Unedited
At Trail Days in Damascus, Virginia in late May, an 80 year old man (a local resident and former AT hiker) lost control of his car during the hiker parade and injured over fifty people. I entered my eleventh triathlon in late May. I am certainly not anywhere near first in my age group, but not last either.
On Memorial Day, I went along with Ben, Michelle and John (my now 1½ year old grandson) on John’s first hike. Though he has been walking since before New Year, I carried him in a backpack the family had. The Wildlands Conservancy is a mile from their home and proved to be perfect for a few miles in the woods. On cue the dear and ducks were very cooperative.
After an early May trip back to Tennessee and North Carolina, I wanted to get back to the challenging North. I still had to finish the section from Pinkham Notch to Gorham and then north from East B Hill Road. I had enjoyed working with the Keane family from Bethel Maine the previous year. Virginia was encouraging about them helping me again. It gave her comfort to know I was not out in these tough sections on my own.
Katlyn had graduated from college (with honors) but was working in Vermont for the summer. Steve had a canoe trip planned but Marie was up for helping me. We planned to finish off New Hampshire over two days, staying at the Carter Notch Hut and then another three days up into Maine. It was a good plan. Oops.
Marie and I met on Saturday June 22 at the Rattle River trailhead near Gorham. While waiting I met Dave from Vermont. He was Southbound thru hiker who had just come the Mahoosuc Mountains. Though early, he was up for a beer while he waited for his wife and a weekend of R&R. We left my car hoping to hike out to it the next day. Marie’s daughter Molly shuttled us down to Pinkham Notch. It was mid morning. There seemed to be no reason to start that early since it was ONLY six miles to the Carter Notch Hut. Wasn’t that my strategy last year? Marie had a large pack with food for our lunches, extra water and emergency supplies. There was that first easy mile from the Pinkham Notch Visitors Center. Marie took my picture at Lost Pond. I looked surprisingly fresh.
We began our assault of the Wildcat Mountains. It was appropriate name, I thought. It was 2000 ft in 1 and ½ miles and was mostly boulder scrambling. Every now and then you had a break climbing a rock face on wooden steps bolted into the rocks. It is hard to describe how tough this was and we struggled but made slow and steady progress. At Sarge’s Crag about half way up, there were great views down to Pinkham Notch and across Rt 16 to Mount Washington and Huntington Ravine. Dark clouds were looming.
We were exhausted when we arrived at the Wildcat Mountain Ski Area Gondola in the col between Wildcat E and D. Four more Wildcats to go. We had been hiking almost four hours and had gone a total of three miles. We actually discussed bailing off the mountain and taking the Gondola down. It was getting darker.
We continued on and soon arrived at the viewing platform at Wildcat D. It started to rain and the views became more limited. The next two miles only climbed another 500 ft(net), but they were still tough miles in the sporadic showers. Finally we reached the peak of Wildcat Mountain A at 4,422 ft. It was 5PM. We could see down into Carter Notch and the Lakes and the hut compound. They looked like tiny specks, 1000 ft below us.
Marie had developed a limp but using one of my hiking poles seemed to help. I did not need it anyway on the tough descent. Grabbing trees and butt sliding were safer and easier. We reached the hut at 6:15 and quickly found bunks and washed up for dinner which had already started. It had taken us eight hours to hike the six miles from Pinkham Notch.
We both recovered at dinner. There were only about 10 paying guests at the hut including about five kids ages four to sixteen. There was a family with two young girls ages 4 and 6. They had hiked the four miles up from Rt 16 on the Nineteen-Mile Brook Trail and claimed it was easy. Easy is relative in the Whites. We were still at 3500 ft. How easy could it have been? I was beginning to see a way off the mountain. Although we talked about the next day, it was becoming obvious that the 15 miles out to Gorham in one day was beyond our combined capabilities, we decided to wait until morning to develop a plan.
The views from the hut compound with the main building (dining room), two separate bunkhouses and a separate bathroom building, were spectacular and intimidating. We were in the notch with the Wildcats on one side and Carter Dome on the other. Marie seemed to be enjoying her hut experience. With the limited number of guests consisting of about four families, Marie and I each had our own bunkroom. Even so, as usual, I did not sleep very well.
A hut croo member woke us up with a banjo serenade.
Before breakfast, I decided to pull the plug on even a shortened goal and we hiked out to Rt 16 on the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail. Marie would have soldiered on, but I thought we needed to regroup. We studied the maps for a revised plan. The hike out the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail was easy and mostly a slight down. I was still impressed by the 4 and 6 year old girls using that trail.
