This morning I woke up around 3 AM to the sound of rain. Last night I checked the weather and it said it might around 2 AM. But instead, it started around 3 AM and rained for about an hour or so. Luckily though I knew I could just use my umbrella if I wanted to. Though the bugs are actually pretty bad in this area, so I’d likely wear my wind gear or rain gear over the course of the morning either way.
I made my hot coffee and got packed up. Then was walking before 5:30 AM. I had about 7–8 miles to go before I would pop out onto a slightly busier road. Or at least some pavement. Prior to that I would be on dirt road for most of the morning. But at least the dirt road was nice and quiet. When I got up this morning, I was surprisingly pretty stiff. I felt so good last night when I got into camp and basically over the course of the whole day. This morning though I was pretty stiff and it took me a while to warm up.
The bugs were horrific so I wore all my layers and my bug net for the first few hours. After a while, it was definitely uncomfortably warm doing so. But it just didn’t seem like an option. I would stop for two seconds to do something and would be absolutely surrounded by bugs. As I walked along the dirt road, I eventually noticed something in the distance ahead of me. Then I realized it was walking on the road toward me. It took a couple of minutes for me to figure out that it was a bear. This is the first bear that I’ve seen on the entire calendar year triple crown! I’ve seen tons of bears in the past on other hikes, but I haven’t seen a single one in 2025. And of course now I’m seeing it when I’m not on any of the Triple Crown trails.
A big turtle alongside the road.
I gave a holler to the bear and said something like “do you mind going the other way please”, and the bear scampered often into the woods. That’s the perfect example for anyone who might be frightened by bears. They’re basically like big dogs. If you give a holler to them, they’re off running. Not long after that I saw a huge turtle alongside the road. I couldn’t tell whether or not it was some kind of a snapping turtle. But it was way up and out of the river, which was surprising.
A car drove by me a little bit after that and the guy talked to me briefly. He seemed nice enough. It was a little bit strange. He also said he lived down the road and hadn’t spent the night out. But no one had driven by me earlier in the day. So I wasn’t really sure where he would’ve been coming from if he hadn’t spent the night out. We talked a bit longer than I might have preferred, but it didn’t raise too many alarms. And then eventually, he just continued on. And I knew within the next few miles I would be getting out onto the main road as well.
I liked the sign under the American flag. I don’t know what it’s for, but the graphic was cool.
My route eventually took me off the logging road and onto some pavement. The road brought me past some houses and gave me a bit more to look at. Honestly, the best part about getting out onto the pavement was that the bugs were finally gone. I was a sweaty mess, but there was no way I was taking off my wind gear until the bugs went away. So finally, I was able to get comfortable. Then I continued through the small town and out towards a bigger town. There wasn’t anything in this little town besides some houses. But in another few miles, I’d be going past a couple gas stations.
A field full of flowers and horses.
Around this time, I got some service so I was finally able to do a little bit of planning. It looks like there was a town called Island Falls, which was about 26 miles into my day. This town didn’t have a motel or anything, but did have a couple rooms listed on Airbnb. There’s an old historic opera house in the town which was converted into rentals. And they actually looked pretty cool and were fairly affordable. Plus this town had a couple restaurants and a small grocery store. Other than Island Falls, there is absolutely nothing around. I’ll just be going through Amish country and passing a bunch of farmland and homes. But nothing else came up on Airbnb when I checked. Other than a room available in a shared trailer, which just didn’t seem like a great option.
A mama and baby horse!
At this point in the day, I was about 10 miles in, so I only had around 16 miles to go. And I was feeling pretty good! I decided to wait a little bit longer before booking the room. Luckily there were two units available at the same property. So I wasn’t super concerned about both of them getting booked. Plus these towns are pretty small and obscure, so I don’t imagine they get a ton of tourism.
About an hour after that, I entered into the next small town and went past the gas station. That would be the only thing I went by for the entire day. I was excited to grab some hot food and something to drink. I wanted to load in as many calories as possible And maybe grab a couple things for the road. From here, I would have about 14 miles to go for the day. So I was nearly at the halfway point.
