On August 17

Zero Day

I slept in today and when I woke up I went upstairs to use the computer but was unable to get on my blog or e-mail.  Bear cheerfully told me to help myself to anything I could find in the kitchen (leftover blueberry pancakes-yum!). Then Bear told me that last night a hiker named T-Bone came off the trail because he is really sick.

This year, it seems for the first time people can remember, there is a Norovirus, or some sort of stomach flu that the hikers are passing around.  The symptoms are one day of severe vomiting and diarrhea and another day or two of weakness. Because we sleep together in shelters on the trail or often ten people in a bunk room in town, we share privies or bathrooms, and on the trail we have limited access to hand-washing, this bug has been spreading North and South along the Trail Corridor.  Sobos are convinced that the Nobos started it and vice versa.  But at this point many people have been ill.  There have been so many reported cases that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has become involved, going to hostels to put up hand washing posters and going to shelters out on the trail  to put up warning posters.  Hikers are telling each other what shelters or towns to avoid for fear of the bug.  But we're hikers, we pick things up and we walk miles a day, so by now, about 3-5 weeks into this rash of people being sick there are cases being reported all over the corridor.  A complication seems to be that some cases are worse-I talked to two men whose symptoms lasted six days.  Many hikers do not have health insurance; many are between jobs and out here on a shoestring budget.  So far, I feel healthy.  I have been careful to wash my hands more and listen to what people say about where people are sick.  I figure, too, though I have no data for this, that hikers are a relatively strong, healthy subset of the population, so this bug must be strong also, right? No one really knows.  I call it the Hiker Plague.

Anyway, so Bear told me T-Bone came in last night with what appears to be The Hiker Plague. And this morning Honey is so sick she can't get out of bed. Bear told me that they would not be bringing in any new hikers until she feels better.  He asked if I could help out at the hostel-maybe do some laundry or clean the bunkroom or kitchen.  I said, sure, that sounds o.k.  I mean, I'm here all day, 3 miles from town.  What else am I gonna do, right?  Then he asked me what I wanted to cook for dinner.  I suggested that we all go into town to the Grill since it is Friday night.  Back downstairs I washed the dishes, washed about 3 loads of laundry, cleaned up and vacuumed the floor.  Then I took a nap.

When I woke up, Don, the son, was back from driving the shuttle.  He had been surprised that the place looked so nice and the other hikers told him I did it.  So he told me that I could have the first night as a 'work for stay'! Many of the hostels offer a 'work for stay' option.  Usually only one or two hikers per day can be accepted.  You talk to the owner and work (washing dishes, doing laundry, checking newly arrived hikers into the hostel, driving the shuttle) for about 2 hours or so, and then you stay for free that night.  It helps a lot of hikers on shoestring budgets make it farther down the trail and gives the hostel a healthy person to help for two hours that day.

Don had gone to the grocery store and purchased steaks for himself and the three hikers here today.  Don is growing a full garden, and he told me to help myself to anything I found there.  Yosemite likes to cook, and obviously, T-Bone can grill a steak, so I knew I was in for a treat.  I picked lettuces, cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, and green beans from the garden.  Don told me I could have another work for stay if I wanted to spend a few hours weeding the garden.  I am debating it.  I could easily stay here a few weeks and love every minute of if.

The bunk-room at The Cabin

The herb boxes-fresh rosemary, basil and parsley.

The Cabin in East Andover, ME

Don's garden 

Yosemite (on the left) and T-Bone, eating steak and garden bounty

Hike4Kids

I met a man at The Cabin named Michael McLaughlin.  He goes by Standing Bear.  He is 31 years old.  We sat next to each other at dinner and we exchanged stories, me telling about my last year and then hiking in Maine, him telling about hiking to Maine from Georgia, and about how his wife joined him for a section of the trail.  He is a Certified Public Accountant and lives in St. Louis, but grew up in Chicago.  He is afraid of heights and was not a hiker before this trip, so I asked him about his motivation for hiking.  He is hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, as well as the Ozarks Trail, to raise awareness of and money for kids who have been abused or neglected by their parents.  His message to the kids is that they didn't choose to be in their situation, but they can choose how to move forward.  Michael was a foster kid in Chicago when he was a teenager.  Now he works with The Family Resource Center in St. Louis and regularly talks with kids there.  He was cool.  He is keeping a trail journal blog, and I read the whole thing in one sitting the day after I met him.  He is a talented writer and made me laugh with many of his entries; I would recommend checking it out.