Marie and I arrived at the road and now had to figure how to get back to my car at the Rattle River trailhead. Checking the schedule, the AMC shuttle was due to arrive in five minutes around 11AM. This was more trail magic. It took us to Gorham. I was able to get a hitch first, retrieved my car and came back to pick up Marie to head back to Bethel.
Monday was a planned day off since Marie had responsibility at her school where she taught. I was figuring on a needed rest day after the planned 15 mile hike which now had not happened. We studied the maps more and decided we would hike back into Carter Notch on Tuesday and then hike up Carter Dome on Wednesday morning and continue along the Carter Range for a total of six miles on the AT and then down the North Carter and Imp Trails to get back to the road. We’d try that and see how it went. It was a total of about ten miles.
After I dropped Marie off at her home, I checked into my Bethel Motel and continued to study the maps. I decided I would try to do a little piece on the section even though it would mean side trails and little AT mileage. This would make the final section out to Gorham doable for us on Thursday or Friday.
So the next morning I pulled into the Stony Brook Trailhead on Rt 16. My plan was to hike up the Stony Brook trail (3.6 miles) and then 2.6 miles on the AT to the North Carter trail, turn around and hike back to my car the same way I came. It would be 12.2 miles total. It was a good plan. I had plenty of food and water in my day pack.
The first two miles up the Stony Brook trail were fairly easy along Stony Brook. I did get a little lost thinking I should cross the Brook about a mile in. Apparently I was not supposed to do that and floundered, crossed the brook again to find my way and bush wacked up a bank to find the blue blazes on a ridge on the north side of Stony Brook. The last mile and a half were tougher and steeper to get another 1000 ft up to the AT.
When I hit the AT, I headed south. The hiking was nice in the scrub pine zone and I reached an open summit just before the Imp Shelter area. A few young people had hiked up to this summit from the Imp Shelter where they were staying for the night. They warned of the tough climb ahead up North Carter. How hard could it be, I thought.
From the col at the side trail to the Imp Shelter, the up began. The first 8/10ths of a mile were not terrible, up about 500 ft. The next half mile was an almost straight up vertical of another 800 ft. Although not all that long, it was very difficult and took a full forty five minutes to negotiate. There were many steep and difficult rock faces to climb and places you needed to pull yourself up. There were always nicely crafted hand and footholds, but the climb was not for the faint of heart.
Once I reached the top, there was a nice level half mile across to the junction with the Carter Notch Trail. It was a good time to break for lunch and ponder what to do next. My plan was to reverse my steps back to my car. It was 6.1 miles and I really wanted no part of climbing down North Carter. My option was 4.3 miles down the North Carter and Imp Trails to the road and then a five mile road walk or hitch back to my car. It was not really a hard decision.
The hike down the North Carter Trail was not too tough, almost pleasant. I reached the junction of the Imp trail which I could take left or right for the south or north parts of the Imp trail. Both came out to Rt 16 within a half mile of each other. I went left and the south trail was a pleasant down though there were some muddy spots and running water on the trail. Within a mile of the road I came to an intersection that was not marked. A grassy road to the left seemed to head more directly to the road so I went that way.
In about 10 minutes, I ended up in a work area where volunteers are staged for various trail maintenance projects. I stood around for a while and though there were a few people around, no one gave me much of a look. I just decided to go back the way I came and took the other route and continued on the Imp trail to the road. It was now about 4PM and I had hiked the 10.4 miles in about eight hours. It took about fifteen minutes to get a hitch back to my car at the Stony Brook Trailhead. I drove back to my Bethel motel.
After lunch the next day, Marie and I met at the North Imp trailhead where we left my car. I had come down the South Imp trail the day before, but from the map it did not appear to make much difference. I need to learn to read maps better. Marie’s son Matthew shuttled us down to the Nineteen Mile Brook trailhead so that we could hike in to the Carter Notch Hut where we stayed the night again. The hike up was harder than down, but no big deal. We reached the Hut about 4:30 and lucked out again each having a bunk room for ourselves. A half an hour later it began to pour. A mother and her ten year old son arrived during the downpour. They looked like drowned rats. The young man was logging 4,000 footers.
We had dinner with John, a retired (in his forties) NYC fire fighter and John and Elizabeth from Connecticut. All were experienced White Mountain veterans. John and Elizabeth had a daughter who had served on the hut croos the summer before. John’s gift to Elizabeth for their anniversary was a hike of the Wildcats. She seemed unsure about it. Elizabeth talked about the hut croo experience of their daughter. The kids line up for these positions, they are hard to get and some come back year after year even though the pay is low and the work is hard. Elizabeth made it a point to tip well which I always did in the huts.
