This morning I was up and moving bright and early. I have another big day planned out, and the terrain is not very forgiving. I knew I would need as much time as physically possible. I got packed up and left my campsite in the col near the Bigelows. Unlike last night, this morning it was cold and pretty foggy out. I didn’t figure I would be getting very many views as I made my way up the next climb.
One of the trail signs that I passed early on in the day.
Over the course of the next handful of miles, the trail proceeded to climb up and down repeatedly. I would make my way up to the nearest high point, and then straight back down again. There weren’t a ton of view because of the fog, but it was so a really beautiful start to the day. And although it was fairly windy out and overcast, I was quite comfortable. I walked for about 3 or 4 miles and then came to the next shelter.
Yesterday my ambitious goal was actually to make it to this shelter for the night. But with how time consuming the terrain has been, I knew I wouldn’t get there before dark. And I really haven’t been enjoying the idea of night hiking in this area. Sometimes the trail is easy to follow, and other times it’s very technical and easy to lose. The idea of climbing up and down a steep rock in the dark does not sound appealing to me. Most days, I think I might do some hiking into the dark. Then I witness the terrain toward the end of the day and change my mind.
When I got to the next shelter, I took the spur trail down to use the bathroom. This shelter and surrounding camping was really nice. A lot of the campsites in Maine and New Hampshire have caretakers. That basically just means that someone is overseeing the area and living on site. I think that probably just has to do with how much foot traffic this area gets. And it seems like a really great place to spend the night. Though personally I can’t really rationalize spending $15 a night to pitch my tent.
The Appalachian Trail 2000 mile marker.
Leaving there, I had a little more climbing on and off. But for the most part, I was just descending down to the next road. This descent was really steep and time consuming. I think the downhill has been draining me the most. I just miss being able to go fast. Not too long ago I felt like I was running and cruising along these trails. Then I got here to southern Maine and slowed down drastically. Even being on the upswing for my injury, I’m still going really slow. And it has absolutely nothing to do with having been injured. And everything to do with the fact that Southern Maine has some of the hardest hiking terrain you will do on a national scenic trail
I was definitely ready to start climbing again by the time I got down to the road. Part of me wishes I only had uphill to do. At least that way I would make good time on my way up. And I wouldn’t get slowed down by the descent. Though obviously that is not an option. When I got down to the road, there was a car parked in the trailhead and a man saw me and got out. At first, I wasn’t sure who it was and I was a little bit confused. But then I remembered that Mike the Trail Angel reached out to me yesterday. He supported me a lot when I was up at Shaws hostel and is planning on meeting me in Rangely. But a friend of his who also does trail magic had reached out about wanting to meet me at a road.
Crossing over a bridge as I made my way out toward the road.
This man’s name was Bourbon Batman and he was super nice. He’s been Trail Angel-ing hikers for the last eight years. And surprised me with some nice cold Gatorade and snacks. I hung out and chatted with him for a little while before continuing on. Unfortunately the temperatures today are super hot and I have a ton more mileage to go. A lot of which is entirely uphill. So I couldn’t linger around for too long.
After I say goodbye to him and continued over to the trail, I noticed a cooler. And when I further inspected it, I realized that my buddy Crigas had left it there. Him and his mom just bought the Maine Roadhouse, an iconic hostel here in Maine. It’s so great to see the hostel coming into new ownership. And reopening for hikers after it had closed. There are a lot of hostels which closed their doors this year and it’s very sad to see. I just know that Crigas and Mamarazi are going to be an amazing job! If you’re northbound or southbound on the AT, make sure you stop by and stay at Maine Roadhouse when you’re near Stratton.
If you’re hiking the AT, make sure to stop off at the Maine Roadhouse Hostel!
Crigas had left an ice chest by the road with his number and information. That way hikers who want to go into Stratton can reach out about staying at the hostel. I grabbed a Dr Pepper and put it away in my backpack. Then planned to continue on until the top of the Crockers, my next climb. I would drink the soda up top as a reward.
The next climb was a little bit different than most of them here in southern Maine. It actually started pretty gradually. Then overtime it got steeper and steeper as I made my way to the top. I was feeling really good as I made my way up and just kept pushing. I wanted to get all the way to the top before I stopped. After finishing my audiobook yesterday, I had to start a new one today. I listened to Endure by Cam Hayes. Cam is an endurance athlete of sorts. He’s one of the most famous bowhunters in the world, as well as a ultramarathon runner and a fitness enthusiast. Even though I’m not a hunter and I don’t really know much about it, I still found the book to be very interesting. And I really enjoyed the themes about pushing yourself and always driving for more.
I zoned out as I listened to the book and got up to the top of this next climb pretty quickly. It was very gradual all the way up until the last mile or so. Which was a nice change of pace! I stopped off very quickly toward the top to eat a snack and drink some water. And was pleasantly surprised that there were no blown down trees toward the top. I had heard from Rope Bunny that this section of the trail had some of the worst blowouts he’s ever seen. But after taking couple weeks off for injury, trail maintainers have come through and cleared out everything.