You can find his website here and his blog here.

On August 16

No miles today.  I woke up to a severe lightening and thunderstorm when my alarm went off at 5:20 so I went into the house to tell David, the ex-son-in-law who drives the shuttle that I wanted to cancel my 6 am shuttle ride to the trail.  I know it was early in the morning, but he was rude to me about canceling the shuttle.  I said, yeah, I know it is early, but look outside, there is lightening, I am not hiking up a mountain today, I'm sorry.  And then I made plans to stay somewhere else tonight.  I called The Cabin and they said they could pick me up and that they would reserve a bunk for me.  I asked that they not pick me up until 5 pm so that I could have all day to go to the post office and use the computer at the library.

I went to breakfast at The Red Hen with four other hikers and it was pouring rain.  It was delicious.  The woman who owns it makes all of her own breads on site, including the English Muffins.  I started thinking about how much fun it would be to get a baking apprenticeship for awhile.  What do you think?  After breakfast I stopped at the post office and then spent about four hours blogging at the library, it was pouring rain all day.  When I got back to the hostel at 4:30 Bones and The Hardway were sitting on the porch, they had hiked in the rain and finally decided to come into town for the night, Squirrel and Patrick had gone ahead without them.  I was disappointed that I had decided to go to The Cabin for the night.  So I talked to Bones and The Hardway for 20 minutes before my ride came from The Cabin.  My ride from The Cabin was-that's right-the driver from the scenic overlook at the highway yesterday, Don.  And he was dropping off one hiker to stay at Pine Ellis.  That's right-Nomad got out of the van and said-Hey! I heard that one hiker was leaving here so they had a bed so I decided to switch to here so I could see you!  I said 'Um, Nomad? I'm the one hiker who is going to The Cabin.'  We laughed.  What can you do?

The Cabin is run by Honey and her husband, Bear, and her son, Don.  Honey is 80 and Bear is 77 and they have lived at this house for about 20 years.  So, I arrived at The Cabin and learned that Honey cooks a big meal every night and there is all you can eat food for $10, so I joined about 12 hikers and Honey and Bear at the table.  It was delicious.  I spent the rest of the evening watching movies in their basement.  I decided that I would take a zero day tomorrow also and just sleep in and relax before hiking on.

Fellow hikers, Yogi and Mr. Bibby, at the computers at the Andover Library.

Dinner at The Cabin.  After this picture was taken two more hikers came, as well as Honey and Bear, to also eat.  The man sitting on the left in the grey shirt is Standing  Bear, or Michael.

On August 15

Sabbath Day Pond Lean-To to Highway 17
Miles: 3.3

Today was a ridiculous day by any standard.  I decided that there were some hard mountains coming up and I didn't want to go through them quickly, trying to keep up with the four guys.  Three-tenths of a mile after the Lean-To there was a beautiful pond, Long Pond, where we all got water this morning.  I went swimming at the sand beach and watched the storm clouds gather.  When they were done getting water and were ready to go I got out of the pond and started to get my drinking water.  So I told them goodbye and decided to go into town from Highway 17.  It was pouring rain within 30 minutes of leaving the pond and I was totally soaked.  I knew that I wouldn't have cell phone reception from the road, so I thought the best thing would be to hitch-hike to Oquossoc where I would be able to make a phone call to Andover for a shuttle to a hostel there.  Once in Andover I could wait out the rain or slack-pack for about four days.

I came to the road at about 10 or 11 am, in the pouring rain.  The trail crosses a highway where there is a car pullover scenic overlook of a lake.  There was a car sitting in the overlook with a driver who looked like he was from town and a hiker in the passenger seat.  So I walked up to the car and said I was trying to get to Oquossoc.  The driver said he was going the other way.  The hiker, an old white guy named Max, immediately said he was also going towards Oquossoc, he was just sitting in the car because it was raining.  He asked if we could hitch together, saying, again and again in a creepy way, that if he was with a pretty girl he'd get a ride faster.  So we crossed the road to hitch and the very first car stopped for us, it was great.  We piled in and Max was just giddy-'see, I told you girls get rides. I should just always hike with a girl so I can get a ride. Hey, what's your plan today anyway?' So I told him I really wanted to go to Andover, but had to get a cell phone signal.  He laughed-'That driver back there is from the hostel in Andover.'  The driver started laughing, but kept driving.  I was pretty grumpy about missing that easy connection to Andover.  The driver was going to Rangeley, and Max decided to go also, so they dropped me off at the general store in Oquossoc and kept going.