There was a presentation by the head of the hut naturalists that evening and another by a full time trail maintenance worker who had a personal relationship with his axe that he slept with. Both were nice young kids.
Marie and I spent time after dinner talking to Debbie, an AT section hiker like me. She was doing the hike out to Gorham over two days. At that point she would only have the section from Pinkham Notch to Crawford Notch over Mount Washington (about 30 miles to) complete the AT. She had been working on it since she and her husband had retired about four years earlier. Her husband stayed in a camper they had in nearby campgrounds and he would meet her at trailheads either each day or at times she would stay out a few days at a time and stay in the shelters. The next morning she started up Carter Dome a few minutes ahead of us and we never saw her again. She was slight of build but a tough cookie.
There was a family of four from Ottawa also staying in the hut.
It rained off and on overnight and despite a bunk room to myself and doubling up on the mattresses, I did not sleep very well thinking about the climb up Carter Dome. The same banjo player woke us up the next morning.
After breakfast, Marie and I packed up and I did my best to relieve Marie of some of the weight she was carrying hoping to even out the pack weights. I am not sure how much I succeeded, but I did take most of the water for the day. We began our assault of Carter Dome. It was 1500 feet in 1.2 miles to the top including a wild boulder scramble at the beginning of 600 ft in 3/10ths of a mile. On the way up there were several viewpoints looking back down into Carter Notch. The hut compound got smaller and smaller the more we climbed.
The hut naturalist passed us like we were standing still. She only had on a t shirt, gym shorts and sneakers and a tiny pack. This was her “commute” she said. She was hiking up and then down Carter Dome for “fun” on her way back to the Rt 16. I tried to get her to tell us the “bear story” that was mentioned by another crew member the night before (to her dismay). She would not give it up. It took us two hours to reach the summit of Carter Dome. We were elated that we were at the high point of the day (in fact the high point of the section) at 4832 feet. Careful, don’t celebrate too early.
At the summits there were low clouds, fog, some drizzle and then some clearing and sun. It seemed to change every half hour. Carter Dome was not quite the full open summit I expected with some scrub pines blocking some of the view back toward Washington. Although it did not look that hard on the map, the 300 foot down and then 200 foot up to the summit of Mt Hight was difficult for us.
The summit of Mt Hight was very open. We stopped to rest a while. Marie had been advised about the summit and how the trail could be confusing as it took a left hand turn. I am glad she was careful. I was nonchalant about it. It was easy to just enjoy the summit and then lose the way down. A French speaking, Canadian couple arrived at the summit. They had hiked all the way from Pinkham Notch this morning. Wow.
It was only about 6/10ths of a mile down off Mt Hight to Zeta Pass but 800 ft of elevation loss, so again it was very steep and tough. It was almost 1PM so we stopped for lunch. Marie made fantastic PB and J on Pita.
The hike up to South Carter and then Middle Carter was harder than it looked on the elevation profile. There were varieties of trail and some in low scrub pine giving great views though the weather still seemed to change every few minutes. It was still the nicest hiking of the day, but relentless as we both started to get very weary. It became a joke that we had reached the summit of Middle Carter for the seventh time.
When approaching the junction of the North Carter trail, a young girl northbound thru hiker came flying by us. She had hiked from the Osgood Campsite on the other side of Pinkham Notch. She had hiked 15 miles today including the Wildcats and Carter Dome. We had only hiked about 5 miles. She was really making good progress to be this far north in late June. 25 mile days had become routine for her. We had seen a few other northbound thru hikers, but not many and no other women. She said she thought she was about the 4th woman “in line” on the way to Katahdin.
Finally we reached the junction of the North Carter trail. About half way down, Marie asked me to go ahead since she was not feeling that well. She thought maybe she ate too much for breakfast which she was not used to. It gave me a minute to call Virginia and let her know our progress. I waited at the junction of the Imp Trail. Unlike the day before, I had decided to take the North Imp and leave my car at that trailhead. It was after all 1/10th of a mile shorter and I thought we could avoid some mud and running water on the trail. Oops.
The trail was nice but started to climb UP to the Imp Face. We had some stream crossings to negotiate and the North Imp Trail ended up being much more difficult than the South Imp Trail. The reward for the climbing was a fantastic view at the Imp Face. Just as we arrived, the weather broke into full sunshine with great views down in the Imp Brook Valley and across to Mt Madison, Mt Jefferson, Mt Clay and Mt Washington (though as usual Mt Washington was in the clouds). We rested there for a while taking it all in.
