wolf Burger" - or something.
Yes, I'm still eating meat.
That night, Jurassic Park was on TV - my friends yelled at me to get off my phone and watch it, since I had never seen it before. I figured it would end at 10pm, but then it just continued! - so I'll admit, I didn't really watch the end of it. Yay for sleeping in a bed and having clean sheets!
Shelter: Stratton Motel ($60 for 5 of us)
Miles today: 8.4
Total miles: 1036
Miles from Springer: 1997.1
Miles to Katahdin: 188.2
Day 122: October 5th: Interviews and Hiking the Bigelows!
Because the grocery store had closed really early the previous evening, we needed to resupply in the morning, which took us quite some time - I ended up buying a pound of raw cookie dough for some reason. And fruity pebbles and milk.
The maid eventually kicked us out of the room (but I gave it an initial cleaning because Shane had given us such a deal), and we went to the general store to get some brunch/scope out souvenirs. I didn't realize how close we were to Canada until I saw the border police at the checkout counter.
These sculptures were outside the motel - 3 bears in total!
Suns out, tongues out.
Sunshine and I had been obsessed with "fall" things while we were out on trail -
so I insisted on taking a picture with the pumpkin set-up.
As previously stated, Mainer's accents are kinda like Boston accents - r's at the end of words don't exist much.
"Where the heck is Stratton, Maine?!"
Not gonna lie, I was a bit frustrated with how long it took for us to leave town, but I think I successfully held my tongue and "patiently" waited for the group to collect themselves. We headed back to the motel to see if Shane could give us a ride back to the trail, but he was gone, so we stuck our thumbs out.
Two dapper, smelly gentlemen.
Who wouldn't want the privilege of picking them up?
While looking for a hitch, a car pulled up in the parking lot - a lady came out and explained that she was a reporter for the local paper "The Irregular" and wanted to ask us a question. "What inspired you to hike the AT?". We had to boil it down to one or two sentences on the spot! She then took really really close-up photos of our faces and was on her way.
I had heard that the Bigelows were like a "mini Franconia", so I was extremely excited for the day.
Sometimes you get clusters of red/pink leaves.
I loved the leaves that were so dark red, they were almost black.
Such a picturesque place.
This bridge is Dick Browns.
Everywhere.
Sunshines pack was the lightest thing I've ever lifted.
Because the trail changes each year, so does the 2000-mile marker.
There were at least 4 different signs.
Horns Pond? Maybe? Maybe just an anonymous pond?
I made it up to Horns Pond Lean-Tos - notice the s. There were two!
Found at the tenting platforms
"This is not a trash receptacle.... Use these to keep your food from the persistent and capable red squirrels..."
HAHAHAHA
"Slept in the shelter near a snoring bear. Oh wait. That was Ryan!"
Maine had a ton of stone steps - I can only imagine how much work went into these.
Thank you MATC!
Dead things.
The southern peak of the Bigelows!
Its true that the Bigelows are like a mini Franconia in the fact that its an exposed ridgeline and you get to see the trail/peaks you are about to climb. Definitely nice to get above tree-line!
selfie.
I loved this really flat cloud. Oh, and the sunset as well.
The sky was so ridiculously pink.
WHY DOESN'T THE PINKNESS COME ACROSS!
It was beautiful.
It started to get dark, so I came upon a campsite and sat down to eat sour patch kids and wait for Sunshine and Breeze to catch up. We debated staying at this campsite so we could do Avery Peak at sunrise, but ultimately decided to continue on to where Twister and Ambush would be. Night-hiking a ridgeline is pretty sweet (considering it was really nice weather), and we saw the most adorable little owl!