I changed out of my dripping clothes and then ate pizza while I decided what to do.  I saw Nomad, an old white guy (but a nice one) that I had seen on the trail the day before when Hardway lost his poles, sitting on the steps at the general store.   I asked him his plan and he said he wasn't quite sure.  He has hiked the trail many times before, and just kind of floats around where he wants to.  I told him about missing the perfect hitch to Andover and he listened kindly.  It turns out that Oquossoc is exactly 11 miles farther from Andover than the trail head where I got off-oops.  So now I was 40 miles, using three roads, from Andover.  Shuttles charge between $1.00 and $1.50 per mile, so calling a shuttle didn't seem like a wise thing to do.  hitching seemed like it might take awhile since there were three roads.  I told Nomad that I didn't want to hitch that far by myself, but if he wanted to hitch with me maybe we could get to Andover.  It was only 1:00 so we decided to try it.  It had finally stopped raining, so we headed out to the road.

We were picked up by a woman named Dawn in her minivan with two dogs.  Dawn was out running errands and didn't feel like going home yet.  She wasn't from the area and she had never been to Andover before, so she decided to drive us all the way to town to go somewhere new.  She dropped us off at the general store in Andover where I ate some pizza while I decided what to do (Dejavu?).

O.K.-this next part is confusing, sorry.  In Andover there are two hostels-The Cabin and Pine Ellis-they cost exactly the same.  Pine Ellis is in town, a block from the general store, the post office and the library, and The Cabin is two miles away.  I had already decided I wanted to stay at Pine Ellis so Nomad call them them and they said they only had one bed open.  So we talked about going to The Cabin instead because the owner, Earl (AKA Bear) was at the store and could give us a ride.  But Pine Ellis called back to the store to give us the message that they had two beds.  So we told Bear we'd just stay at Pine Ellis.  We walked the one block to Pine Ellis and they said  they didn't know why we had both come, they only had one bed.  So I stayed and Nomad went to The Cabin for the night.  I did not have a great time there...Pine Ellis is basically this woman's home where she has built a room onto the back of the house that is only accessible from the outside.  You have to walk out the porch, in the rain, to the room where there are five beds.  You pay $20 for the bed and use of the kitchen and bathroom/shower.  It is $5 for every load of laundry.  The place is run by a woman and her ex-son-in-law and her sister.  For me the family dynamics there were uncomfortable.  In addition there are signs around the place that made me feel like they were talking down to me, which I don't appreciate anywhere, but especially in a place where I am giving you money.  For example, there is a sign at the door to the living room that reads 'We choose to share our living room, hikers must shower before entering this room'.   There is another sign in the bunk room that reads 'Just because you live in the woods doesn't mean you have to act like an animal'.  It felt bad.

On a more positive note, I met three wonderful women at the hostel-Faith, Kinder (she used to teach Kindergarten), and Jen.  We ate dinner together at the general store/restaurant.  While we were there it poured rain again, lasting for hours.  Back at Pine Ellis everyone sat around on the porch deciding what to do the next day in the rain.  I scheduled a shuttle for 6 AM so that I could slack-pack the next section.  We all went to the bunk room at 9 pm and there were 6 people but only 5 beds.  After the owner finally figured out the confusion and found a bed for Hawk Eye we settled down for the night.

My morning swimming spot.

My day-rain and more rain.  This would have been pretty looking out from inside, but I was out in the woods.

My dinner companions at the General Store Diner in Andover.  Jen, Kinder and Faith.

On August 14

Piazza Rock Lean-To to Sabbath Day Pond Lean-To
Miles Hiked: 11.2
Hours Hiked: 7.5 (Notice how fast I was today!)

