Appalachian Trail Retrospective - Monson to Rangeley, Maine.

Day 10

Monday 6/19/00

Monson, ME to Moxie Bald Lean-to

17.9 miles

Woke up around 6:00, took another shower.  Ate applesauce and peanut brittle for breakfast.  Healthy!  Went to P.O. at 8:00 and shipped package and 3 postcards.  Keith (Shaw) gave me a ride to the trailhead.  I was hiking by 8:45.  After about an hour, my right foot started hurting.  Right in the arch area.  When I cleaned my boots yesterday I noticed they have NO padding and NO arch support left.  That’s probably what did it.  I need to get some better insoles…

            Hiking was mostly flat all day along a stream.  Weather was beautiful!  Too bad my foot hurt.  Every day when something hurts or is going bad, I feel like quitting.  But, I can’t.  It feels so good to get to a shelter at the end of a day…

            I had about 3 or 4 stream crossings today.  I just left my sandals on for the last 6 miles or so.  It made my foot feel a little better too.  But, they have no ankle support so now that hurts!  What a mess…

            I tried to repair the crotch of my pants with duct tape.  It held up, but the other side ripped out instead.  Stupid pants.

            Passed a northbound section-hiker named “The Wandering Astronomer” (I wonder what he does for a living…).  I haven’t gotten into the whole trail name thing yet… maybe later…

            Arrived at lean-to, finally, around 4:45.  Felt great to stop.  It is right on the shore of Bald Mountain Pond (it seems more lake-sized to me).  There were lots of loons swimming around and making noise.  Very peaceful. 

            Alone tonight… again.  When will I meet up with someone to hike with?

            Ate Ramen and had 3 cups of yummy cappuccino.  A nice treat!  So was the snickers bar at lunch!  Thanks mom!

            No bugs today until I got to the shelter, but they didn’t bother me much.  I’m going over Moxie Bald Mountain tomorrow (it’s supposed to be one of the prettiest on the AT).  Hope I’m not distracted by foot/ankle/knee/leg/shoulder/neck pain!

            Going to bed now…

Day 11

Tuesday, 6/20/00

Moxie Bald Lean-to to Pleasant Pond Lean-to

13.1 miles

Woke up to a bunch of noisy loons around 5:30.  Got out of bed soon thereafter.  Ate oatmeal (AGAIN!) and left by 7:15.  Nice weather!  Great view from Moxie Bald Mountain.  Could almost see Katahdin!  At bottom of hill, I passed “Freight Train”.  This guy carries a beaver-cut stick that’s about 8 feet tall and 3” in diameter.  Despite the name, he doesn’t move fast.

            Had a pretty long ascent up Pleasant Pond Mountain.  At the top I met Don Parker, who was working on the trail.  We hiked down together and I talked him into giving me a ride to the store in Caratunk (6 miles off trail) and back.  Nice guy!  When I got to the shelter, Ryan was here.  She is a girl I met on my second day at Potaywadjo Lean-to that was doing the 100-mile wilderness northbound.  Back then she said she’d drop off some goodies at this shelter.  She did!!!  (If I remember correctly, she was working the summer at one of the raft companies that run the Dead and Kennebec Rivers out of the Caratunk and The Forks area).  She brought a cooler with 4 ice-cold  beers and two whoopie pies!! What a gift!  (I wasn’t much of a beer drinker in those days, so I didn’t have any of those, but I did have a woopie pie, which was a new experience for me.  To you non New-Englanders, a woopie pie is basically a sandwich made from two pieces of chocolate cake filled with gooey cream).  Talked a while then she had to go.  After an hour or so, “Freight Train” pulled in.  I gave him the beers and other woopie pie.

            Ate dinner, drank OJ (that I bought at the store in town) and wrote.

            My foot didn’t hurt too bad but now my left shin hurts!  Tomorrow, either both legs will hurt or neither!  I hope it’s the latter.

