This morning I woke up around 4AM and slowly began moving around. When I stood up, I was a little disappointed that I still felt sore. I did feel way better than I had last night. But I was still pretty tender and uncomfortable. I just felt really tight moving around. And I think my tightness has been almost like a sciatica. It just feels very limiting and kind of shoots up through my butt cheek and leg. But typically once I get moving, it tends to fade away entirely. Last night and this morning, though, it was just a little more intense than usual.
I began packing up slowly and started drinking some of my beverages that were still in the fridge and eating some more. At least a small part of me was worried that I would check out and start walking, and then have to come back to the Airbnb. Fortunately, it’s a lockbox style Airbnb. So if I did leave, I could come back. That made me feel a whole lot better at least. Though obviously I don’t want to do that. I’m just hoping that once I start moving everything loosens up. It’s very hard to imagine doing about 28 miles today with how I’m feeling right now.
I didn’t wind up eating everything that I had bought, but ate just about everything. I left a little bit of chips and dip that I had gotten. I never even touched my side salad either. Though I take down a ridiculous amount of calories last night and this morning. Then Just after 5 AM I threw all the last things out, locked up the Airbnb, and put the key back in the lock box. I’m really hoping I don’t have to come back here! The idea of backtracking after a few miles would be absolutely crazy.
A long ways to Houlton! But hopefully I’ll be there tonight.
It didn’t take more than 20 minutes of walking though for my body to completely loosen up. I went from being so tight and stiff that I was practically limping. And within maybe a half mile I felt so much better. Then after 1 or 2 miles I was walking completely normally and felt amazing. Not just good, but better than I actually did yesterday. This body thing is so weird! If this becomes a consistent trend then that’s totally fine with me. If I can hike for the entire day without any pain or discomfort, and just have to get loosened up when I start, then that’s manageable. I just feel like I’m in this limbo period where I’m not really sure exactly what’s going to happen. It’s the not knowing which worries me the most. Obviously I don’t want to injure myself or do anything stupid. So it’s just taking a lot of getting used to to figure out what’s happening with my body these days.
I was on cloud nine though once I loosened up and felt great. The first few hours of the day went by so quickly. The mosquitoes wound up being absolutely terrible though. Not long after I left the Airbnb I put my wind layers on and my head net. I wound up wearing that until almost noon. Even though I was sweating bullets and was so disgusting. I was getting swarmed by so many mosquitoes that it was well worth it to be a sweaty mess.
Crossing over a lovely river.
As I walked along paved road, I got some writing and video work done. I really need to get completely caught up again within the next 24 to 48 hours. I know once I’m back into the routine on trail in Maine and New Hampshire that I won’t have a ton of time every day. So I can’t afford to be behind. At least if I get all of the blogs edited and finalized then I can just post a couple every day until I’m caught up. The same goes for my videos as well. I have plenty of time every day to edit one video and one blog. But really don’t have enough time in the day to get caught up once I fall behind.
As I walked along the road, I got passed by some more horse and buggies with Amish people on them. Two guys stopped and talk to me and asked me where I was coming from. When I told him that I basically walked here from Florida they asked me how far that was. And were pretty shocked when I told them that I’ve gone over 4000 miles. By the end of the day today, I will be just shy of 4100 miles. I was in limbo around the 3900 mile mark for so long! It feels really good to be putting some serious mileage down once again. And now I’m insanely close to the physical halfway point of the border to border calendar year triple crown.
After a few hours of walking on pavement, I eventually got onto some dirt roads. Which were nice in some ways and less nice in other ways. Dirt roads are typically nicer than paved roads because they’re much quieter. But at the same time, you definitely have to watch your footing a lot more on dirt road versus paved road. And one of the best parts about road walking is how mindless it is. But at least today is going to be a mixture of both, so I was content with that.
Crossing between dirt road and paved road on and off.
I wound up walking on dirt road on and off for a couple hours. I went past a bunch of houses and cabins. Some of the roads were really quiet. I was shocked to see so many properties out in the middle of nowhere. And a lot of them were actually new construction. It was cool to go by some of the older dilapidated cabins, which had been there for such a long time. And then to go by these beautiful new wooden cabins, which are just finally being finished.
Eventually, I would be getting back out onto a main road, which at one point in time went by a couple local businesses. There used to be some kind of a gas station and a restaurant. Which would’ve been pretty exciting! But everything has since closed. I’m sure it’ll be more entertaining to be walking on the busier road regardless. But there won’t be any place for me to stop off before Houghton.