While I sat at the gas station I decided to book that Airbnb. And the owner was super nice and messaged me back right away. I would be able to use a lockbox to get in and they informed me of some of the businesses around the area for me to get food. I was glad to have that figured out so I wouldn’t have to worry about it. And after being out for the last six days without a shower or any hot food, I was very excited to get to town.
This field looked like something out of a calendar.
At my gas station stop I did have a sausage egg and cheese, a hash brown, and two f’real milkshakes. I also packed out a soda and another drink to carry with me on the road. But didn’t end up getting any additional snacks. I still had plenty of stuff to eat over the next four hours as I made my way to the next town.
After sitting for a while at the gas station, I was definitely feeling sore. I don’t know what it is! But some days I am on top of the world and some days I feel like I am falling to pieces. Today was just a relatively harder day in comparison to yesterday. Yesterday was one of the easiest 28 mile days that I’ve ever done. And I climbed Mount Katahdin! Now today all I was doing was road walking, something I’m pretty dang good out. But still felt quite hard. Not only was my piriformous and my hip sore, but also the bottoms of my feet. Which in and of itself is absolutely hilarious. The foot pain I’ve had recently is definitely new. My feet have not been so sore for the entire year. But clearly my body got used to laying around for two weeks.
Lovely flowers which were growing alongside the road all day long.
When I finally did leave the gas station I just kept my head down and tried to maintain a nice 2.8 mph pace if I could. I don’t need to go crazy fast, and I also don’t want to go crazy slow. I just wanted to dial into a pace that I could maintain all day long. As I walked along the road, I got passed by a few different carts drawn by horses, with Amish people in tow. I forgot that this portion of Maine has a very large Amish population. I saw tons of Amish people in Northern Maine and in New Brunswick when I was doing the international Appalachian Trail. It’s just so funny to have someone pass you in a horse and buggy on a main road. It’s not something that you expect to see.
It was nice to finally get some service and be able to buy my time by finally responding to messages, emails, doing YouTube stuff, and different writing and video work. I also reached out to my parents who I haven’t talked to since leaving Monson. I was able to talk to my dad on the phone for a little over an hour which was awesome. I filled him in on everything and let him know my plans for the day. My parents are just so excited that I’m moving again and feeling better relatively. Obviously there are a lot of ups and downs. But I’m trying to keep the nitty-gritty details to myself for the most part. There’s just no need to worry anyone with the details. Especially when my body is so up and down. Most of the time I feel really good. And I think that the way that I’m feeling is very manageable and I don’t believe that I’m hurting myself in anyway. It’s just disheartening to still be on the mend and not be fully healed.
Entering Island Falls.
After another few hours, I decided to sit down briefly for a break. Around this time, I was just starting to feel really tight through my left glute and piriformous. My hip was tight and I was doing some massage to make myself more comfortable. But I wasn’t really feeling any discomfort in the hip flexor area where I originally felt like I hurt myself. But it is pretty clear that all of these things are working in conjunction and tied together. I sat next to the road and did some stretches and exercises. But didn’t want to stay too long and risk tightening up like I have in the past.
Once I got moving again, I did feel a little bit better. I was just really excited to get to town and be able to relax for the rest of the day though. This was just one of those harder days. Plus, I can only imagine that all of this road walking isn’t necessarily great for me. I wasn’t intending to do 25+ mild days this early on after my injury. Though because of this unique section of trail and the limitations of town and camping, I don’t really have a ton of options. Last night I was pretty limited by having to get to that day use area. And I’m glad that I did stay there because I didn’t pass any other options over the course of the morning.
Crossing over the bridge on my way into town.
Now today, I basically have to get to the town of Island Falls. Because everything prior to that is just farmland and private property. There’s absolutely no way I would feel comfortable tenting alongside the road again. I also wouldn’t have access to water or anything like that. Now after I get to Island Falls, I’ll have the same issue tomorrow. I’ll have to make it all the way to Houghton because there isn’t a town in between the two. Obviously, if there was an emergency, I could stick my thumb out and get a ride further. Then come back and finish up the miles. That would have to be the worst case scenario and only something I would do in an emergency. But that’s just my explanation for why I am doing marathon for my days right now. It’ll be nice to be back on some actual trail and be able to listen to my body a bit more and camp wherever I’d like.