I woke up early today and started hiking early because I knew the guys planned to go into town and I didn't want to get left behind.  So I was the first one out of the shelter.  It took me an hour to hike the two miles to the road.  Patrick left the shelter last (we want to call him Red Light, because in the morning he is always the last one to leave, but he rejected the name) and he ran down the trail to catch us at the road, it only took him 30 minutes.

On the trail there are jokes about 'first breakfast' and 'second breakfast' because many hikers will eat snacks all morning. Today takes the cake, as it were, for breakfasts.  When we woke up at the shelter all five of us ate 'first breakfast', for me a snickers bar and water.  Then after hiking for two miles we ate 'second breakfast', for me a protein bar, while we waited at the road for a ride.  After riding into Rangeley Patrick, Bones and I stopped at the grocery store and then did laundry at the laundromat while Bones ate 'third breakfast', a block of cheese and pepperoni and two bags of donuts.  (Hardway and Squirrel were eating breakfast at a coffee shop while we were at the grocery store and met us later at the laundromat.)  After the laundry was done we were hungry, so the five of us went to the BMC Diner in town and each ordered a large restaurant breakfast, making this 'fourth breakfast'.  After that we felt ready to hike again.  Maybe this will help you to understand.

Anyway, so we hiked to the road, the five of us, and tried to hitch at 8 AM.  The only thing I needed in town were water treatment drops.  Two days ago I completely ran out of treatment and so I had been getting water from Patrick every morning before leaving the shelter and at night again when I caught up to them.  So I called three different stores in town before I found the treatment drops (which was lucky because there are only four stores in Rangeley.)  Hardway had to go to  Rangeley because he had broken his hiking poles earlier and his parents had mailed him new poles which he picked up at the post office before meeting us at the laundromat.  We all admired his new poles, beautiful trekking poles with cork handles.  Then after eating breakfast Bones, Patrick and I hitched in one car out to the trail head while The Hardway and Squirrel rode in the bed of a red pick-up truck.  We started back up the trail at 11:00 AM when we realized that The Hardway didn't have his poles.  He had left them in the bed of the pick-up truck.  He said he was going to go get them, that he could find that truck again. So we kept going without him and he started walking back toward town.  It was really sad to have lost those poles not even three hours after he got them.

I hiked as far as the Little Swift River Pond campsites and caught up to Squirrel, Bones and Patrick.  They all ate lunch while I bailed out a canoe (and then Bones dumped it out for me) and I took the canoe out for a ride.  None of them were interested in joining me on the water, so I got a solo trip.  It looked like it was going to start storming and we still had 4.6 miles to go before the shelter, so I didn't canoe for very long.  But it felt great to get out on the water.  I will be looking for more opportunities to take out a canoe, it was peaceful.  I spent time remembering the summer that the snake lived in the canoe at Grandpa and Grandma's house on the lake.

I hiked out a little bit after the three guys, but caught up to Squirrel after a mile because he wasn't feeling well, but soon he was ahead of me again.  And then The Hardway caught up to me!  He had hitched a ride into town, purchased new poles, hitched a ride back out to the trail and hiked fast enough to catch up!  It was great to see him, we had all thought that he would camp at the Little Swift River Pond and catch us the next day, but he was too fast.

He easily passed me by and so I was the last one in to camp that night, again.  We stayed at Sabbath Day Pond Lean-To and I went swimming.  Squirrel remembered the cautions on the letter from Parkside's family about safe swimming after hiking, so we followed all of the precautions.  And it was just us five in the shelter that night, so we had a lot of fun.

Today was the first day that I hiked into and out of town in one day, just for resupply without staying in town overnight.  I understand that people do it because it is faster and cheaper.  But I wasn't quite satisfied with it. For one thing I felt very rushed, and so I forgot to buy an ace bandage. Oops.  But I also did not have a chance to take a shower, so I left town still stinky, which didn't feel good.  And I didn't have time to go to the library to use the internet and check e-mails.  I'm not sure if I'll be hitting towns in that way very often, I think that I prefer having a full day to do things.  Time will tell.

The Hardway, trying to hitch a ride the hard way, not even standing by the road with his thumb out.

This sign is in Rangeley, ME.

From L to R- Patrick, Hardway, Bones in Rangeley.

My view from the canoe on Little Swift River Pond.

Power Lines Right of Way. 

