I had read some comments from Guthooks that there might be some noise at the shelter where we were tenting since it was next to a road and a pond. However, what I was not expecting was super loud fireworks at 9pm when I was already sleeping. Luckily they did not last too long and I fell asleep again at 9.30pm.
Because we were planning for a 22 mile day, I had my alarm at 5am. I got up but after a while I started feeling horrible stomach cramps. I did not know where they came from and I had some trouble hiking but I was just trying to go slow and after an hour the cramps stopped.
The highlight of the day was when I got to Moxie Bald and the mountain was full of wild blueberries. I sat down there with Jukebox and Tennessee for quite some time just eating the berries. When we started hiking again, we hiked about 1.5 miles more and took another break at a pond.
Because we spent so much time eating blueberries, we knew that we were not going to make 22 miles today so we decided to cut the day short at a tentsite 4 miles before. We just had to get some water before the tentsite, but it seemed like that even all the reliable water sources were dry. Luckily there was a bigger brook a mile before the tentsite where we could get some water.
We got to camp at 7pm and we ate dinner and crawled to our tents. As soon as I closed my eyes it started raining which was kind of calming.
I woke up in the morning just before 5am. I went to get my food bag and watched the sunrise from the pond for a while. I got back on the trail around 6.20am and my first goal was to get to Kennebec river. I had 10 miles to hike but the miles were relatively easy so I got there at 10am. The Kennebec river is the only river crossing where you are not supposed to ford the river because it is dangerous, but the Appalachian Trail Conservancy has hired a ferry service to take hikers to the other side of the river with a canoe. I had heard a joke that this is the spot where the hikers are so skinny that the ferry is ”taking the dead people to the other side”.
I got to the other side and my next goal was to hike a little bit to the Caratunk house close to the trail, which is a hiker hostel but they also sell food for hikers just passing by. I got there around 10.30am and I saw so many of my hiker friends there. I ate a lot of pizza, milkshake, sodas and ice cream and accidentally ended up
taking a 5 hour break. Oops!
The break was however much needed and very relaxing. And since we were only planning to hike 6 miles more I also had the time for the super long break. Around 4pm I packed my things and started hiking towards the campsite. Although the whole 6 miles were uphill, it was really gradual and so easy. I got to camp already at 6pm and because I ate so much at the hostel I did not really need to eat any dinner.
This was such a nice and easy day but tomorrow we are trying to do a 22 mile day. I will wake up early and see how it goes, tomorrow is going to be a pretty hot day and we will have a couple of climbs on the way.
I woke up from my tent at 5.30am and just relaxed for quite some time before I started packing. I had a pretty good sleep even if I had my food next to me the whole night. I got back on the trail just before 8am and me, Soulshine and Jukebox had a couple of short breaks before lunch because there was so much wild blueberries next to the trail so we had to stop to eat some of them. They were just so delicious! The trail today was super nice and easy. During the whole day we only had a couple of gradual climbs and the rest of it was flat. I was so tired of the daily climbs so this easy terrain feels so amazing.
Around noon we took a longer lunch break on a nice rocky beach. Me and Jukebox went to swim in the lake and it was so refreshing. The water was nice and warm. After lunch we had 9 miles to go and I took a short snack break halfway. I got to camp before 6pm and Rooster and Tennessee had already put up a fire which was so cool. I set up my tent so that I could watch the fire from my tent and eat my dinner at the same time. Tonight I will hang my food again so that I can sleep without a fear of bears attacking my tent in the middle of the night!
Tomorrow I am planning to wake up early so that I can take a longer break at a hostel very close to the trail. They sell sandwhiches and milkshakes there so I am definitely going to stop by and get some of those for lunch! I feel like I am so hungry every day that I could just eat all the time.
Unfortunately today I heard that Cayenne needs to take some time off the trail. He took a pretty bad fall yesterday and worst case broke his elbow. I really hope it is not broken and he is able to return to the trail as soon as possible.
I woke up naturally already at 5.30am although my alarm was at 6am. The Hostel of Maine had a really good continental breakfast and I ate a lot which gave me a good energy for climbing today. The shuttle took us back to the trail around 8.15am.
