August 13- the end.
8/13: 1.6 miles
Rattle Ridge Shelter to Gorham, NH. Spent the day at the White Birches campground and in town tried to rest as much as possible, but it was pretty noisy. Got a hold of Tree who was in Lincoln, so he is quite far behind.
8/14: 11.7 miles
Gorham to Gentian Pond Shelter. Looking forward to a good night’s sleep here in the woods. The hostel was pretty noisy til about ten or eleven. Ran into Just Blue Skies who I last saw around Hot Springs NC and Jim from Maine. He had lyme disease and was off the trail for six weeks and his wife Which Way blew out her knees and is off the trail. It reminds me of how lucky I am so far to be as healthy as I am even though I don’t feel very strong anymore. I can’t tell whether it is me, the big mountains or the combination of the two but I don’t feel as strong as I used to. Tomorrow in 4.7 miles I’ll be in Maine with only 280 miles to go. Amazing.
8/15: 9.6 miles
Gentian Pond to Full Goose Shelter. Nice hiking today and after 4.7 miles we crossed into Maine. Yahoo! Finally the last state although it will one of the hardest if today is any indication. Had lots of ups and downs with steep cliff climbs. We decided not to proceed to go through Mahoosic notch until tomorrow so we can spend as much time as we want going through. While I was in Gorham I had a bottle of Ben’s bug dope leak in the bottom of my pack and it melted the edge of my sleeping pad. That night I spend on a flat pad. I had a patch kit which I used today so I hope I will have something to sleep on tonight. If not I ‘ll have to get a new pad somewhere or see if Kathleen can bring one from home. I’ll soon find out.
8/16: 12 miles
Full Goose to Bald Plate Lean-to. It rained last night but luckily it stopped by morning. It was foggy and overcast as we started out on the trail. The trail though Mahoosic Notch goes over, around and under huge boulders that have fallen from the cliffs nearby. The boulders are as big as box cars. It’s only a miles long but it took an hour and a half for me to get through. The rocks were wet and slippery from the rain so we had to be really careful not to slip and fall. Some of the holes between the rocks were really deep. It was a lot of fun but wore me out. In some places you had to take your pack off and push it through first and then squeeze through yourself. Mahoosic Arm is the next mountain and it is almost straight up and all ledge, really hard. The overcast stayed most of the day so the views weren’t very good. This was a very difficult section of the trail and you definitely wanted to be careful because help is very far away and cell phones don’t work!
8/17: 8 miles
Bald Plate Lean-to to Andover. Bald Plate was a really pretty mountain to go over today. The top is completely open with ledge rock so the views were really good all around. Called the Pine Ellis Hostel to arrange a pick-up at Hill B Road. Glad I did as there isn’t much traffic other than an occasional log truck and hitching would have been nearly impossible.
8/18: 10.1 miles
Andover to Black Brook. Had a nice stay at the Pine Ellis Hostel in town. Dave met us at the trail head with lemonade and sent us on our way with an apple. Had three meals at the local general store and bought some bread peanut butter and honey. I made up five triple slice PB and honey sandwiches that I learned to made from Pacer. Looking forward to having a substantial sandwich for lunch. Didn’t hike too far today but have some good hiking days ahead in order to get to Stratton Sunday night. Tequila John is still being bothered by stomach problems so stopping early today and increasing our mileage in the next few days. Might be good for him.
8/19: 17 miles
Black Brook to Sabbathday Pond Lean-to. Lots of miles today. Haven’t done so many since Vermont. Trying to get back on track and get to Stratton on Sunday. Went over Old Blue and the Bemis Range today and crossed over Rt. 17.
8/20: 11.2 miles
Sabbathday Pond to Piazza Rock Lean-to. Saw large cow moose in the trail and Spruce Hens which were totally unafraid of us. When we came upon them in the trail they just flew up and perched in a tree right over the trail and watched us walk underneath. We hitched into Rangeley because we had some extra time. We had hamburgers and some ice cream. I also bought a three quarter length therma rest mattress just in case my neoair completely fails me.