            So overall, a good day!  My first dose of “trail magic”!  Have to be at the Kennebec River at 10:00 tomorrow to catch the canoe ferry.  6 days to Rangeley! (The Kennebec is one of the larger rivers in Maine.  This far north it is a hundred yards or so wide.  If you cross in the right place, it can be shallow enough to ford.  However, there is a dam upstream, so the levels can rise quickly and unexpectedly.  Several hikers have been killed over the years attempting to ford it.  I met a hiker later on who had nearly drowned attempting it that year.  Instead of building a bridge or rerouting the trail along a road bridge in Caratunk, some friendly MATC volunteers operate a canoe ferry during a few hours each day.  The times are posted in the shelters leading up to the crossing).

Day 12

Wednesday 6/21/00

Pleasant Pond Lean-to to West Carry Ponds Lean-to

19.7 miles

Woke up about 5:30 this morning.  All I ate was a little thing of applesauce – saving fuel.  Left lean-to about 6:30.  I was truckin!  Only took me 2 hours to make it 6 miles to Caratunk.  I walked into town and called home, then went to the river at about 9:00.  (This 3 mile an hour pace is pretty good for a beginner in Maine.  Later my pace would increase to better than 4 or 5 miles per hour if the terrain was easy.  It got to a point where I was disappointed to only hike 3 miles per hour.)  Lounged around for about an hour waiting for the ferryman.  I thought about fording it…

            Made good time all day.  The terrain was pretty flat.  It was probably the most boring 20 miles I’ve done!  FINALLY nothing hurt.  It was great!  Except the last 5 miles or so my back started to hurt right between my shoulder-blades (I guess I meant my legs or feet didn’t hurt).  Feels like someone stabbed me there and left the knife in!  But that pain seems to happen after every long day…

            Went through the Arnold Swamp and on the Arnold Trail.  Benedict Arnold was assigned to attack Quebec during the Revolutionary War, but he never made it partly because he got stuck in this swamp!  It was really buggy!  Stupid black flies!  (I also remember that the “bog-logs” were submerged through a lot of this, and I was trying to balance on submerged logs that I couldn’t see beneath the black water.)  Passed a boyscout troop near the end of the day.  The ended up staying at the same shelter.  AARGH!  Lots of kids running around, but at least they aren’t too loud.

            I got here at about 4:15, quite a long day.  Starting on the Bigelow Range tomorrow.  They’re wicked steep!  Hope my legs hold up OK.  (From Moxie Bald, the Bigelow Range looks very intimidating.  I remember being surprised to see such jagged mountains in New England.  They look much worse than Katahdin.)  I only have to go about 12 miles, but it’ll be RUGGED.  Five more days till Rangeley!

            Rained some of the night… Hopefully not tomorrow!  We’ll see…

            Today was the summer solstice.  I guess it’s a tradition to hike naked on this day.  I forgot… I didn’t meet any other naked people either… (Not would have the bugs made naked hiking miserable, but running into a troop of boyscouts might be a little awkward too…)

Day 13

Thursday 6/22/00

West Carry Pond Lean-to to Safford Notch Campground

12.2 miles

Woke up pretty early and ate oatmeal (I’m sick of it already!).  Packed fast and was on trail by 6:45.  After about 5 miles, I met my first north-bound thru-hiker, “Mr. D”.  He started in February!

            Decent hiking until reaching Bigelow Preserve.  Gorgeous!  After a 3 mile climb up Little Bigelow, there was a spectacular view.  I could see for miles!  (See photo below this entry) It wasn’t cold either.  Sugarloaf (2^nd hightest mountain in Maine after Katahdin and huge ski resort) was just across the valley (The Carabasset Valley) and Bigelow Mountain loomed ahead.  I felt great!  No leg pain or back pain, the weather was nice, the trail wasn’t steep (too steep) and there was a good view.  I don’t know where this optimism is coming from!  Must be in the water… (This is probably one of the prettiest mountain ranges on the AT in my opinion)

            Got to campsite at 1:45!  Kind of early but I made out that schedule to Rangeley so I might as well stick to it.  I don’t want to sit at the trailhead there for two days… I probably could have made it up and over Bigelow to the next lean-to, which is five miles.  Oh well, guess I’m faster than I thought.