Shelter: Safford Notch Campsite
Miles today: 10.4
Total miles: 1046.4
Miles from Springer: 2007.5
Miles to Katahdin: 177.8
Day 123: October 6th:"You'll Never Make It"
I'll admit, it was around 11am when we made it to Little Bigelow Lean-To and still had 17.7 miles to got to Pierce Pond Lean-To. The Kennebec River, which is 3 miles past Pierce Pond, is too wide and dangerous to be forded. Because of this, the MATC (maybe?) provide a free canoe service between 9am-11am (in the peak of the season, theres an afternoon ferry as well, but at this point we only had the morning option). Because we didn't have an extra day to "lose", we needed to make the ferry the next morning.
While at Little Bigelow Lean-To, we encountered a man who was extremely discouraging. We were just making small talk, discussing where we intended on going that night - and he said we wouldn't be able to make it! I assured him - we had no choice but to make it there that night, we fully intended on night-hiking, we were perfectly capable of physically hiking another 17miles, etc etc. I could sense that Sunshine was furious, but I was determined to keep my composure - I was frustrated, but I wasn't offended. As much as I defended our plan, he just would not quit it. Dude, shut up.
"Maybelline ate a ton of raw cookie dough here (even though the package told me not to...)"
Sunshine annoyed at rude-man.
"Is 9:15am too early for second breakfast?" - Sensodyne.
This shelter was home to "The Tubs" - a series of river pools.
East Flagstaff Road.
Lil snakes!
Not too many snakes these days.
I walked alone until I got to East Flagstaff Lake - which had an absolutely breath-taking beach. Again, a bit of resentment - at the fact that we had no choice but to continue hiking that night. I wanted to sleep there.
Seriously Maine? Must you be so beautiful when I'm in such a hurry?
Perfection.
Found at Long Falls Dam Road - which was mile 2016.6 as of 2014.
PERFECT PUPPY PRINTS!
We made it to West Carry Pond Lean-To around 4:30ish and decided to make a hot dinner, knowing we wouldn't want to make food once we arrived at camp that evening. We found a flip-flopper named Romeo, who was a bit odd. Sunshine and I got a laugh out of the ridiculous things he said.
Warren Doyle explaining that you can, in fact, ford the Kennebec river.
Many hikers called him out - even though some hikers do successfully ford this river, a handful of hikers have drowned in their attempt.
"Don't Hike Hungover"- Says No One
So we hiked and hiked and passed a ton of beautiful beaches and kept hiking and kept hiking. We played a lot of 20 questions and the category game to pass the time. My shoe tripped me so many times that Breeze asked if I was drunk. They had become a safety hazard at this point.
Eventually we came upon a hiker cowboy camping - though his face was completely covered, we recognized Twisters belongings and decided to wake him up so he could continue with us. We had maybe a mile or 2 to go, which was a relief - but the next few miles were completely bogged out. Yuck. Luckily it was flat.
We made it to Pierce Pond Lean-To around 11pm and immediately set up camp without even looking in the shelter to see if there was room. We assumed it would be full, but we found out in the morning that it was just Ambush.
Shelter: Pierce Pond Lean-To
Miles today: 22.6
Total miles: 1069.0
Miles from Springer: 2030.1
Miles to Katahdin: 155.2
Day 124: October 7th: Skipping to Monson.
I woke up and decided I wanted to skip ahead to Monson. The next section was pretty flat, I didn't think I'd be missing too much, and I just felt like taking a day or two off. 
Some bridges are sketchier than others.
The Kennebec River! No way I was fording that...
Rumor has it theres a hydro-plant that releases water at random times.
Totally forgot to take a canoe-selfie until the last possible moment.
After crossing the Kennebec, I found myself walking through the teeny, tiny ghost town of Caratunk, ME to find the free town phone - from here, I called The Sterling Inn and had them come pick me up. I debated staying there for the night and shuttling to Monson the next morning, but it turned out to be a better deal to just shuttle to Monson right then. I called Shaws to come get me - it was expensive, no doubt, but worth it.
As I was waiting for my shuttle to arrive, the group walked up to the hotel.