The last mile or so of the climb was fairly steep, but I made good time. There were so many cut trees as they were up to the top. And tons of fresh sawdust. Nothing puts a smile on my face like a trail covered in fresh sawdust. That’s usually a great indicator that the trail is going to be completely free of downed trees. And it was! When I got up top of the first Crocker peak, I sat down briefly and drank the Dr Pepper that I carried from the road. I didn’t stay up top for long though because I still had a ways to go for the day.
Soda always tastes better when you carry thousands of feet up a mountain.
I still have to go up and over the other Cocker Mountain. Like a lot of the mountains here in Maine and New Hampshire, there is a north and south peak. Some of the mountains even have a middle peak. I was curious to see whether or not the trail maintenance would continue over the next few miles. There’s always a chance that the crew got in and cleared one portion of a mountain, but not the other side. But lucky for me, trail maintenance had come in and removed every single down tree from the area surrounding the Crockers. That definitely felt like a huge blessing and saved me a ton of time. The terrain out here is already so slow going, adding additional time to the day would’ve been a huge setback.
A cute little AT sign by a road crossing.
After I finished Endure by Cam Hayes I moved on to my next audio book. This is one that I’ve been dying to read for a long time. The book is Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It was a really beautiful story and I enjoyed listening to it for the rest of the day. Though it’s definitely a long book, so I’ll likely take a day or so to finish it. I listened to that as I continued to descend off the Crockers. And as I made my way down, I actually pass a northbound hiker who recognized me. We met back at Weyah Bald on the AT, which was super early on in the trail. It’s been so cool going the opposite direction and getting to see familiar faces. It’s also really exciting to see which hikers stuck through the trying times and made their way up north.
Crossing over this river, as I began to climb up Sugarloaf.
Once I got to the bottom of the mountain had to cross over a river. If someone left a large piece of wood, there, which made for an easy crossing. After that, I was climbing up toward Sugarloaf. Though the Appalachian Trail doesn’t actually go up to Sugarloaf. The climb was incredibly rocky and steep. It actually caught me by surprise. But lately, I’ve really been enjoying the more technical climbs which require using your hands.
When I got on top, I ran into two more hikers who I recognized. I met both of them near the Roan Highlands, back around the station 19 E area. It was so wild to see them again! It’s been a really entertaining last couple of days. Lately the worst thing about the crimes has been the small black mats on top. They definitely are black flies, and they’re not no-see-ums. And while they don’t always bite, sometimes they do.
Some sections of this climb were pretty technical and required use of your hands consistently.
After I got up to the top of that climb the rest of my day did get a bit easier. The trail leveled out a bit and every now and then I was able to move a bit quicker, though it was still incredibly slow going overall.
At this point in the day, I had a couple more hours of daylight. But I had originally planned a rather ambitious day which involve going about 29 miles. Typically that type of mileage wouldn’t be ambitious at all. But with the terrain here in southern Maine, I just never know how long is going to take to get to get around. As the day went on, though, it became very clear that I wasn’t going to make it there for the night.
Views from the top of the mountain. The trail doesn’t go up and over sugar loaf, but I got some great views prior to the junction for the peak.
Even though the trail was a little easier toward the end of the day, I was still pretty exhausted. It’s just been taking a lot of time and energy to navigate through the rocks and roots out here.
My main goal for the day, however, was to get enough mileage in that tomorrow afternoon I can get to Rangeley in the early afternoon. And with how slow going the trail is lately, that meant I did not want to leave too much mileage for tomorrow. So today the plan was just to go as far as possible. The last two hours of the day were definitely the hardest for me. My hip flexor felt pretty good. It was really just the bottom of my feet which were sore. I think that is due to the fact that I took two consecutive weeks off. Because I didn’t have any foot tenderness when I started the trail.
Toward at the end of the day I went through a section with a ton of blown down trees. It may be so grateful for all of the trail maintenance that we went by earlier. I still have to climb up and around maybe 10 or so trees. It wasn’t too bad. Then I made my way to the next shelter. I could see another hiker up ahead of me. But they must have cleared off and going to the shelter for the night. It was only around 5 PM at this point, so I decided to keep going and get more miles in.
Toward the end of the day I was walking on this beautiful lush pine trail. And even still, I was feeling the exhaustion from the more technical terrain I’ve been doing recently.
I wanted to go about six more miles for the day. But when I was about 25 miles into the day, I went by the most perfect camp spot. It was a flat sand spot on the bank right next to a river. It was only room for one tent, or maybe two cowboy camps. But I knew that the sound of the river would drown everything else out. That’s definitely when I see my best.
Physically, I feel like I should probably have done a few more miles for the day. But mentally I was definitely ready to be done for the day. Once I was 10 I ate some dinner. I’m still super bummed about my stuff not working. And I laid up and did some writing video work before calling it a night.
Tomorrow I have 15.4 miles to go. That will take me up and over the saddlebacks, then will drop me down to a road where I can get picked up for the night. Trail Angel named Mike has reached out about helping me out and hosting me in town. I had lunch with him up in Monson a couple weeks back. Now I’m back in his neck of the woods. The plan for tomorrow is that he is going to pick me up at the highway by 1 PM or sooner.
If you enjoyed this blog and would like to support my hike by buying me a soda or a snack along the way, there is a “Tip the Author” button below! It links directly to my Venmo. Any and all support is incredibly appreciated!