It was still another two tough miles and hours to my car. We arrived at 8PM. It had become a 12 hour day to hike the ten miles. We were exhausted. We recovered a little on the drive back to Bethel, but there was no way either of us could hike the next day. We set up a plan for Friday, hoping to complete what remained of this dastardly difficult twenty one mile section to Gorham. When I dropped Marie off, we gave each other a big hug for what we had endured together.
I slept very well in my Bethel motel but was still up early. With a free day, I decided to drive up into Maine to scout out the trailheads for another planned trip in August. I stopped at the large trailhead lot on Rt 4 thinking I might provide some magic, but it was quiet. It took two hours to get up to Rangeley. I stopped at an overlook of Rangeley Lake. The lakes of Maine are incredible. The drive reinforced the remoteness of Maine. I had a second breakfast at the BMC Diner and noted that they opened early enough for me.
There was one particular road that I want to scout. On my Maine road map (AAA) there was an indicated road from Dallas which was east of Rangeley to Madrid on Rt 4. My Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (essential for day hiking Maine) showed the road as Redington Road and turning into Railroad Road further down toward Madrid. I drove over there and tried to access it from the north. I was stymied by an unmanned military gate. I took down the phone number but never followed up. The military facility was a Navy Survival Training facility. Great, was that an indication of the remoteness of the area?
Back in Rangeley, I inquired at a local book store/outfitter of sorts about the road and even though they did shuttles, they really were not sure about access from the south. I decided not to give it a try since I wanted to drive around to the Rt 17 trailhead and Madrid was out of the way. Oops. While still in Rangeley, I drove over to the Saddleback Ski Area. The very nice people there said it was no problem to access the AT from the top of the ski area and they gave me a map to show which ski trails to hike up or down to access the trail. Leaving the ski area, I followed a fox up the road.
I drove across Rt 16 to Oquossoc and then south on Rt 17 to an overlook Marie had been talking about at the AT trailhead at Mooselookmeguntic Lake. Who would name something Mooselookmeguntic? The view at the large new parking area of the lake and the nearby mountains, were incredible even though the lake was shrouded in fog. Maine was getting in my blood and I couldn’t wait to get back. I waited around a while hoping a hiker might pop out of the woods so I could provide some magic, but it was quiet. It was too early for most north bounders or south bounders to be at this location.
I drove back to Bethel through Rumford and checked the weather. It was deteriorating. Rain was expected overnight and through the morning. I decided to pull the plug on the next day and called Marie. I drove home on Friday. The North had beaten me again. I had planned to hike about 60 AT miles this week and I logged 14 (35 miles with side trails). New Hampshire was the state that could not be finished.
After the Cullowhee conference, I was back in Maine again in August. Marie’s husband Steve had a week in his schedule before going back to teaching. They had a family reunion of sorts over the weekend so I decided I could do a few days on my own. I drove to Bethel on Friday August 16. There were no motels to be had in Gorham. I was not sure why but the town was full of pickup trucks with trailers that had ATV’s loaded.
I was going to finish New Hampshire if it killed me, so after a big breakfast at the Crossroads Diner in Bethel, I drove over to Gorham and waited at the Stony Brook Trailhead for Dan from Trail Angels. It was a busy time for him and he said he almost forgot me, but he was right on time at 8AM. It only took 15 minutes to drive back to the Rattle River parking Lot. The hike would be 7.3 miles on the AT and then down the Stony Brook Trail for a total of 10.9 miles. I was good with this on my own. It was a Saturday and this area was active with a lot of people. It would not be easy since I’d be climbing over 3200 feet to Mt Moriah.
The first two miles to the Rattle River Shelter were about as easy as trail can get up in the north. That was about it. Past the shelter the climbing increased and the trail got more like the New Hampshire I had come to know. The white blazes disappeared. What the heck. I got a little concerned and retraced my steps several times to the location of the last blaze. There was no apparent other way to go and my map said there were no other trails around, but it made me nervous. Would a little white paint kill the AMC?
The next two hours were grueling as the steepness increased in spots to be almost vertical on steps. There was not too much boulder scrambling or pulling myself up however. Several north bound thur hikers were coming down at a frenetic pace. A zero day in Gorham was in their sights. Oh to be young and agile with balance again. Not really. I wouldn’t want to go back. Finally I reached the junction of the Kenduskeag Trail when it got a little easier on puncheon and then the last little 400 ft up to the junction with the Carter-Moriah Trail. I kick myself now, but I wanted no part of the side trial to the summit of Mt Moriah. It was only another 50 ft and maybe only 1/10th of a mile, but after climbing 3200 ft, another 50 ft seemed insurmountable. I could hear voices at the summit. I was that close.