On August 13

Poplar Ridge Lean-To to Piazza Rock Lean-To
Miles Hiked: 8.9
Hours Hiked: 11

Today was one hard day of hiking.  I woke up at the shelter with Patrick, Bones and Squirrel and was the last one to start out.  We climbed three peaks today.  There was about 2.5 miles of trail that was above treeline.  I fell when I twisted my ankle badly and had to wrap it before I could continue hiking.  I was the last person into camp, getting there at dark when everyone else was ready to sleep.  So I cooked dinner in the dark all by myself, which wasn't any fun.

But something magical happened today.  Well, first I picked and ate wild blueberries for over 30 minutes on my way up Horn Mountain, so that was cool, but not the best part of the day.  When I climbed the third peak, Saddleback Mountain, and sat down to eat a snickers bar and drink some water, magic struck.  I thought 'Who's a hiker? I am! I climbed three peaks today!' And when I stood up I knew that I had my Trail Legs.  I knew that I had the strength and the confidence to continue.  That I had the experience and problem-solving ability to climb any other mountain this trail wants to put in my path.  That I could continue to get into better shape and trust my body, listen to my body and take good care of her and I would be o.k.  And I felt good. I felt amazing.  For those of you who run, you know that feeling (for me when I was walking training it always happened around mile three) when you hit your stride?  When you are warmed up, you're not tired yet, and you feel good about the workout, and you know that at the end, yes, you will be tired, but you will feel good.  That was the feeling.  Except it took me 27 days and 215 miles of hiking to get to it.  When I got to camp and explained it to the four men I was hiking with they laughed and told me it is going to take me longer than 27 days to find my trail legs, because they don't have theirs yet, but that is o.k.  I know for myself that today I feel great and I trust for myself that I can continue to be healthy.  I'm excited for the adventures that will come now that I have my trail legs.

Notice how this trail goes straight down over that rock? No problem, trail legs to the rescue.

View from Saddleback Junior, the first peak of the day where I ate my second breakfast of the day.

Me (AKA Fugitive)

Blueberries. Yum.

The trail on the swag between Horn Mountain and Saddleback Mountain.  This picture was taken while standing on Horn Mountain.  This part of the trail was fun and beautiful because it was all above treeline.

View of trail from Saddleback Mountain looking at Horn Mountain.

And once again the Trial goes straight down.  This time there is rebar to help.

A cool picture of the sun over a pond.

On August 12

Spaulding Mountain Lean-To to Poplar Ridge Lean-To
Miles Hiked: 8.0
Hours Hiked: 9

Even though I was at the shelter with Hardway, Squirrel, Patrick and Bones last night I hiked alone all day today because they are so much faster than me.  It gave me an opportunity to swim.  The water wasn't as deep as I had hoped, but it felt good to get wet in icy cold stream water.  I fell three times today, first landing on my side/hip, then landing on my knees, then like a turtle-flipped over on my back stranded on my pack.  The last one was funny; the first two hurt like crazy.  When I got to camp Bones reminded us that there would be a meteor shower tonight.  We debated going up to the top of the mountain with our sleeping bags to sleep under the stars and leave our packs in the shelter. But at 7:30 a powerful thunderstorm blew in.  So we all slept in the shelter-all seven of us-this means we sleep elbow to elbow.  Oh, well. Such is life on the trail.

Speaking of life on the trail, I have mentioned to some new hiker friends that I keep this blog and most of them respond that they have tried to keep a journal, or they have tried to update a blog, but after awhile the repetition causes them to stop.  For example: "Today I woke up at sunrise. I packed up camp. I hiked. I ate snickers/cliff bars/mountain house meals.  I hiked. It was hot/rainy/buggy. I hiked. There were some mountains, I hiked up. Then I hiked down.  I arrived at the shelter and drank water. I slept when the sun went down.  Tomorrow I will repeat."  I hope that this blog does not become such monotony.  (I remember this mostly when I post yet another picture of a stream that I crossed.  But stream crossings are hard still, and so I am usually quite proud that I did not face plant there, and so I want to share the picture with you.)

Okay, pictures.

My swimming hole.

A stream crossing on the trail.

View from Poplar Ridge.

On August 11

Today as you read this it is my sister's birthday!!  And not just any birthday, but her Golden Birthday!  I usually would wait for the August 25 post, but I want to give her a special shout-out.  I hope that your day is as wonderful as you are, sis.