Now that I had service again, though, I did attempt to coordinate some more plans. I had already reached out to Loins of Arabia and Trash Panda, who work at the Appalachian Trail hostel. That’s the hostel in Millinocket, which is basically the first or last trail town of the Appalachian Trail. They helped Proffesor Carl in 2022 when he was doing the border to border calendar year triple crown. And I met them down on the Florida Trail a couple years ago. They wanted to help me out and give me a ride from the border down to Millinocket.
The outskirts of Houlton! It was a long day but felt like it went by pretty quickly.
I also got in touch with Hippie Chick from Shaws. Because eventually, I have to go back to Shaws to continue hiking south. I did the 6 miles south of Shaws but still have to do about 218 miles south toward the presidentials in New Hampshire. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get down there tonight or if I’ll have to get a ride tomorrow night. It really just depends on what time I finish and what everyone’s availability is.
When I did the math it seems like I’ll get to the Canadian border around 4:30 PM tonight. That was the time that I told Loins of Arabia. When I was in contact with Hippie Chick, she said that their Shuttle Driver Mike actually had to go up to Baxter State Park tonight. He was going to be in that area around 6:30 PM. Which meant he would be very close to Millinocket. So if I do actually wind up finishing around the Canadian border by 4:30-5PM, then there’s a really good chance I’ll be able to get a ride back down to Shaws tonight.
That’s really not essential but would be very nice. I definitely got up to the Canadian border much faster than I had originally anticipated. So there’s a good chance that I’ll either zero or nero tomorrow. I wasn’t planning on being back to Shaws until most likely Saturday morning originally. So now I’m not in a huge rush to get back tonight if the timing doesn’t work out. But it would be pretty cool to get back there tonight so I could have a chill day tomorrow. I definitely want to try to take care of my body and not push myself too hard. Especially after doing basically three continuous 30 mile days back to back. But the mileage the last few days has really been determined by the road. Doing less wasn’t an option truly.
Luckily, all day long today my body felt so incredibly good. I was probably the loosest that I’ve felt since getting back on trail. And as the miles continued to stack up I was just pleasantly surprised that I still felt so good. Especially after how I felt last night and into this morning. It’s shocking that I can feel so good after being so tight last night. This whole thing is quite the mystery. When I was maybe 6 or 7 miles out from Houghton I decided to stop off for a break. I wanted to do a little bit of stretching and more than anything give my feet rest. The only part of my body that is sore today are the bottoms of my feet. Which is not something that typically gets sore on me. But isn’t super surprising.
I sat alongside the road and relaxed for maybe 10 minutes. I did a few stretches, but mostly just let my legs and feet be limp. Then I got up and began moving again. As I walked, I did get a decent amount of writing and video work done. But definitely not as much as I would’ve hoped. Sometimes I don’t have the attention span for it. Or I’m focused too much on the road or my body. My feet were screaming at me a little bit today, which meant that my brain wasn’t working very well in terms of being able to do blogging. I’m pretty good at silencing my mind. But I can’t do that while simultaneously being creative. I can do one or the other.
By around 3 PM I got close to the edge of Houghton. Then I would be walking through town for a handful more miles. I plan to stop off and grab something to eat before I tag the border. I was absolutely starving at this point and just really wanted something to preoccupy my mind. I reconfirmed my pick up time with Loins of Arabia. It was definitely looking like I’d be at the border right around 4:30 PM and apparently there’s a duty-free store right by the border. Which will be the perfect place for her to park and pick me up after I tag the monument. Proffesor Carl told me that there is some kind of a monument there at the border. Which is nice! I know it’s not a legitimate checkpoint so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.
I came a long ways from Island Falls this morning! And still a couple miles to go to the border.
As I got further into town, I called in some food to pick up along my route. I saw that I was going to walk right past the Chinese restaurant. And couldn’t resist ordering some crab rangoons and potstickers to take on the go. Those are kind of the perfect thing to eat while you walk. Though I figured it was going to be a mess and quite the show for passers by.