Today we had to hike the last 4000 footers, the Bigelows. The longest climb was not too bad and I had a nice lunch break near a pond before the steeper climbs. I really loved the views from the Bigelows and we took a nice break and celebrated the last 4000 footer on Avery Peak. You could even see Katahdin from there which was so awesome!
Just when I started the last 2 mile downhill to our campsite, it started dripping. There was a small shower but as soon as I was 10 minutes from the camp it started pouring rain and thunder. I had to set up my tent in the rain for the first time in a long time. I just cooked my dinner and soon after that I went to sleep. I always hang my food bag on the trail but this was the first night on the trail that I actually slept with my food. It was a little bit scary but I just did not want to go out in the pouring rain again and try to find a branch for the hang. Hopefully a bear won’t attack my tent tonight!
I woke up in the morning at 5am and around 6am I was already hiking. I wanted to start early because the weather was going to be super hot today and I needed to catch the 4.30pm shuttle to get to the hostel.
The day started with a short but steep climb to Spaulding Mountain. After a nice flat section and a downhill I started the climb to the Crocker Mountains. Those peaks just pissed me off because it was more than 2000ft of climbing and there was no view!
Luckily the last 5 miles to the parking lot were all downhill so I made good time. On the way I took a couple of breaks because I was not in a hurry and it was also really warm at that point. On the way down I passed a big milestone, the 2000 mile marker on the trail! I cannot even describe the feeling that I had when I realized that I have less than 200 miles to go.
I got to the parking lot around 3.30pm. I waited there for an hour for the shuttle to the hostel. Tonight I am staying at the Hostel of Maine which is such a nice hostel. It is very clean and has everything a hiker needs. I took a shower first and the employees did my laundry. The hostel also has a pretty good resupply store so I could buy everything from there which was nice.
The rest of the evening I just relaxed with other hikers and we ordered some dinner from a restaurant. I will try to go to sleep early so that I would have good energy tomorrow when I am hiking the last 4000 footer on the trail before 5000+ft Katahdin!
I really went to sleep at 6pm last night. I guess some progress has happened during the trail, because although I was camping just by myself, I was not scared at all. I remember the times when I was freaking out on the trail if I was the only one at a shelter or a campsite. I have been separated from my trail family since the last town but I feel like that has been a good thing. I felt like I needed some time just for myself and I have been enjoying every day to the fullest.
I woke up in the morning at 5am so I got like 11 hours of sleep. I feel like this was the first time on the trail that I actually got enough sleep. During the whole trail I have had sleep deprivation so 11 hours of sleep definitely was needed. I packed up my things and started hiking around 6.30am.
First thing in the morning I had a big climb over the Saddleback mountain and because the mountain was in the clouds, I did not get any views. Luckily the weather cleared up when I got to the Saddleback Junior which is supposed to have the best views and I did not need to dissapoint.
On my way down from the mountains I had to contact Osprey because I have few holes in my backpack. The pack would probably last till the end but I did not want to take the risk that it would break in the 100 mile wilderness. Osprey has a lifetime warranty so they said that they would send me a whole new pack to the last town. It is pretty nice to get a new pack just before the end of the trip!
Today felt kind of a long day and at the end of the day I had another long climb before getting to the shelter. Luckily it was pretty gradual and I had good energy so I got to the shelter before 6pm. I have really been liking these days when I wake up early, hike slow and take a lot of breaks so that I can enjoy the day. Also being separated from my trail family has encouraged me to talk to other hikers too at the shelters and camping spots.
After today I should have exactly 2 weeks left on the trail if everything goes as planned. Feels kind of unbelieveable. Tomorrow I will get to a town called Stratton and spend the night there at a hostel. Then it should be 5 days more to Monson where I will take my last zero and then 8 days more to Katahdin!
I did not sleep too well during the night so it was really hard to get up in the morning. I started hiking after 7am and the weather was really nice and I was enjoying the day. My backpack is kind of falling apart and I got cell service on top of the mountain and decided to wait there for a half an hour and call Osprey. When it turned 9am, I tried to call and realized that it was of course Sunday so the customer service was not open today. I continued hiking for several hours and around noon I decided to take a lunch break.
