Day 190

Day 190
Monday 9/7/08

Weather:
30's in the morning.
High around 65 degrees.
Sunny, no rain.

Today's Hike: Stratton to East Flagstaff Rd. - 16.7 miles

After eating breakfast this morning, Billy Hoot and Nutmeg began to figure out how they could canoe past the Bigelow's instead of hiking over them. During their conversation Grommet and I figured out that we could slackpack 17 miles over the entire Bigelow range. So at 9:30am the girls got ready for their canoe trip and Grom and I were putting our days packs together. By 10am we were at the trailhead.

The day was beautiful, sunny and cool. We made good timing and I was repeatedly thankful for not carrying a full pack.

At lunch we stopped at a viewpoint where we could see the Bigelows. Holms and Watson were also their enjoying lunch. Watson is a huge hound dog. For lunch, Grommet had packed out left over pizza. I pulled the pizza out and laid it on the rock beside me then reached over to grab my camera when Watson came out running out of nowhere and promptly inhaled a piece of pizza. Ahhhhh! Well, thank goodness we also had the fixings for PB&J's. Inc., who was also there for lunch was listing off the "only" foods that Watson liked to eat. Pizza did not make his list, so I was sure to add it.

After lunch we made our way over the Bigelows's, our last huge mountain range for a few days. The summits on the East Peak and Avery Peak were incredible. We could see Flagstaff Lake to our right, another stream to our left and beautiful mountains all around us.

We made it to the road a little after 8pm and called the hostel to come pick us up. When we got back we cooked veggie faijitas for dinner and took a second shower. It was lights out by 11pm; way way past hiker midnight.

Today's Video's:

• Nutmeg on Aqua Blazing the Bigelows
  
• Where are we - Avery Peak
• Hiking up the Bigelows
  

Day 189

Day 189
Sunday 9/6/09

Weather: Sunny, no rain

Today's Hike: Carrabassett River to Stratton, ME - 8.4

It was freezing this morning when we woke up, and neither one of us wanted to transplant ourselves from the warmth of our sleeping bags into the cold air. So we didn't. We didn't leave camp until 10:30am.

We made our way to Stratton by 4pm, and met back up with Billy Hoot and Nutmeg. Grommet and I had no intention on staying in town, but when Nutmeg offered to share their room with us we both didn't hesitate to call it a day. We dropped our packs and went over to Fotters to resupply us to Caratunk then made our way to dinner.

Tomorrow we go over the Bigelows, and the weather is going to be great. This means we'll have miles of open ridgeline views of this beautiful state. I can't wait!

Day 188

Day 188
Saturday 9/5/09

Weather: Sunny, no rain.

Today's Hike: Reddington Campsite to Carrabassett River - 15.7 miles

Five minutes out of camp today I turned my ankel and came crashing down on my right knee. I've fallen a lot, but this was the most painful fall ever. I had shooting pains from my foot to my upper thigh. Grommet quickly brought me some aleve and insisted that I lighten my pack weight in order to reduce the strain on my knees which were already swelling. Lightening my pack weight would mean she would have to carry some of my stuff. I was NOT ok with that. I sat there for awhile and argued with Grommet about this but lost. She took her food bag out of her pack put it in mine then gave me her pack to carry. Errrrrr. On the upside I have discovered how much I don't like her pack, which I had been interested in.

An hour later we were on the summit of Saddleback Jr., where Grom tried to argue that I shouldn't carry a pack at all going downhill since it was so steep. I drew the line, and made it down with the pack fine.

We ate lunch at Oberton Stream with Early Bear and Lil' Dipper,then continued northward. We still had 10 miles to go.

The afternoon was long. Our day ended with coming down Sugarloaf Mountain in the dark. I don't recommend it. It sucked. Nothing but huge oversized boulders on a 45 degree slope downward. We crossed the Carrabasset River by 9pm and met back up with Lil' Dipper, Early Bear, Rock Lobster, and Walkabout for the evening.