The AT emerged from the woods on the open rock face south side of Moriah. Cairns marked the way zigzagging along. The sun was out and the views from there were incredible. It was one of the nicest places I can remember on the AT. The bell clear day did not hurt. I could pick out Carter Dome and the Carter Range to the south and Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Clay and Washington to the west. To the east was the Wild River Wilderness according to my map. My impression was that the area was for those who did not like crowds and were very experienced backpackers.
I met a father/son team that I had met at the Stony Brook parking lot where they hiked up from. They thanked me for letting them know about the confusing part of the Stony Brook Trail where I floundered crossing Stony Brook. It was great up there and I did not want to leave, so I stopped for lunch.
I lingered, but finally headed down. An old weathered guy was emerging from the scrub pine trail seeming confused about where to go, but it was easy to show him. Sometimes these old weathered guys are younger than me, I’ve learned. I don’t remember the last mile to the junction with the Stony Brook Trail, being too difficult, but it was down 700 feet. At the junction, I had now completed the AT in New Hampshire over three years after I started in 2010. Oops. I am conveniently ignoring the AT climb up Mt Madison when we took the Madison Gulf Trail instead. I will do that sometime, but for now, New Hampshire is “finished”. The hike down the Stony Brook Trail was somewhat steep for the first mile but then became a nice gradual walk in the woods to my car. I called Virginia so that she could celebrate the completion of New Hampshire with me.
The next morning, I checked out of my Bethel motel and headed up to Rangeley. On the way in the Rumford area, those windmills that Katlyn had pointed out from East Baldpate a year earlier were close by on a ridge. I had made arrangements with Nini at the Ecopelagicon Store for a shuttle late morning. I planned to hike the 5.7 miles from Rt 4 to the summit of Saddleback and then down the ski slope. We met at the store and I followed her truck out to the ski area. On the way to Rt 4 we talked about that Railroad Road trailhead, but she was still not sure that she could get there from Madrid. Steve and I were planning on that hike the next day. Oops.
When I left the Rt 4 trailhead, I was immediately confronted by signs posted about a missing hiker. Sixty-six year old Gerry Largay from Tennessee had started a hike this year at Harpers Ferry in April and she was on her way to Katahdin. She went by the trail name Inchworm. She had been missing since around July 22 a month earlier. Even though the search was extensive she has not been found as of the time I am writing this.
The trail was easy for Maine for the mile and a half on the way to Piazza Rock. An AT Ridge Runner was at the junction of the side trail. Though it was 3/10th of a mile off the AT is was well worth it to see this geologic marvel of a massive cantilevered rock. The place was busy on this Sunday afternoon with many young families exploring the area. Trees were growing on top of the rock.
Another mile and a half to Eddy Pond was not that difficult either. Then it became steeper but not that difficult and it was fun and interesting. There were rebar steps on a rock face that was not even that steep. There were nicely built rock steps and smooth rock surfaces as I hiked up through the scrub pine zone. It was a cloudy day, but visibility was still good. There were mountains and lakes everywhere in remote Maine. I met 2 young guys who had passed me on the way up. They were headed down. They were doing an in and out from Rt. 4. I offered to take them back to their car if they wanted to hike down the ski area with me. They thought about it but declined.
The trail was well marked as I emerged above tree line on the south side of Saddleback. It was great hiking up there and the steepness started to fade. I reached an unmarked post not realizing what it was and continued another few tenths of a mile to the actual summit of Saddleback Mountain with a sign indicating it was 4116 feet.
I floundered a little trying to figure out how to get down to the ski area. I could see the ski area, but could not find the trail. Nini had indicated it was down from the post. I hiked back the few tenths to the other post near a pond and found the unmarked trail down to the top of the ski lifts. I met a family of six from the area who hiked up Saddleback every year. A late teen girl was barefoot, claiming that’s how she liked to hike. I asked her but she had not heard of the Barefoot Sisters. She seemed interested to get their book.
From the ski lift, a worn path followed the route the Saddleback people had explained to me a few months earlier. The grade hiking down the ski slope was uncomfortable all the way and my toes pounded the front of my hiking shoes. It was about 2 miles and an hour down to my car. I checked into my Rangeley motel and explored Rangeley that evening. The town had a population of 1,052 but was a big town for this remote part of Maine. Rangeley Lake is a major summer and winter recreation area.
The next morning Steve and I met at the Saddleback Ski Area. Our plan was to take his car around to that Railroad Road north from Madrid. We expected some of it to be unpassable, but figured we could hike in to the AT and then hike south from there to the summit of Saddleback and then down the ski slope to my car and then retrieve his car. Oops.