The Chinese place was a few miles into town and about 2 miles from the Canadian border. Which left me plenty of time to eat and walk as I made my way there. What a fun way to finish off those final miles to Canada. The potstickers were crazy hot, but were greasy and delicious. I got extra dipping sauce, which was so good and I ate the entire container of them ridiculously fast. There were so many of them too, and they were absolutely massive. I was a hot mess after I finished those and I had to take my backpack off and pull out some wet wipes to clean my hands. Then I packed the trash away into the bag and began working on the crab rangoons. Both were really good, which I was pretty surprised by. It’s tough to say whether or not Chinese food will be good when you’re this far north. I know Massachusetts and New York have some killer Chinese food. But the only other time I’ve had Chinese food in Maine was in Millinocket when I finished the Appalachian Trail in 2023. And I did think it was very good, but it’s always hard to tell the quality of food when you’re so dang hungry.
A quick stop for Chinese food and then onward to Canada.
Eventually I finished all of the food and just had a big bag of trash remaining. But didn’t have to walk too long before I went past the dumpster. That was super convenient and then I got cleaned up and just kept on going. I only had another mile or so to get to the border. And Loins of Arabia had texted me that she would probably be there 10 or 15 minutes before me. Everything is working out so well!
By this point in the day, I was definitely pretty tired. I was ready to stop, as I’ve gone just shy of 30 miles already. But the only part of me that was sore was the bottoms of my feet. Which is a very manageable pain and something that definitely happens when you hike. Typically for me I don’t start getting pain at the bottoms of my feet until I’m 35–40 miles into a road walk. My body is just very used to the mileage that I put it through. But after taking 2 weeks off my feet, I’m not at all surprised that my feet are sore doing 30s on the road. Especially back to back. But at least it was a pretty manageable pain and I was just glad to not have any discomfort near my injury.
Eventually, I got up to the duty-free store and Louns of Arabia was there waiting for me. It was so cool to see her again! It’s been a couple years since I saw her last, though we’ve stayed in touch a bit on social media. And I’ve been in touch with her and her partner over the course of my thru hike this year. It’s just always so delightful to reunite with hikers who you’ve crossed paths with before.
She walked with me that last quarter mile to tag the Canadian border. Which was just the end of a road marked by a few small monuments. They were no more than a foot and a half tall, but there was one every 50 feet or so along the side of a hill. It wasn’t the border that I might have imagined, but it was there! I got to get a picture next to one of the little monuments and then we headed back to the car.
The most anticlimactic border monument of all time.
It was an hour drive to get back to Millinocket. And my ride was all set up to get driven from Millinocket down to Monson later on this evening. So I had everything all figured out. Loins of Arabia and I talked and shared stories in the car. It was so cool to hear how she’s been doing and how this hiking season has been treating her. She’s pregnant right now with her first child, which is incredibly exciting. But I can only imagine how exhausting it is to manage a hostel and simultaneously be bringing life into this world. She’s very incredible though.
A photo at the tiniest little Canadian border monument.
When we got into Millinocket, we stopped off at McDonald’s and she treated me to a soda and a milkshake. Then headed over to the Appalachian Trail hostel. I’ve actually never been to this hostel before so I was really excited to look around. And maybe see some more hikers! But I knew I wouldn’t be here too long. I had about an hour until Mike from Shaws would come and pick me up.
Inside I hung out with Loins of Arabia, Trash Panda, there other three employees, and a couple other hikers. They have a really nice gear shop with everything you can imagine. I actually wound up buying some toaks tent stakes because a couple of mine are very badly bent. They survived 4,000 miles though! Which is pretty dang good. And I got a roll of KT tape because I know I’m going to be using a whole lot of that. It’ll be nice to take all the strips off that I have on right now and redo them. Because a couple of them are already starting to peel. If you’re even remotely damp or sweaty when you put the tape on, then it does not stick very well. And it really only works it’s best when you’re able to get it on very well.
The time went by so quickly while I hung out with everyone at the gear shop. And before I knew it, Mike had arrived to take me back down south to Monson. It was sad to say goodbye to Loins of Arabia and Trash Panda. It would’ve been really cool to stay at the hostel and just get to spend the night with everybody. But it just makes more sense to head down to Monson tonight when the ride is available. Versus having to get picked up tomorrow morning, which could cut into a day of slack packing. I’m not sure how I’m going to be feeling tomorrow or what I plan to do. But this will leave me with more options.