Day 187

Day 187
Friday 9/4/09

Weather: Sunny, no rain

Today's Hike: Rangely, ME to Reddington Campsite - 8.1 miles

I hiked over Saddleback and the horn today. Incredible!!!!! The views were spectacular. Had we hiked out of Rangely last night we would have camped up there. Oh well. Maybe next thru-hike???







We didn't quite make our intended destination today, big surprise. We stopped into Reddington campsite to get water and Grom ran into an old friend from grad school who was doing a southbound hike. She had no idea he was out here. Small world right? So we cut the dat short so Grom could play catchup. Billy Hoot, Nutmeg, Lil' Dipper, and Early Bear also showed up to join the party. Good times.

 

Today's Video's:

• Saddleback Mtn.

Day 186

Day 186
Thursday 9/3/09

Weather: Sunny, no rain

Today's Hike: Little Swift River Campsite to Rangely, ME - 4.8 miles

The plan was to hike into town and walk out. Rangely is expensive and Stratton is not. Therefore we would hike to Stratton and take a shower, do laundry etc. However, we arrived at noon and met back up with Billy Hoot and Nutmeg who told us about their blue-blaze trip from hell, and then informed us that they had a room over at the Saddleback Motor Inn and we were welcome to share. So share we did. But first, we ate lunch and started our chores. We met a wonderful trail angel who shuttled us around tow, and even stopped with us for ice cream. Yum :)

Tonight at dinner we met back up with Early Bear and Little Dipper which was a nice surprise. I haven't seen them since before the Whites (Glencliff, NH). Lil' Dipper also needs to summit on the 19th so we will hopefully be seeing alot of them over the rest of the death march to Katadhin.

Day 185

Day 185
Wednesday 9/2/09

Weather: Sunny, no rain

Today's Hike: Bemis Trail to Little Swift River Campsite - 15.6 miles

Happy Six Month anniversary to me!!!!!!! Wow, I've been doing this for six months, incredible and completely uncomprehendible. To think that 6 months ago I stepped out into a freshly snow covered forest at 7am and walked 10 miles to Stover Creek shelter where I would experience the coldest night of my life; it feels like a life time ago. It also brings to mund that I am definitely taking my sweet time finishing this hike. I'm blaming it on all the rain I've had to hike through.

Today it was time for some serious hiking, 15.6 miles. I don't think I've hiked this far in weeks. I feel great. I saw 3 snakes today, sweet! Tomorrow Grom and I will hike into Rangely to resupply. Currently, the plan is to hike out......we'll see what happens.

Today's Video:

• Loon's
  

Day 184

Day 184
Tuesday 9/1/09

Weather: Sunny, no rain

Today's Hike: Southarm to Bemis Stream Trail - 6.0 miles

This morning we were packed and ready to go by 8am and went with the girls (Nitmeg and Billy Hoot), Ink, Blacklist, and Whispy into Andover (for the 4th day in a row) to eat breakfast at the general store. Breakfast was incredible, but it literally took half the day to get there, eat, and get back to the trail. When we arrived back to the trailhead around noon, we were greeted with trail magic from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the local trail maintainer and former thru-hiker. So at noon, all of us were pounding back the beers and snickers bars that he left for us.

Somewhere around 1pm Grom and I started hiking up Ol' Blue Mtn., and reached the summit within an hour. There we re-met Nick and Blue who were doing a flip-flop hike (GA to Harpers Ferry then Katadhin to Harpers Ferry). We ate lunch with him and chilled for about an hour before making our way down the mountain.



We hiked until nightfall, and found a sweet stealth site near the Bemis trailhead. Grom made a small fire and we ate the rest of what was in our food bags. I think I ate to much....feelin' kinda sick. Oppss....guess my eyes were bigger then my stomach.

Today's Video's:

• Getting Back to the Trail Part I
• Getting Back to the Trail Part II
• View from Old Blue Mtn.