We found the road from Madrid and then Reeds, carefully using my Maine Atlas. It was nothing more than a one lane grassy path. We slowly drove up the road crossing two small bridges that held his car, but I was not sure they would hold my SUV. After two miles we were stymied by a larger bridge with a locked post blocking the way. Undaunted we parked his car off the road and started to hike up the road.
On the way there were several intersecting roads from the east and a confusing junction off to the left of Railroad Road, but we stayed straight which was correct. Two hours and six miles from Steve’s car, we reached the AT junction. We knew we were at the Railroad Road junction with the AT, from the mileages on the sign there. It was now noon. We had 8 miles to the Summit of Saddleback and 2 miles down the ski area and then had to drive back for Steve’s car. I pulled the plug. The hike would be there another day.
We decided it was a good time for lunch. While eating McJettpack, a northbound thru hiker arrived. We had a nice conversation. He carried a 1 gallon plastic jug on the outside of his pack that he used for water in the evenings. He had rocket engines drawn on it with a magic marker. Clever. In the small world department, I was reading a blog of some section hikers in the 100 mile wilderness later in the year and they mentioned McJettpack.
Steve and I hiked the six miles back to his car and drove back to Saddleback. It was a zero (AT miles) day.
After breakfast at the BMC Diner, I met Steve at the Rt 4 trailhead. Steve was staying for these two days at his “camp” property over past Oquossoc. He always enjoyed his time there, building the small A frame. With our short day on Monday he was able to do some dry wall work. While I was waiting for Steve I met a nice couple from Utah at the trailhead. John and Betty had been section hiking the AT since 1975. They had lived up and down the east coast and hiked the AT off and on since that time in areas where they lived. They were on the home stretch finishing up Maine this year and next. They hiked mostly days but camped some as well. A shuttle had just dropped them off and they were hiking out to Rt 17 and their rental car. Steve and I were doing the same thing, though we were leaving his car at Rt 4 and then driving over to Rt 17 and we would start there. Over the next few days, they would be doing some of the same sections we were. Maybe somehow we could help each other with shuttles?
The hike from Rt 17 at Mooselookmeguntic Lake, started at 2250 feet, never got above 3000 feet and finished at 1650 feet. There were PUDS, but no terribly strenuous climbs. It was still 13 miles in Maine, so I was not taking anything for granted. From the road, there were nicely built steps and then a tough little climb that may have been the steepest of the day up to Spruce Mountain. The trail was worn with roots in spots and rock walking in other spots.
Along the way to Long Pond, the trail went along the base of a rock wall. The trail was skipping from one fallen rock to the next. There was a picnic bench at a small beach at Long Pond. We stopped for a break at the Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to. The shelters in Maine are called Lean-tos.
We climbed up and over a ridge on our way to the Little Swift River Pond Campsite. Along the way we met Gail and Bryan a recently retired married couple who were through hiking. They were flip flopping having hiked from Springer to Harpers Ferry and then drove to Katahdin and were south bounding back to Harpers Ferry.
The next guy was a character. Paul, another weathered old guy (one year older than me) was from Calgary. He claimed that he rode a bicycle from Calgary to Katahdin, where he dumped his used bike and started a southbound thru hike. He was finding Maine tough and planned to skip the rest of Maine and New Hampshire and start again in Vermont. Two days later, by chance, Steve and I picked him up walking along the road about 10 miles out of Bethel. We drove him into Bethel and dropped him at the Crossroads Diner, since he wanted some coffee. I told him that I was planning to leave Saturday morning early and if he wanted, I would drive him down to Hanover so he could resume his hike in Vermont. I said I would meet him at the diner at 6AM. He said OK, but if he wasn’t there, not to wait because he would have gotten another way to Vermont. He was not there on Saturday.
More south bounders came by including a young man and woman (she wore an Indiana University hat) and 3 young teenagers, who just graduated from high school. 3 guys looking for adventure.
We met John and Betty just before the Little Swift River Pond Campsite. They had taken a break there and told Steve that there was a canoe there to use on the Pond. Of course that interested Steve since he is a canoe expert. We discussed again the sections they we each hoped to complete this week. I gave him my business card and cell phone number. I find that giving people my business card (with CPA on it) gives them some trust on someone they just met. Of course anyone can print one. John and Betty had hiked all of the sections south from Monson to this point over the last few weeks.