The whole day I was just hiking slowly because I knew I was probably not going to go over the Saddleback mountain today which would put me to a 13 mile day. There was thunderstorms forecasted and the ridge is above treeline so I did not want to take the risk that I would have to turn back. Also, I felt tired after the 17 mile day yesterday so I decided to call it a day around 4pm after hiking 13 miles. My plan is to wake up early tomorrow and hike at least 15 miles. I was in my tent done with all my evening routines already around 5pm so I had a lot of time to relax. I might just close my eyes and try to sleep already at 6 or 7pm. I guess on the trail that is acceptable.
The SOBO’s camping with me woke up early and I had told them to make a lot of noise in the morning so that I would wake up early too. I got up at 4.45 and started hiking at 6am. My plan today was just to take it slow and go as far as I could and if I could make the 17 miles planned that would be awesome.
First thing in the morning I had a 3 mile climb to Old Blue Mountain which was quite steep. I took a lunch break next to a beautiful view and the rest of the way I just walked with a slow pace listening to podcasts. About 5 miles before the shelter there was trail magic at a road crossing which was nice. A cold soda gave me a good energy for the last climb of the day and I finally made it to the shelter at 7pm.
Today was a long day but I liked hiking slow and just enjoyed the day. The views today were so beautiful! Tomorrow I will take it easy and sleep in a little bit in the morning since I am only planning for 13 mile day.
I woke up at the hostel at 6am. I packed my things and went to have the ”All You Can Eat Maine Blueberry Pancake Breakfast”. The pancakes even had the AT symbol on them which was cool! Another cool thing about the hostel is that they make trading cards out of every hiker as a memory of their stay and I also got mine (see picture below). At 8am the shuttle left back to the trail and around 8.30am I was back on the trail.
Since I was only doing 10 miles today I was just enjoying the day as much as possible. The first 5 miles were quite easy, nice gradual uphill and then I took almost a 2 hour break at a viewpoint. Then I continued first down a steep descent just so that I could climb the same elevation up again and then go down again and get to camp. The uphill was really steep so it took me some time and since the weather was really warm too it felt hard.
I got to camp around 5pm and I saw Cayenne next to a water source. He was thinking about if he should call it a day there or continue but he ended up continuing. I did not want to do the 2500ft climb at the end of the day and carry a lot of water up the mountain so I decided to stay at the campsite and do the climb next morning when the weather was going to be cooler too.
Tonight I am camping with a couple of really nice SOBO hikers, a father and his daughter. I really enjoyed spending time with them during the evening. Tomorrow I am hoping to get an early start since I am attempting to do 17 miles with over 5000ft of elevation gain. At least I will get a lot of sleep since I am already ready to go to sleep and it is only 8pm. Last night I did not sleep too well and I felt tired today so hopefully I will sleep well during this night.
I woke up in the morning around 6am. I knew that I was not in a hurry today because I only had 8 miles to hike and the shuttle was going to pick me up at 4.30pm. I did my morning routines slowly and started hiking around 8am.
First thing in the morning I had a pretty challenging climb but the views were really awesome. I took almost a 2 hour break at a shelter and after that it was noon and I only had 4 miles downhill left. I tried to walk really slowly but when I checked my progress I was still hiking 2,5mph which is a pretty fast pace. I got to the road crossing already at 3.30pm so I had to wait there for the shuttle for an hour. Luckily I was able to do some planning during that time and I realized that I only have about 18 hiking days left! Time has gone soooo fast!
Tonight I am staying at a Human Nature Hostel which I have been waiting for since Georgia. I met a guy Chillen back in March and he is working at the hostel so he told me to stay there when I get to Maine. Well, now that I was finally in Maine I definitely wanted to stay there and say hi to Chillen again. The hostel is such a cool place. The building is like a big dome and they have everything that a hiker would need there. As soon as I got to the hostel, I took a shower and put my laundry in. The rest of the evening I was just relaxing and having a great conversation with Swiss Miss. I also enjoyed the ”Hiker Hunger” dinner which was burgers this time so it worked out well for me since I love burgers.
I felt really tired so as soon as the lights went out at 10pm I went to sleep. Tomorrow I am going to have a short day which is nice since I will be carrying 5 days of food!
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