It was still really early when I started making my way into Island Falls. The small town was ridiculously cute! It seemed like a town out of a movie. I crossed over a bridge and then went by a bunch of small houses and businesses. A few different things were permanently closed or seasonally closed. Then I went past a post office, and yoga retreat place. And began making my way over to the Island Falls Opera House. Which is a historic opera house that has been turned into a lounge and restaurant, with rental properties, and still has an old tiny movie theater.
The Island Falls Opera House, where I rented a room for the night.
It was only around 3 PM when I arrived in town. I had a super early start this morning, which meant an early end of the day. Walking along the road is just much more fast and predictable than trail miles. So the first thing I did was check into my room. There had been two units available, one which just had a queen bed and one which was a suite. Both of them were the exact same price. So I got the unit that had a kitchenette and was just a bigger space. I got inside and dropped my stuff.
This room was so dang nice! I could’ve stayed forever.
The big kitchen area in my room. What a cool bonus.
Then I took my tent out to dry, my electronics out to charge, and emptied out my backpack. I plan to walk down the street and grab a bunch of groceries. I wanted to get tons of goodies to have tonight, tomorrow morning, and for my walk to Houghton tomorrow. I’m glad I wound up bringing my empty backpack because I got a ridiculous number of drinks. And drinks are super heavy!
Some of the history about the opera house.
The last couple miles of the day before I got into town I finally felt like I loosened up. My body was way less sore and I was feeling great. Then when I walked down the street to the grocery store, I felt amazing as well. On my way there, I called a local restaurant and ordered a burger, poutine, and a salad to pick up. Then went to the grocery store to get soda, chocolate milk, Gatorade, ice cream, chips, and a few other odds and ends. It was super early, so I knew I wanted to get in as many calories as possible between tonight, breakfast, and some things to take on the road road with me tomorrow.
An old phone booth! This town is so cute.
Then I packed everything into my backpack and stopped off at the restaurant to grab my takeout. And after that, I headed back to my room. I sorted through a bunch of my stuff first. Then wound up taking a shower and washing my hair for the first time and almost 3 weeks. My hair was so greasy and disgusting. I just couldn’t resist. And this place had nice shampoo and conditioner. Then I took a hot bath to soak my body and I ate poutine in the tub while I did that.
One nights worth of food if you’ve hiked 4,000+ miles this year.
While I was in the tub, I took off all my KT tape and was feeling really good. Then just relaxed for the rest of the night. I sorted through my backpack and got things put away. I was charging all of my stuff and rotating everything. And intermittently was just eating as much food as I possibly could. Later on in the evening, though I eventually stood back up to do something, and realized how sore I was feeling.
Poutine in the bath? Sure, why not.
The end of the day I had felt so good, and now I felt insanely uncomfortable. It hit me like a wall. It was almost like I took the KT tape off and just completely unraveled around it. And unfortunately, I didn’t have a ton of KT tape left. I had just enough to tape a few of the places which I have been taping. I’m doing some hip flexor taping, some hip taping, and some piriformous taping. I look like a mummy these days. And I can’t even tell if it’s helping or not, but it makes me feel better to do it.
For the rest of the night, I was just really uncomfortable and it made me super nervous. I wound up doing a ton of stretches and exercises for piriformous issues, hip flexor, and everything like that. But I was definitely a bit concerned that I might not be feeling better in the morning. I’m supposed to do 25 miles tomorrow morning just to get to Houghton. Then I have to continue through town in order to tag the border. So it’s probably gonna wind up being a 28 mile day.
Obviously, I have the time that if I needed to take a day off, I could. This just would be a relatively expensive place to take the day, and I would really love to at least make it to the border first. Originally, I was thinking I would finish up at the border Friday evening or Saturday morning. So I’m a day or so ahead of schedule. But I have been doing bigger miles than I originally intended. I’m just really hoping that I feel better tomorrow morning.
I stayed up at the room watching TV and doing writing and video work for a long time. Plus, I took down as many calories as humanly possible. Then got in some more ibuprofen and fluids before calling at night. I know the other night at the birches, I felt really sore and uncomfortable. Then the next morning I woke up and felt amazing the next day. I climbed Todd in without any issues and wound up doing a 28 mile day. I’m just hoping that that’s exactly how I feel tomorrow.
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