On August 11
From Caribou Valley Road to Spaulding Mountain Lean-To
Miles Hiked: 5.2
Hours Hiked: 7

Bones and I paid for a shuttle back to Caribou Valley Road and started hiking South again. It felt good.  It mist/drizzled alllllll day.  It was like death by a thousand paper cuts, because we ended up soaking wet, but never did it actually rain.  But it made for some pretty jeweled-like rain pictures.

When we arrived at the shelter and found Squirrel, Patrick and Hardway we were pretty excited.  They had hiked yesterday while we stayed dry at the hostel.  Then today while we hiked in the drizzle they stayed dry in the shelter, entertaining themselves by reading snippets of a Harlequin Super Romance involving wild cherries that someone before them left in the shelter.  The five of us were in great moods, almost giddy.  It was a lot of fun.

After awhile a man and woman hiked in.  They lived in Canada and were hiking on their vacation.  The shelter we were in had a wooden platform just like all the others, but the edges were completely chewed up. The guy asked 'Do you know why the boards are like that?' 'No', I said.  'Yes', said they guys I was with 'because the porcupines chewed it up.'  Porcupines?  Seriously?  Yes!  I learned in that conversation that porcupines eat bark and wood and will eat the shelters and privies if given the chance.  I had seen signs in the privies that said 'close this door or porcupines will eat the building'. But I had thought it was some sort of trail joke, just a cute way to ask people to close the door to the privy.  No, it turns out that porcupines are a serious threat to privy construction.  Who knew?  Although I have yet to see a porcupine I have since learned that they are closely related to rats, and do indeed eat bark.


We crossed this river. See the white blaze on the tree across the water?

Pretty mist.

Does this look like a creek?  Maybe, but it is the Trail.

Pretty. I photographed three of these today.  Here is the best shot.

Bones's boot print on top, mine underneath.

There could be a beautiful view beyond those trees, but we were high enough that we were in a cloud today.

These are the signs announcing that we have reached the Spaulding Mountain Lean-To. But you could have told me that. Right?

Sign inside a privy.

On August 10

The Stratton Motel to- Same
Miles Hiked: Zero!
Hours Hiked: Zero!

Today I woke up and it was raining, so I decided to stay dry and wait with Bones while he waited for his new boots.  Mostly I stayed at the hostel and watched the Olympics. 

Do you remember that when I was in the hotel in Millinocket on the third day of this hike (a zero day) one of the reasons that I decided to continue and start the 100 Mile Wilderness was because a through hiker (Patrick) was starting the next day going South?  He turned up in the hostel in Stratton last night along with two men he had been hiking with for a few days, Squirrel and Hardway. Patrick is 33 and has wanted to hike the Trail for 10 years, so he recently quit his job to come hike.  He has been offered a few trail names, but none have stuck so far.  Squirrel is 33 and married, and also from Florida.  He might have quit his job, or he might have another contract when he goes home again, time will tell.  Squirrel got his name because he has trouble sitting still, and like the dogs in the movie 'UP' he often gets distracted by shiny or moving things, 'Squirrel!'.  Hardway is a recent graduate of Northwestern and a life-long Chicago resident.  He is so named because he appears to do things the Hard Way. Patrick told me that he had been following me in the shelter logs for the last three weeks and knew he was gaining on me, so even though we had not really met before it was cool to see him. Anyway, while Bones and I watched the Olympics these three hiked out in the rain to tackle the trail.



The computer at the Stratton Hostel where I spent many hours blogging.  Willie from Vermont, a NOBO, took time to look at my blog with me for a while.  That was fun because I realized the other day that when I get home and want to share my pictures you all will have already seen them.  So it was fun to look at my pictures with someone.

The sign of the motel where I stayed in Stratton.  My hiker friends say there are already a million pictures of these bears on the internet.  Well, now there are a million and one.

A flower in front of the grocery store in town. (Yes, a grocery store! It is a real treat to be able to walk to a grocery store.  One with cold drinks, milk, cheese, meat, fresh produce!)

