This morning when I woke up, I did not want to leave! It was definitely a combination of things. For starters, even after spending two weeks here, I now felt oddly rushed to leave. Mostly because I got in fairly late last night and didn’t have a ton of time to get things sorted. Now this morning I had to pack up, resupply, plan out the mileage for a food drop, and also think about upcoming weather.
It will be very interesting to see how other play out for my summit day. It’s hard to work around because it looks like multiple days back to back are going to have rain. So it’s not as simple as being able to dodge it or take one day off in between. If I was in my normal shape, I could just push a few really big days and summit on Monday, when the weather looks it’s best. But I don’t think I’m in a position right now to do 30+ mile days. So that absolutely is not an option.
That means I’m really just going to have to hope for the best. I’m hopeful that either Tuesday or Wednesday will be clear enough to go up safely to Katahdin. And ideally, I’ll set myself up to be there early enough to either summit on the first day, or stay at the campground and wait out the weather for the following day. Allowing myself to summit the next day if things look more clear. I really could care less about good views on the mountain or anything like that. I don’t really even mind going up in the rain necessarily or being a little bit cold. But just like the white mountains, Mount Katahdin is no joke. With the right combination of rain, sleet, wind, etc., you can be in a really bad position on top of that mountain. And after waiting so long to get back on trail, that’s the last thing that I want to do.
On a much less important note, I was so tired last night and spent so much time planning that I didn’t get caught up on writing or video work. I’m currently behind by multiple days and have a lot to do. So when I got up this morning I was incredibly tempted to take the day off. My body is a little bit sore but nothing too crazy. Considering I did about 15 miles yesterday on hard terrain, I’m pleasantly surprised by how I feel. I do think that I’m ready to hike out. But all of the stuff was hanging over me and making it feel impossible to leave.
I wound up going down to breakfast, which was delightful. Then I talked to Hippie Chick and expressed briefly what I was thinking. And she encouraged me to have a slow start to the day, but ideally still hike out. Then I could hang around for most of the morning and attempt to work through some of these things. And still get dropped at the trailhead later so I can get at least some miles in and wake up on trail tomorrow. I knew she was right, but the weak person in me really wanted her to encourage me to stay. I know that that isn’t the smart move though. Any amount of mileage that I do today is going to help me in the long run when it comes to attempting to time out my climb up Mount Katahdin.
After breakfast I went upstairs, stripped my bed, and packed my pack for the final time. It’s sad leaving! Even though I’ve been here for so long and I’m so excited to get back to trail, I’ve grown so comfortable here and felt so welcome. Hippie Chick, Poet, their family, and all of the other staff here, have been so incredibly kind to me. I never felt out of place, and all aspects of this environment were warm and welcoming. It was truly the ideal place to rest and heal. And a place I will be excited to come back to you in the future. The nice thing is I’ll be back here fairly soon!
After I tag the Canadian border, I’m going to come back to Monson to head southbound. I have to complete the miles between here and the end of the Presidentials in the whites. Which doesn’t feel like a lot, but actually is fairly substantial. When I originally came back out east, I was doing such big days that I figured I would be done in about 2.5 weeks. And then spent nearly as much time healing as I would have hiking all of this mileage in total.
Once I got my room emptied out and all of my gear packed away, I headed downstairs. Then left my backpack in the hostel and walked over to the gear shop. I had to grab a few last minute things and then figured out a food drop and resupply. Ideally I’ll carry about two or so days of food and then get a food drop at Joe Mary Road. That is 45 miles from where I’m getting back on trail. Which once again doesn’t feel like a lot, but is fairly hard to predict because I haven’t been hiking. And I definitely want to ease back in fairly gingerly.
So I need to decide what kind of mileage I think I’m going to be doing and how long it’ll take to get there. It’s definitely a good idea for me to get out and do some amount of mileage today. Just to make my life easier in the days to come. Though as of right now, the forecast for Tuesday looks much worse than the forecast for Wednesday. So while I might still attempt to move fast enough to get to Baxter State Park for Tuesday, it’s probably more likely I’ll summit on Wednesday. And I would have to do some impressive mileage to get there any sooner than Wednesday.