            At that Near East Rice Pilaf mom sent me for dinner.  Boy was it GOOD.  Took a while to cook though…

            My right pinky toe-nail is ready to fall off.  Yucky!  It’s just hanging on by a corner.  It doesn’t hurt at least.

            Only saw that one guy today.  I’m getting sorta lonesome.  Alone again tonight!  Maybe I’ll catch someone tomorrow.  I doubt it.  But I hope so!  Looking forward to seeing the family and whoever they drag along with them… Hope they bring some cookies or something too!  Can’t wait to see my new trumpet either!  Only 4 days…

            It started pouring around 7:00pm.  In a hurry to zip my rain-fly, it got jammed.  I couldn’t get it loose, so I had to cut it.  Still didn’t work!  I was able to clamp it shut with my mini-pliers though.  After the rain died down, the rain was dripping off the trees right onto my tent.  This must be how the Chinese came up with water torture…

A view of the Bigelow Range from Little Bigelow.

Day 14

Friday 6/23/00

Safford Notch Campsite to Cranberry Stream Campsite

8.5 miles

I’m writing this part about 5:00 am.  I got up, got my food out of the tree and decided I might as well go back to sleep.  I only have 8.5 miles to go today.  I couldn’t get my mind off all the people I wish I could see right now (I can’t remember who would have been on my mind).  I don’t know why I’m getting so lonely, it’s not like I was much of a social person in school anyway… must be the isolation… not even having the option of talking to someone.  I guess I’ll have to get over it…

            Left around 7:30.  Kind of dreary hiking… Everything was still all wet.  Long, steep climb up Avery Peak.  Ran into clouds about halfway up.  So much for the view!  When I got to the top (4,088 feet) the wind was howling!  I bet it was gusting about 75 mph!  Almost blew me over a couple times.  I stayed on the summit for about half an hour, waiting for it to clear.  It never did, but every now and then a clear spot would show up and you could see blue sky for a short time!  What a weird sensation  The coulds were, well… I was in the clouds… But it seemed like the mountain was moving, not the clouds!  It was cool!  And literally cold too.

            When I got up from hanging around, the inside of my left quad hurt like hell!  It was really stiff and hurt bad when I’d support my weight on it.  Bad day for this to happen!  Guess this time the mountain was tougher than me.  Har har.

            Kept going though.  Met John, the volunteer caretaker at Horns Pond Lean-tos.  Nice setup he had, cool guy too.  He hiked 2 of the 3 miles down to the campsite with me.  2 other people are here now!  Woohoo, company!  One of them knows Adrianne M. (girl from highschool in Boothbay)  They’re from Boston.  Small world…

            The Bigelows are gorgeous!  Once I’d gotten to West peak, it had cleared up.  What a view!  I’d love to come back and day-hike it.  I highly recommend it!  (Unfortunately, I haven’t been back there since!).

The view I had from Avery Peak.  I had started at the low spot in the middle of the map and went up and over the Bigelows to the low spot on the left of the map.  Also making an appearance are the boots I was wearing (and gaiters, which I got rid of eventually).

Day 15

Saturday 6/24/00

Cranberry Stream Lean-to to Spaulding Mountain Lean-to

15.4 miles

Don’t remember when I woke up… choked down MORE oatmeal!  Even the “good” flavors (Strawberries & Cream was my favorite) suck.  I get nauseous just thinking about it.  No problem with Ramen yet though…  Anyway, on the trail around 7:20.

            Long, long climb up Crocker Mtn.  Higher than Bigelow, but no view.  Met Chris & Jared, two southbounders.  Hiked with them most of the day.  My leg felt good all morning until about 10:00.  It has hurt ever since.  Here’s when it hurts: (I drew a cartoon showing it hurting pretty much all the time).