On August 9

From Caribou Valley Road to Maine Highway 27
Miles Hiked: 8.3
Hours Hiked: 7.5

I woke up at the motel in Stratton today and decided to again indulge in slack-packing.  Bones was waiting for a new pair of boots to come in the mail, so I convinced him to duct tape his old boots together for a last hurrah of 8.3 miles and join me.   The earliest we could book a shuttle ride to Caribou Valley Road was at 11:00 am, because the shuttle driver was booked all morning, starting at 5:30.  So we were about an hour into the hike when it rained and thundered for about 30 min.  Then it cleared up and was pretty good weather.  Until the last two miles of the hike when there was thunder that seemed to be getting steadily closer.  We hiked as quickly as possible, well, Bones had to wait for me a lot, but we made it to the road before the rain started and we hitched a ride back to the motel.  The first three miles of the hike scaled two peaks and the last five miles of the hike was a steady downhill slope, so I was thankful that I didn't have the weight of my full pack.  It was the first time I have hiked North on the A.T.  I spent the night at the hostel again and was glad to be inside and not in a tent because it rained hard.


Here is what it is like following Bones up the Trail. He borrowed that pack from the hostel. 

We worked hard to hike to this viewpoint, and then waited for the clouds to clear as we tried to dry off a little.  This photo was taken from the South part of Crocker Mountain.



On August 8

Today begins the THIRD week on the trail!  Can you believe it?

From Avery Campsite to Maine Highway 27
Miles Hiked: 8.0
Hours Hiked: 10

I was awakened in the early hours of the morning (like 2 AM) by the light of the moon, shining through my tent!  It was magnificent.  And the moon is only about a quarter full right now, so I could see a million stars as well.  I opened the door of my tent and laid on my back, half in half out of the tent, just soaking it all in.  Wow.

After the refreshing star show I was up and out early today, on the trail by 6:30 AM.  It was nice because I was up on West Peak by 7:00, and that was pretty.  I was also able to get cell phone reception and call mom and dad, so that was a good start to the day.  I walked through Horns Pond site which has two lean-tos in use because the volume of hikers in the area is so high that two shelters are needed.  There is also a Lean-To that is preserved because it was built by the CCC.  They are doing a lot of preservation work and water quality management at this site.

I was ready to reach a town, and I was trying hard to catch up with a hiker I had met in the 100 Mile Wilderness.  Remember Skullman who I met at the Antlers Campsite?  He now goes by Bones and I had seen in the logbook that he might still be in Stratton, the next town.  Sure enough, when I reached Maine Highway 27 and hitched a ride the five miles to the hiker hostel Bones was sitting outside at the picnic table just hanging out.  It was great to see someone I knew.  He is called Bones because he fell down, hard, and said "That's o.k. I have strong Bones."

We went to dinner with a third hiker at the White Wolf, a diner just up the street.  The White Wolf offers a 'Burger Challenge'.  If you eat three half pound, fully loaded burgers, with cheese, mushrooms, sausage, and bacon, as well as three orders of fries in an hour or less you get the meal for free, and they give you a White Wolf T-Shirt.  They are very serious about it, they place you at a table by yourself and set a kitchen timer, you are not allowed to leave the table at any time.  If you can't finish the food then you pay $30.  Bones decided to take the challenge.  With 20 minutes left he only had a small piece of the hamburger and one half of a bun left.  But he felt nauseous and had to leave the table because there were small children in the restaurant and he didn't want to make a mess at the table.  Oh, he was so close to winning the T-shirt.  It was gross, but it was fun.

In other, unrelated news, there is a scale here at the hostel and I have lost 8 pounds over the last three weeks.  (Bones has lost 30 pounds in three weeks, even with the Burger Challenge.)  I am also developing new muscles, I'm sure.  Because when I started hiking I could not pick up my pack and put it on, I had to sit down, strap it on, and stand up.  Now I can pick it up while standing and put it on my back.  Maybe that doesn't sound like a big deal to you, but I am proud of it.  I can also pick things up off the ground without taking off my pack now, a big improvement over the first couple of days.  O.K., pictures.

View from West Peak

The trail.

Looking back over the trail I have already hiked.

Horns Pond has so many visitors that a caretaker lives at the site from May to October each year.  Here is his tent.

The Lean-To built by the Civilian Conservation Corps at the Horns Pond site.

The two Lean-Tos currently in use at Horns Pond.

A view of Horns Pond from the Trail above/South.

A bridge on the Trail.  I don't know the story of the name.