I grabbed what I needed at the store and after over two weeks of staying there, I finally closed out my tab. A Trail Angel Mike, who actually came and had lunch with me a week or so ago, helped out a lot with my stay here. He had reached out back in February about supporting me when I was in New Hampshire and Maine. And he was actually the same person who warned me of the nor’easter when I flew back to the East Coast. Then when I posted that I was going up to Shaws, he called Hippie Chick and told her that he wanted to pay for some of my stay. And I’m unbelievably appreciative of the help, especially considering how long my stay wound up being. Though at the end of the day, staying here at a hostel wound up being way cheaper than staying in a hotel would have been. And probably would’ve come fairly close to breaking even with the cost of traveling all the way back home and then coming back to trail. So in the end, I do think I made the right decision.
Plus, mentally I could not leave the trail. I realize it might have made more sense to a lot of people to go home to heal. Not just financially, but also emotionally. But for me, I think the idea of getting too far off trail just made my injury seem so much worse. If I had gone home, it was almost like admitting defeat. Or agreeing that my time on trail was officially over. Whereas for me, staying at a hostel, surrounded by hikers, the trail, and the community, made it feel like I was just taking a break. I was just off trail healing injury, and physically as soon as I was better, I could step out the door and be back on trail.
Obviously, both scenarios would have had the same result in theory. But for me, remaining close to the trail was a critical component of staying in the game mentally.
In the gear shop, I got all kinds of snacks and goodies and packed up a two day resupply. If it’s a little more than two days then that’s ok as well. I will be able to get some snacks at the Abol bridge store before summiting Mount Katahdin. But after I go up Katahdin, I don’t get to simply hike 5 miles and come back down. I’ll have 70 miles to the Canadian border. Which would either be two days of walking, if I was in my regular state of being. Or more likely 2.5 or 3 days depending on how I’m feeling by then. I’ll definitely just have to see how the next handful of days go.
After I grabbed everything, I hung out and waited to talk to either Poet or Hippie Chick about exactly where I should plan the drop. The nice thing is though, I’ll have service in the next day or so on some of the high points. By then I’ll have a much better idea of where I’m camping and where I’ll be the following day. So I can probably finalize the meet up on the fly.
I still wasn’t eager to leave so I sat outside and watched a couple southbound hikers go through their backpacks with Poet. One hikers pack was about 50 pounds and Poet helps him to get rid of 20+ pounds of gear! All completely unessential and unnecessary things that he brought along, likely due to some fear and inexperience. Which is very typical on a first thru hike and something I’ve personally done. The other hikers pack was about 43 pounds and she got rid of over 10 pounds. Which I’m sure both of them can definitely feel off their backs.
Before leaving town, I went to the general store to grab a sandwich and a couple last-minute things. Then finished saying goodbye to everyone, grabbed my things, and Poet brought me back to the trailhead. It’s been so wonderful staying here at Shaws. I think depending on what I do next year I would love to come and do work for stay here. It would make me so happy to actually be useful around this place. Versus hanging out for two weeks pretty much an immobile. This two week time of my life is something I’ll never forget and something I’m going to cherish forever. The pain and the patience that these last 17 days required of me was immense. And being able to heal in such a loving and safe place was absolutely priceless.
Once I got up to one of the first high points of the day I was rewarded with epic views of this lake off in the distance.
When Poet dropped me off, he sent me off with one of his iconic haiku’s. Then I was back into the woods, officially fully back on trail. Not slack packing or going out for a short day! I’m heading into the hundred mile wilderness destined for Mount Katahdin. While there are still roads that I could use as a safety net in case of emergency, I have no intention of heading back indoors until after I tag the Canadian border. Which is about 170 miles away. So I’ll be out for most likely the next seven days. I’m glad I didn’t mail home my other charging brick. I think it’ll be nice to have extra charge for this section because I won’t have an opportunity to stop off anywhere. I also don’t think I’m really going to have any service over this next week, except for on a brief occasion. So I likely won’t use too much charge.
Making my way up a steep rocky climb.