            It helps a little to use sticks for support, but all the ones I found kept breaking!

            Got to Crocker Cirque Campsite about 1:30.  Rested for an hour and decided to keep going.  BAD move!  I had to go another six miles up!  And, my leg was killing me.  There was one spot on the backside of Sugarloaf where I climbed 1,000 vertical feet in about a quarter mile!  That’s steep! 

            Got to lean-to, FINALLY, at 6:00.  What a relief!  It felt so good to stop!  Since I went extra mileage today, I only have to go 8 tomorrow! 

            Hope my leg will be up to the task.  It better be.  I’m thinking of taking some extra time off in Rangeley, maybe even go home for a while.  My leg needs to heal…

            We’ll see.

Day 16

Sunday 6/25/00

Spaulding Mountain Lean-to to Poplar Ridge Lean-to

8 miles

My shortest day so far!  Got to lean-to before 1:00…

            Woke up late, didn’t eat breakfast.  Left around 8:30.  Had decided today was gonna be easy.  The terrain wasn’t steep either.  It was flat for a mile, down for three, that a mile, up for 3.5 miles, then down a half mile to the shelter.

            Leg felt ok most of the day, but the pain was there.  I used sticks all day and that seemed to help…

            Well, the day was so short, I don’t have much to write about.  It looks like rain right now (~5:00).  I hope it gets over with tonight because I have 3 miles of high, steep slickrock to do tomorrow!  There’s even a warning about not doing that section in the rain.  Yikes!

            I’m so eager to get to Rangeley.  Only 10.7 miles!  Get to see the parents, Ford, my new horn, and what/whoever else they bring along.  Get to check my email.  Somebody better have written me!  Eat real food!  All sorts of good stuff.  OOOh, and taek a shower and do laundry!  I can’t wait!

            Well, got about 3 peaks tomorrow, so I’d better get some rest.

            Rained for a long time.  Real hard too…

Day 17

Monday 6/26/00

Poplar Ridge Lean-to to Maine Rt. 4 (Rangeley)

10.7 miles

Woke up about 6:00.  It had finally stopped raining. Had to eat something, so I choked down some oatmeal.  BARRRF!  Left shelter about 7:15.

            Made good time up Saddleback Junior and The Horn.  Both were treeless on top.  Good views!  No trees from The Horn over to Saddleback.  Interesting and pretty.

            When I was about 100 yds from the summit of Saddleback, I saw a moose grazing on the trail.  I tried yelling at it to scare it off, but it just kept on eating.  Meanwhile, I was being eaten alive by blackflies!  It kept going back and forth across the trail for half an hour or so.  Then, it decided it would sit down right on the trail!  By this time I was thinking I’d wasted enough time, so I try to sneak by.  As soon as I got within 10 feet of it, it jumped up, snorted and started heading my way!  So I took off back to where I’d been and it sat down again.  I went back to a little ridge to see if I could see other hikers coming.  When I got there, wasps started swarming around me!  So, I ran from them, back towards the moose.  Eventually, two other hikers showed up and I took a bunch of pictures.  Then, all three of us made a bunch of noise and waved our arms as we walked towards the moose.  It finally got up and walked away!  I wasted over an hour for that stupid moose.

            Anyway… it was hazy so I couldn’t see Mt. Washington from the top.  Met four north-bounders on the way down.

            I got to the trailhead around 1:00.  I had to wait 4 hours for Mom & Dad but it was worth it.  Good to see them and my new trumpet!  It’s awesome.  Got my maps, poles (some old fiberglass XC ski poles from a garage sale), pants and stuff too.  Phoebe (Friend from school, and good friend to this day) sent me some stuff too.  Thank you so much!

            Felt GREAT to take a shower and put on clean clothes! 

            Rangeley is a pretty town…

Moose encounter atop Saddleback Mountain.