The last week and a half has gone by incredibly fast. Since my last update, I've hiked the 100 mile wilderness, summited Katahdin and spent 3 days back in civilization.
I stayed in Monson on the 16th because the rain was coming down so hard. Everyone who was in town the day before stayed an extra day to avoid the rain, so on the morning of the 17th, there was a group of about 10 hikers that all left around the same time and stayed together through most of the wilderness.
Normally, there are a half dozen rivers that you need to ford within the wilderness, but because there had been so much rain, rivers that were normally pretty low were considerably higher. It was no longer possible to rock hop across the river. Instead, you needed to take off your shoes and sock and switch into something that could get wet (in my case, my crocs). And the rivers that you'd normally need to form became even higher. There was one river the first day that had such a strong current, that the only safe way to cross was via a tree that had fallen over the river. The first day was especially stressful and tedious. After that, there weren't too many fords.
Towards the end of the third day, we arrived at the summit of White Cap Mtn, the last mountain with any kind of elevation. What made White Cap Mtn special was that is was the first time I was able to see Katahdin. Apparently, you can also see Katahdin from the Bigelows (some large mountains a few days back), but on the day I climbed those, it was to cloudy to have any good views. I had to have someone point out Katahdin for me, because I didn't see anything that looked like the pictures that I've seen. I was also confused because I didn't see any mountains that looked especially big. The reason it didn't look that big, I figured out later, is because it is still SO FAR AWAY - 70 something miles. It was a great view, because it helped to give some perspective. And it also showed me where we would end up. Epic!
That day was also great because I got some much needed trail magic. I only carried five day's worth of food into the wilderness, even though I knew it would take six days. Not only was I not carrying enough food, but the food that I was carrying was very sugar-centric, which I don't normally do (it was all I could find at the gas station in Monson). All day, I had been thinking about cheese and meat. And when I got to the bottom of White Cap, I ran into a couple hikers that I had started with who were waiting on some day hikers to return to their car which was parked on a logging road. These day hikers had indicated that they had brought some food with them and that it was in their car's trunk, available once they had finished their descent. They had lots of good stuff, including cheese. One item of food that was especially delicious was chips + salsa. I've been through lots of towns on my hike, so I'm not completely cut off from non-camping food. But one food that I haven't had in a very long time was chips and salsa. It tasted amazing!
The rest of the wilderness was a pretty easy hike. And we were also lucky with the weather - only a little bit of rain on the fourth day. When I finally reached the end of the wilderness, I was thoroughly hungry. Fortunately, they had a camp store there with hot food. After that, we entered Baxter State Park and settled in at the shelter at the base of Katahdin, five miles from the summit.
It was only five miles from camp to the top, but it was one of the more difficult hikes on the trail. 4000 foot climb over about four miles. And the climb was not easy either - a lot of hand-over-hand climbing. I had heard this ahead of time, so I left my hiking poles at the ranger station and I'm glad I did. The top had an amazing view in all directions, but it was also incredibly windy. One of the other hikers going to the top that day was hiking with his father who was not in very good shape. We all waited on the top for them (I was up there almost 2 hours), but the weather started to look a little scary - so, at some point we had to abandon the original plan and head down.
That was the 23rd. After that, I headed into town (Millinocket, ME) and caught a bus the next day headed for Portland. (As it turns out, the farm I was headed to is actually closer to Augusta, and I had gotten my Maine towns mixed-up. It wasn't an issue, though, because the family I'm working for dropped their daughter off at college south of Portland and was able to pick me up on the way back.)
It's been a strange experience so far. I've gotten so used to hiking all day that I don't know what to do with myself off of the trail. It's hard to accept that I'm done. Ever since I crossed the border into ME, I've had my eye on Katahdin, but now that it's over, I'm in a sort of limbo state. I hope the transition back to normal life is smooth!
I stayed in Monson on the 16th because the rain was coming down so hard. Everyone who was in town the day before stayed an extra day to avoid the rain, so on the morning of the 17th, there was a group of about 10 hikers that all left around the same time and stayed together through most of the wilderness.
Normally, there are a half dozen rivers that you need to ford within the wilderness, but because there had been so much rain, rivers that were normally pretty low were considerably higher. It was no longer possible to rock hop across the river. Instead, you needed to take off your shoes and sock and switch into something that could get wet (in my case, my crocs). And the rivers that you'd normally need to form became even higher. There was one river the first day that had such a strong current, that the only safe way to cross was via a tree that had fallen over the river. The first day was especially stressful and tedious. After that, there weren't too many fords.
Towards the end of the third day, we arrived at the summit of White Cap Mtn, the last mountain with any kind of elevation. What made White Cap Mtn special was that is was the first time I was able to see Katahdin. Apparently, you can also see Katahdin from the Bigelows (some large mountains a few days back), but on the day I climbed those, it was to cloudy to have any good views. I had to have someone point out Katahdin for me, because I didn't see anything that looked like the pictures that I've seen. I was also confused because I didn't see any mountains that looked especially big. The reason it didn't look that big, I figured out later, is because it is still SO FAR AWAY - 70 something miles. It was a great view, because it helped to give some perspective. And it also showed me where we would end up. Epic!
That day was also great because I got some much needed trail magic. I only carried five day's worth of food into the wilderness, even though I knew it would take six days. Not only was I not carrying enough food, but the food that I was carrying was very sugar-centric, which I don't normally do (it was all I could find at the gas station in Monson). All day, I had been thinking about cheese and meat. And when I got to the bottom of White Cap, I ran into a couple hikers that I had started with who were waiting on some day hikers to return to their car which was parked on a logging road. These day hikers had indicated that they had brought some food with them and that it was in their car's trunk, available once they had finished their descent. They had lots of good stuff, including cheese. One item of food that was especially delicious was chips + salsa. I've been through lots of towns on my hike, so I'm not completely cut off from non-camping food. But one food that I haven't had in a very long time was chips and salsa. It tasted amazing!
The rest of the wilderness was a pretty easy hike. And we were also lucky with the weather - only a little bit of rain on the fourth day. When I finally reached the end of the wilderness, I was thoroughly hungry. Fortunately, they had a camp store there with hot food. After that, we entered Baxter State Park and settled in at the shelter at the base of Katahdin, five miles from the summit.
It was only five miles from camp to the top, but it was one of the more difficult hikes on the trail. 4000 foot climb over about four miles. And the climb was not easy either - a lot of hand-over-hand climbing. I had heard this ahead of time, so I left my hiking poles at the ranger station and I'm glad I did. The top had an amazing view in all directions, but it was also incredibly windy. One of the other hikers going to the top that day was hiking with his father who was not in very good shape. We all waited on the top for them (I was up there almost 2 hours), but the weather started to look a little scary - so, at some point we had to abandon the original plan and head down.
That was the 23rd. After that, I headed into town (Millinocket, ME) and caught a bus the next day headed for Portland. (As it turns out, the farm I was headed to is actually closer to Augusta, and I had gotten my Maine towns mixed-up. It wasn't an issue, though, because the family I'm working for dropped their daughter off at college south of Portland and was able to pick me up on the way back.)
It's been a strange experience so far. I've gotten so used to hiking all day that I don't know what to do with myself off of the trail. It's hard to accept that I'm done. Ever since I crossed the border into ME, I've had my eye on Katahdin, but now that it's over, I'm in a sort of limbo state. I hope the transition back to normal life is smooth!
WOW!!!
ReplyDeleteWe hope your transition back to "normal life" is a smooth one as well. So proud of you! Love from Mom and Dad
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