I was back on trail by 1 PM heading north toward Mount Katahdin. I’m so excited to make it to Canada and at least check something off my list. Sure, I won’t be done with the Appalachian Trail. But it’ll just be nice to be moving in any direction at all. My goal for today is to hopefully do about 11 or 12 miles. There’s a shelter about 5 or 6 miles into the day. And then another one nearly 12 miles in for the day. Even if I’m going 2 mph or less, I should definitely be able to get there before dark. And going a little further today would set me up much better for tomorrow and my food drop the following day.
I felt so lucky to be out on trail today. This trail is so beautiful and the weather couldn’t have been better.
The day began with a fairly steep climb, which I actually enjoyed. The elevation gain out here really doesn’t bother me. And my body doesn’t seem to mind either, which is nice. At times the trail was rocky and exposed, but I really enjoyed that too. And I was pleased to check my watch and see that at most times I was moving closer to 2 mph than less. Some sections of the trail were a bit more technical and slowed me down. And sometimes I felt a little more sore than other times, so I slowed myself down.
The trail went up and down to a couple different high points. At one point, I popped out through the trees and got some incredible views. The weather today is perfect and the sky is bright blue. I wound up climbing up to a fire tower, which I vividly remembered passing by in 2023. And remembered getting up to the top just before it started to rain back then. Then we bundled up and ran down the trail to get to the next shelter, off by a lake. Only to arrive at the shelter and find it full.
Climbing up to another high point, marked by a fire tower.
This time around, I had no intention of stopping off at the shelter. I bypassed the shelter, leaving myself with about eight or so miles to go for the day. I checked the time and checked my pace and figured I could be at camp by around 8 PM. Maybe a little earlier, maybe a little later, depending on how the terrain treated me. But nowadays, the sun sets so incredibly late, it definitely would still be light out.
Walking along some brand new boardwalks across a boggy area.
As I walked, I saw a hiker up ahead of me going southbound. It took me a second but then I realized it was Don’t Get Up Will, a hiker that I met somewhere around Massachusetts on the trail previously. She was so ridiculously nice and we took a picture together. I knew she was up near Katahdin when the hikers went missing last week. But wasn’t sure what her itinerary was and if our paths would cross. So today this was quite the surprise. She was stoked and it was awesome to see a familiar and friendly face. We talked for a little while before she continued south and I continued north.
The trail actually goes right past this old plane crash, which is pretty dang cool!
She told me that there was at least one hiker in the shelter that I was headed to. And reminded me that the terrain wasn’t too bad, but certainly wasn’t going to be speedy. I remember doing this entire section of the trail in the pouring rain. I had previously camped at the shelter that I just passed. Then we hiked for nearly 30 miles the following day in the pouring rain the whole time. So if I was able to do all of this terrain then when the ground was a slippery watery mess, I knew I would be fare much better today.
Luckily, it hasn’t rained for a couple days so there actually wasn’t a ton of mud on the trail. You could see remnants of areas which were probably pretty bad more recently. And the trail was definitely covered in rocks and roots, and there were some technical sections that slowed me down. Overall, I was feeling really good. And as I crested over the halfway point for the day, I found myself feeling even better than in the first half of the day. Sometimes I just need to relax and things need to loosen up. And I do find that very random changes in the grade of the trail makes my body feel notably better. But it’s not necessarily uphill, downhill, or flat. Just very random and particular grades.
It’s crazy to think about a plane crashing into such a dense area of forest.
As I walked today, I spent a lot of time thinking about Shaws and the time that I spent there. I grew pretty sad thinking about the fact that I left and I no longer “live” there. I had so much fun staying there for the last two weeks. And just like I suspected, I knew that as soon as I left, I would be wishing for more downtime and wishing that I had cherished it more. But obviously in the moment I was so eager to be on the move. I knew that this would be a reality before it even happened. I feel so lucky though to have spent so much time with such incredible people.
Some of my favorite photos and memories from my time at Shaw’s!
People that make it sad to leave a place, even when you’re leaving to do the thing you love the most. How lucky am I? It’s not every day you meet people who are so kind, welcoming, funny, and everything else. So fantastic that when all that you want is to leave and hike, leaving still breaks your heart. I’ll forever cherish my time there at Shaws. And I can’t wait to complete this next leg of my journey so that I can briefly return.