At Little Swift River Pond, Steve inspected the canoe, but did not go out for a ride. The day was going well and before the last down we stopped to wait for a group of 15 hikers coming up the hill from the road. They were one of about 40 groups from the Harvard freshman class doing a pre orientation thing that many colleges do. They would be out about five days, hiking, paddling, some trail maintenance and some environmental things. The leader instructed me not to take their pictures since not all had signed photo waivers. What have we done to ourselves?
Steve and I arrived at Rt 4 doing the 13 miles in 7 ½ hours. Not bad for Maine. We drove around to retrieve my car at Rt 17. Steve headed back to his camp and then home to Bethel. The next day was a planned day off for us. I waited for John and Betty to come off the trail which was another hour. I could share the contents of my cooler and discuss possible shuttle cooperation. John and Betty were getting weary so they said they would call me the next night after their planned hike over the Baldpates from Grafton Notch.
The next day, I drove out to the Stratton area to explore the trailheads and the area generally. I stopped at the Stratton Motel. Sue there knew all about the trailheads in the area and how to access these remote places for day hiking including Railroad Road. She said you could only get to within about a mile and a half of the trailhead there, but from the east through Barnjum. I will be sure to contact her for shuttles next year.
I drove over to the Sugarloaf Ski area. What a gorgeous hotel. I will try to stay there next summer if I can get a deal on a room.
I stopped at the Rt 27 trailhead. A granddad from Texas my age, his son and a grandson (the son’s nephew) were preparing to hike south on the AT, camping out a few days. Grand Mom was there dropping them off. A southbound thru hiker from Philadelphia came through. I was surprised he did not go into Stratton. On my way back to Stratton, I turned around and picked up a north bounder
(Lush from Cherry Hill NJ) to take him back to the trail.
Steve invited me to stop at his camp, which was a little hard to find. What a nice place in a beautiful spot. From there I drove down through Grafton Notch and stopped at the trailhead thinking I could provide some magic, but it was quiet. I checked back into the Bethel Motel where I was now a regular.
John called me that evening and we made arrangements to meet the next morning. We both decided to hike the section from East B Hill Road to South Arm Road. We would meet in Andover near the hostel where they were staying. We would swap cars. We would drive theirs to East B Hill Road and they would drive ours to South Arm Road. We would key swap when we met each other on the trail. I called Steve to tell him of the revised plan. It saved us from having to take two cars and the long drives to drop and retrieve cars. Magic.
The meet at Andover went off without a hitch. Steve and I made the short drive up to the East B Hill Road trailhead. On our previous day off, Steve, Marie and the three kids had a nice family day. Molly and Matthew were headed back to college and Katlyn was headed to the west for a gig with Americorp, it was their last few days together. The previous year, Steve and Marie had all three kids in college. Wow, that is hard to imagine.
The hike from East B Hill Road to South Arm Road was 10 miles. I had preferred to hike the other direction. In that direction it would have been a steep up, a steep down, and a steep up over the first 4 miles. That would be followed by a gradual down of six miles at the end. John and Betty had the same idea, so I yielded to them (I do that sometimes at my own expense). I would always rather do steep climbs and gradual downs because of the pounding on the knees. The time savings from the key sway made it worth it. From our start then, it was a long six mile but only 1400 feet (net) up to Wyman Mountain. We met another Harvard Group at Surplus Pond.
We meet Gail and Bryan again and Steve saw them again the following morning in the Andover Diner. We met another SB thru hiker that we had met the day before. His thing was handing out candy to everyone he met. It reminded me hiker from Tennessee I had met at the conferences. Her line was “I’m Peppermint, do you want some” at which point she would give them a peppermint candy. Cute.
Slim Jim passed me like I was standing still. Slim Jim was North bounding and in his early 40’s. That is not the typical demographic of a thru hiker who is usually in their 20’s or 60’s. There are not too many in between. We met Jim again the following day on the summit of Old Blue. As usual he was in transition between jobs having moved with his wife’s employer and he felt it was a good time to follow his dream. He was within 250 miles of making it to Katahdin.
We also met a young girl from Bangor Maine, who was a north bound thru hiker but south bounding from Monson to Grafton Notch. She would be able to meet many of the people who she had hiked with on her first 1800 miles.
It was quiet at the Hall Mountain Lean-To where we had lunch. Steve took the side trail up to the viewpoint and “Gunsight”. It was only 100 yards, but I was resting up for the upcoming steep climb down. Soon after we left the lean-to, John and Betty came by and we did our key swap. The climb down did not seem as bad as I expected, but the climb up Moody Mountain was very tough. I needed to stop half way up for a break. The trail was narrow and steep, making it tough for 3 NB young men to get by. Steve dropped an orange which rolled 30 feet down the hill out of sight. He made the steep climb down and retrieved it. We finished the climb and the last mile down to the road was only semi steep. My knees were still holding up, unlike the previous year when they were shot after 4 days in the Mahoosucs.
