After taking an unwanted Zero-Day in Stratton to wait for my new shoes to arrive, I was glad to be back on trail, even though it was chilly and overcast. Climbing out of Stratton and over the Bigelow Mountain range was the last challenging elevation before Maine mostly flattens out until the final boss, Mount Katahdin. I made it up to Horn Pond in the evening and barely got camp set before nightfall, which was a race against time since my headlamp was dead. There were some massive, house-sized rock formations that I stopped to take some photos of and at one of these photos ops, I unknowingly at the time, lost my crocs that have been with me since Damascus, VA, mile 470. What great timing...since Maine has the only river fords where they would be particularly useful. Once up above the treeline there were yet again absolutely amazing views of the neighboring peaks as clouds hung in the valleys below and the carpeting of trees were starting to fade to their Autumn colors.
Passing through the Bigelow's.
View from Avery Peak on Mount Bigelow.
After continued rains in the morning, the sun blasted through to make for a memorable 25.5-mile day of crossing Pierce Pond's sketchy wooden dam, being shuttled across the "dangerous" Kennebec River in a canoe, and getting over Pleasant Pond Mountain as the sun was setting. The ATC strongly urges hikers to use the shuttle service to get across the Kennebec and when I crossed it seemed like overkill. There are apparently dams upstream that are released at random times and cause the river to rise a few feet in a matter of minutes...but it would only take minutes to ford it. On the other side I again caught up to Fancy who ate himself into a food coma on pancakes at a nearby trail angel's cabin. I took off ahead and stopped at the Pleasant Pond Lean-To where I caught up to Trail Mix and Stitch who I joined for early dinner.
Pierce Pond Stream Falls.
Who says windmills ruin views? Way prettier than cell towers or smokestacks.
After dinner I went up and over Pleasant Pond Mountain and thought about staying up there for sunset but I was pretty tired and had a few miles to go to the next water source. It is always nice to camp near water so you can have some ready to go for brekkie the next day. That morning started with an up-n-over Moxie Bald Mountain which had another bypass around the peak which not only skips the interesting and smooth skate-park-esque slabs on the summit, but also some wildly geometric rock formations on the way up. Down on the other side you ford the Piscataquis River and the trail has a 10-mile long gradual downhill stretch as it parallels the river, only to make you ford it again back to the other side. I blasted on towards Monson, ME and I was glad to find that Shaw's Hostel had a bunch of foot massager toys/tools/doodads which felt amazing after doing back-to-back 25+ mile days to get there. There was also a playful puppy, a free beer upon arrival, and a top-notch breakfast the following morning including bacon, eggs, hash browns, and all-you-can-eat blueberry pancakes.
Moxie Bald Mountain.
Indigo...the cutest puppy ever! Shaw's Hostel, Monson, Maine.
Into the 100 Mile Wilderness!!! Sign says 10 days but I did it in 5 days.