The car ride down to Monson was about an hour and a half, which wasn’t too bad. I knew I’d be super stiff by the time I got out. Because just in the time I was sitting around the gear shop, I had really stiffen up. It’s crazy that I could’ve done 29 miles today and felt amazing the entire time. Then I finally stopped moving and sat down on the ground and by the time I stood up, I was limping around. I felt so ridiculously stiff and I looked absolutely crazy. But all day today I was walking really normal with no limp and felt great. It’s so strange that this has been happening. But at least I’m able to hike all day long and feel good? I guess that’s the only bright side.
It was nice to get to chat with Mike as we drove back to Monson. The conversation basically never lulled the whole time we were in the car. I finished off my Dr Pepper and my milkshake while we drove as well. And the time went by very quickly as we headed back to town. It was right around 8 PM when we pulled into Monson and headed over to the hostel. And I was so excited to see everyone again. Shaws is my little home away from home this year on trail!
Everyone was hanging out surrounding a fire and was grilling when I arrived. Hippie Chick came up and greeted me with a hug! It was so nice to see her again. We joked about how I was limping around even though I had just done 170 miles in about a week. Or something around that. But she said she’s dealt with sciatica in the past and it’s actually really typical for her to get tight like that after sitting. Not just in a car, but in general. Which is something I’ve been experiencing recently. If I lay down, it’s easy for me to get back up. But if I’m sitting then it’s very hard for me to get moving again. I just get so ridiculously tight.
I dropped my backpack on the porch and then went to sit by the fire and hang out with everybody. Trippy, Cooper and a ton of hikers were there. There were a bunch of south bound hikers and also some northbound hikers as well. Then I got to see and talk to Poet. Everyone’s just so happy that I was able to do this last section of miles and finally be getting back on track. And I’m just so happy to be here again. It’s Thursday today and there’s a summer solstice party on Saturday. So I think I’m just going to try to slack pack a couple days so that I can hang out for the summer solstice party. Ever since is getting injured I just don’t feel the insane rush that I felt previously. I know I’m going to make it and I think right now I need to be slowing down more than ever.
Plus, I just re-calculated my mileage and everything today. So long as I get back on the PCT by the end of June or 1st of July, I’m right on track still. If I am back on the PCT by then that means I only have to average 26 miles a day to finish by the end of November. Which means that thanks to all my 35 mile days on the PCT, taking two weeks off for injury hardly even changed my ETA at all. It bumped me back by a handful of days. And I went from having to average 25 miles a day to having the average 26 miles a day. In the grand scheme of things this really didn’t shift my schedule around that much at all. Sure, I had a lot more wiggle room before. Basically infinite wiggle room. But that provided me with the ability to get injured and heal for two weeks without worry. I feel very lucky for that.
Plus, I wasn’t supposed to get here for another day or so. So I’m gonna take it slow the next two days and then get back into the swing of things. After a pretty hard week out and doing a lot of big miles I think my body will appreciate slowing down a little. It felt like a big relief to finally do that math though. It’s been a really long time since I calculated all of that. I think the last time that I checked my mileage was getting into Aguadulce on the PCT. And following that, I was doing 35–40 miles every single day. So clearly that made a really big difference in my schedule.
For the rest of the night at Shaws, everybody just hung out outside by the fire. Then it started to rain and eventually a storm rolled in. While we were all sitting outside, thunder cracked and lightning struck within a millisecond of each other. I don’t think I’d ever experience the two happening so quickly back to back. The people who were facing the opposite direction of me actually saw the lightning strike, not far away. Everybody headed inside pretty shortly after that. Plus, it started to absolutely poor.
The hostel is basically full tonight and tomorrow night so I wound up staying in Hippie Chick and Poet’s house for the night. They have a spare room so it works out perfectly. And that way they can maximize fitting as many guest into the hostel as possible. Especially with some bad weather rolling in. Hikers are definitely going to be wanting to stay additional days. At least that’s what usually happens.
My tarot reading from this evening.
I stayed up for a while with Hippie Chick just hanging out. She did my tarot card reading again like she did when I was here before. And this time the reading was so much more positive. It was actually kind of crazy how much it painted a picture of the last couple weeks. You pull three cards, one of your past, one of your present, and one of your future. And they just seemed to perfectly represent what’s been going on and what I hope for the future as well. Not long after that I decided to head into the room and lay down for the night. I did a bit of writing and video work and then called it a night. I’m not sure yet whether or not I’m going to slack pack tomorrow. I’m just going to get up in time for breakfast at 7 AM and then decide after that.
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