As happy as I was to be back on trail, I was having a
very difficult time emotionally. I knew that when I got home I needed to
figure out my life game-plan, and I felt extremely lost. I sensed that my anxiety was affecting the rest of
my group, but it didn't fully get through to me until Sunshine
called me out on it. She asked why I was even out here anymore - it was
obvious I was unhappy. I was making such unrealistic daily goals for us
(in my defense, I made a schedule based on the fact that, at this point,
the group wanted to summit on or before October 15th), and then kept
skipping sections and leaving the rest of them to hike all those miles.
I'd like to think I take criticism fairly well - I knew I needed to hear
it from someone else, despite having told myself all of this
previously. In all honesty, that conversation with Sunshine really
forced me to change my entire outlook on the trail - and I'm very
grateful for that. From that moment forward, I was relatively relaxed. Thank god.
Shaw's turned out to be one of my favorite hostels.
The Shuttle guy picked me up (at mile 2034.1) and drove me up to Monson, ME (mile 2070.8), where I checked into Shaws Hostel (after skipping 36 miles of trail). They gave me a private room for the bunk-room rate, which was pretty sweet of them. I ran into some hikers from my past - like Twigs and Disconnect - but they were leaving that night. Baltimore Jack was also sitting around the picnic benches. I met Tiny Elf and Big Bear - who would be spending the next few days with me.
"What a crazy, beautiful trip. Heres to the 100 miles" - GooRoo
That night, I read my book, watched "Wrong Turn" (which was so so bad), and took a serious look at why I was still out on trail.
OH MY GOD MISS JANET SHOWED UP!
Shelter: Shaw's Hostel ($25 - private room)
Miles today: 4.0
Total miles: 1073.0
Miles from Springer: 2070.8
Miles to Katahdin: 114.5
Day 125: October 8th: Best Friends For a Day.
So. My phone was really really messed up at this point, hence why I don't have any photos for the next two days. I spent the day with Tiny Elf - we went to the Lakeshore House Pub for food (where tits gave me half his steak quesadilla - Score!) and we ran into Peaceful Warrior (I have met him at Trail Days), and Pan. They wanted to go out on the lake but it was freezing and I had a warm bed to attend to...
Woah.
The entire town of Monson can be walked in about 10 minutes. Tiny Elf and I went to the post-office a ton of times (she was waiting on a package), walked to the gas station, and hung around the thrift-store where I bought a scarf and a ton of books (which I donated to Shaws). At the thrift-store, I ran into Sonny - a flip-flopper who stopped hiking in Monson and decided to stay there for some undetermined amount of time...
I had thought that maybe my friends would have arrived that night, but I knew the realistically, they would find their way to Monson sometime the next day.
Shelter: Shaw's Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Total miles: 1073.0
Miles from Springer: 2070.8
Miles to Katahdin: 114.5
Day 126: October 9th: No Regrets.
I woke up to a freezing rain - seriously, a downpour. I was happy to be indoors, but I kept thinking of my friends. Luckily, they were getting rained on on a day that they would arrive in town, where they would find a hot shower. They showed up that afternoon, completely soaked to the bone and beginning to show mild hypothermia symptoms. They all immediately jumped in various showers and got their body temperatures up. Though I felt a bit guilty having skipped the previous section, I would soon find out that I missed nothing and it was a shitty, cold, unhappy section of trail. I do not regret hopping up to Monson in the slightest. I really enjoyed my zero days at Shaws and have every intention of going back during warmer months and making up the portions of trail I decided not to hike this time around.
That afternoon, I took them on a tour of Monson (where twister was reunited with Pan - they had hiked together for a really long time down south). Everyone caught up that day - Dixie, Rebel Yell, Ryan/Boston, Little Lady, Cash, etc.
And so I went to bed that night, knowing that I would be back on trail sometime the next day - to finally start the 100-mile wilderness! Monson would most-likely be our last town-stop before we climbed Katahdin! Less than a week to go...
Shelter: Shaw's Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Total miles: 1073.0
Miles from Springer: 2070.8
Miles to Katahdin: 114.5