At the road those 3 NB guys were getting water in Black Brook and resting. I offered to share the contents of my cooler and they jumped up. The guys were “Hammer” from the Eastern Shore of MD, “Gravey” from Portland ME, and “Humen” from Wilkes Barre, PA. They were nice young guys and were looking forward to completing their thru hike. Two south bounders we had met two days earlier popped out of the woods. She was “Pup” with the Indiana University hat and he was “Durid.”
We had quite the party going and Steve and I enjoyed it. Pup and Durid had a lot of questions for the 3 guys especially about “go to” food. Peanut butter and honey on Pita seemed to be the choice. When my cooler was empty and we had given away all our snacks, Steve and I hit the road back to Bethel. We picked up Paul along the way. The next morning we met John in Andover again. Both of us were hiking the section between South Arm Road and Rt 17. We had made different decisions about the direction so it was perfect. John and Betty however were going to do the 13 tough miles over two days so they were not going to leave that early. We could still do our key swap thing with them. We drove their car up to the South Arm Road trailhead.
The day was wonderful with a brilliant blue sky. It was slightly cooler than previous days. It was a long hard climb, 2300 ft over three miles up to the summit of Old Blue. There was a good viewpoint looking back toward Andover so you could see South Arm Road snaking along. Other than that, put your head down and climb. As we approached Old Blue, Slim Jim passed us. He was going to break there to wait for his day’s hiking partner to catch up. There was a wonderful, 360 degree view. I think Maine has a million lakes. We decided to break there too. I was elated to be done with what look like the toughest part of the day. It was, but there was still 10 miles of Maine to go.
As we talked to Slim Jim, “Why Not” arrived. Why Not was a slight woman from California who was within 250 miles of completing a triple. She had already completed the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail.
We started our hike down Old Blue and then up to Elephant Mountain. There was a minor viewpoint and Steve asked about lunch, but I wanted to get at least half way, so we continued to the wooded summit of Bemis Mountain. The next four miles was a net descent of 1000 feet, in and out of the woods and onto the open flat summits of Third, Second, and First peaks of the Bemis Range. It was the nicest hiking of the day. We met John and Betty along the way, did our key swap, and exchanged contact information.
The 12th mile from the First Peak to Bemis stream was the toughest of the day with the steep decline of 1000 feet. I was getting very weary and did a lot of butt sliding. Bemis stream was a pretty area but Steve was off and up to Rt 17. I struggled the last mile but emerged out to the gorgeous viewpoint overlooking Lake Mooselookmeguntic. The viewpoint was clearly visible from the Bemis Peaks along the way with a distance that even though looked closer and closer, was still visually intimidating. From the viewpoint the ridge along which we hiked was clear from Elephant Mountain, to Bemis, to Third Peak, Second Peak, and First Peak.
Steve and I shared an adult beverage before leaving the trailhead. No others were around. It had been a tough 13 miles that took 8 ½ hours. Steve said that he liked the challenge. It seemed like at least a slight admission that it was at least a little tough for him too. Steve was getting into the AT trail and culture of thru hiking. He thought that it might be in the cards for him some day. He had a brother in the west who could be a potential partner. With 2 kids still in college, he didn’t think it would be possible anytime soon.
It was a long 1 ½ hour drive back to Bethel. Steve and Marie invited me to dinner with their family. I joined them even though I did not want to impose on their last family night together. They had two other neighbor guests. Katlyn and a friend had hiked in the Whites over these two days. It was nice to see Katlyn again. She hiking with me 3 days back in 2012. The Keane family could not have been nicer to me over these last two years and if we can work it out, I’d surely like to hike with them more. I drove home the next day, stopping first for Paul who did not show.
The year in New Hampshire and Maine was not what I had hoped but that seemed to be the norm. I did do 56 miles up there and was through all the way to the summit of Saddleback Mountain. I have 214 tough Maine miles to go. When I returned from my October trip down to Hot Springs, I spent hours looking at the Maine maps trying to develop a plan for day hiking. Possible? We will see. My plans don’t always work, but I guarantee I’ll be up there trying next summer.
I heard from John and Betty when they got back to Utah. They felt like they were in great shape, so a day or so after our last hike together, they drove up to Katahdin and hiked to the summit. They planned to hike the 100 mile wilderness next summer to complete the AT.
I dedicate this chapter of the book to Gerry Largay and her family. My heart goes out to them.