A nice dinner with the gang at the hostel earlier this week.
Over the remainder of the evening I had lots of wildly steep ascents and descents. I was going through the chairback section of the hundred mile wilderness. Which starts with basically one big climb to bring you up to a solid foundation of height. Then you would continue going up and down and up and down, for most of the rest of the day. Tonight I would be staying at chairback gap shelter. Just south of chairback mountain. And just north of one of the other climbs through the chair backs. Nestled right in the middle.
Breakfast a handful of days ago with a bunch of southbound hikers.
As the day progressed, I was pleasantly surprised how good I felt. Even though I’m only going about 11 or 12 miles today, I still felt better than I had at this mile marker yesterday. And right now I’m carrying all of my gear and food. That seems like a good sign to me. You’d think if hiking out was going to make things worse that it probably would’ve happened already? I guess it’s hard to say.
When I was about a mile and a half from the shelter, I stopped off to get water. It seemed like there was a water source downhill from the shelter, but significantly downhill. I had no desire to go on the hunt once I got to camp for the night. I would much rather go uphill for the rest of the day with the little extra water. Plus, I’ll hit a source fairly early on in the day tomorrow, so I didn’t need to load up completely.
Then I embarked on my final climb of the day up one of the chair back portions. I passed by so many amazing spots where I could’ve camped. Most of them were prior to getting water though. And honestly, the bugs hadn’t been bad for the entire day. I was fairly optimistic that I might actually be able to sleep in the shelter tonight. I was not expecting to sleep in a single shelter in all of Maine. So that would be a really nice surprise.
After I got up to the top of my final climb of the day, I had a decent descent down to the shelter. Time had gone by quicker than I expected, though. And my body still felt very strong and loose. As I approached the shelter I was surprised to watch a southbound hiker approaching the opposite way at the exact same time. Which was pretty dang cool. There were also two other people who are set up inside already and also going southbound. And there was plenty of room for the four of us.
Views on top of another exposed high point.
I got situated and chatted with two of the guys at the shelter. The other guy must’ve been pretty exhausted because he really didn’t talk at all. Which is understandable because their hike is just beginning. The other two guys I talked to have both thru hiked before, so it seemed like they had an idea of how the whole process worked and they weren’t too beat up. It was so fun talking with them about the different trails along the triple crown. Both of them had done the PCT as well. One of the guys actually did the CDT last year too!
And in the true fashion of the trail, this guy Taco and I shared stories about the CDT for a super long time. But it took us about an hour of talking and sharing stories until we realized that we met last year on the CDT. I did a bunch of side trails Around the Gros Ventre Wilderness, Teton Crest Trail, and Wind River High Route. During that time, I only saw three southbound hikers. One of them was actually my buddy Kaboom who I was pretty surprised to run into, but knew that he was in the area. He was walking with two other guys Taco and Extra. Even looking this guy in the face though, and knowing his trail name, it just took a while for the whole memory to flood back. In the last three or four years I’ve met so many hikers, heard so many trail names, and lived a ridiculous number of vivid and unique experiences. But once we realized this, it was absolutely hilarious! To think we had met before, and didn’t even know it. I love this crazy life.
The three of us stayed up talking for a super long time. I made my dinner while we chatted and got everything ready for the night. Tonight I had the pepperoni pizza bowl Mountain house meal, which is one of their new ones. And it was ridiculously good! 100% I will be looking for that one again. And now I’m so excited to try the other two new flavors. Mountain house meals have been a huge staple for my hike this year, and it’s extra exciting to try one that I’ve never had before.
After a while, everyone got comfortable in their quilts and began calling in a night. I did my new much longer stretching and PT routine. Which is understandably much easier to do on a bed than it is to do on my thermarest. But I made it work. After that, I was so exhausted that I only managed to get a little bit of video work done before calling it at night. And I have such an obscene amount of writing to do that. I’ll have to just wait for a perfect moment and try to voice to text and edit all of it. At least I know I’ll be doing some road walking after Katahdin. And dirt road walking is the absolute perfect environment for blogging.
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