8/21: 16.9 miles
Piazza Rock to Spalding Mountain Lean-to. Today is my 15oth day on the trail! When we left the lean-to this morning we came upon a cow and calf moose. They let us get quite close, maybe 30 feet, so we had a good view of them munching on leaves. We had a beautiful climb up Saddleback with great views from the top. The summit is above tree line so we could see Mt. Washington and supposedly Katahdin but it was too hard to pick out. It was a lot of climbing today. We went up more than 5,000 ft. and down 4,000 ft. so we’re pretty worn out tonight.
8/22: 13.5 miles
Spalding Mountain to Stratton. It rained last night and threatened rain all day but nothing came of it luckily. A lot of climbing again today but some of the trail around Sugarloaf and down Crocker were a lot flatter than what we encountered yesterday. Most of the peaks were in fog all day so the views weren’t very good. I didn’t bother to go up Sugarloaf as it is 7/10 of a mile up hill and all fogged in. Crocker Mt was steep and a 1700 ft. vertical climb. By the time we got to the top we were wet from sweat and cold from the fog. Ate a quick lunch and got walking again to warm up. I’m glad to have some extra clothes so I can put on a dry shirt to stay warm. No moose today. Staying at the Stratton Motel and Hostel tonight. They picked us up at the trail head. I showered, did laundry, went across the street to buy groceries and went next door for dinner. Nice and compact.
8/23: 8 miles
Stratton to Avery Col. Always a great climb because you are rewarded with views off both sides of the mountain. You could see all the way to Saddleback one way and Flagstaff Lake below, but it wasn’t quite clear enough to see Katahdin in the distance. Camped in the same place Ian and I camped some ten years ago when we were climbing the Bigelows together.
8/24: 14.5 miles
Avery Col to West Carry Pond Lean-to. Passed the 2,000 mile mark, and the 215 hardest miles on the AT from Mt Mooselaukie to Little Bigelow Lean-to are now behind us. This pond has no buildings on it, just complete silence except for a few loons. Beautiful spot.
8/25: 10 miles
West Carry Pond to Pierce Pond Lean-to. Followed part of the Arnold Trail which Benedict Arnold used to get to Quebec during the revolution. It is still a wide trail and you can just imagine he and his men dragging their bateau from pond to pond. Nice flat even trail today. It’s always good to get a break from rocks, roots and mud. Made it to Pierce Pond early, in the early afternoon in time to stay dry for a rain storm that went well into the night. Akido Joe, Sherlock and Saguaro came in the afternoon soaking wet and spent the rest of the day with us.
8/26: 9.7 miles
Pierce Pond to Pleasant Pond lean-to. Went to Harrison Camps at 7AM for a 12 pancake, 2 egg, sausage, juice and coffee lumberjack breakfast. The rain had let up during the night so all five of us went over for the breakfast. An old-style camp, fairly primitive, but Tim serves up a delicious breakfast that was hard to finish because it was so big. We then hiked on to the Kennebec River crossing which is done by canoe. You take a flag, wave it to the guy on the other side and he comes and paddles you across the river. The ATC decided this was the safest way to get across because of the unpredictability of the river rise from the power-generating dam up-river. We hitched a ride to Karatunk to pick up our packages, had lunch at the rafting center and then hitched back to the trail and hiked to Pleasant Pond where I went for a swim.
8/27: 13.1 miles
Pleasant Pond to Moxie Bald Lean-to. Spectacular day, clear, cool and low humidity. Great views from Pleasant Pond Mt. and especially Moxie Bald. Tenting on another pond tonight. I love all the ponds in Maine to camp by. Ran into Karibou and his dog Yolo here tonight.
8/28: 17.9 miles
Moxie Bald to Monson. Didn’t mean to hike all the way to Monson but couldn’t find a place to tent. Crossed west and east Piscatiquis River and had to walk through the second one, but it wasn’t very deep. That was our second real ford. We have run into Warren Doyle a bunch of times during the last week. He guides a supported group of twelve people who mostly slack-pack the trail. I looked him up on the web and he seems to have a pretty good program going for taking people from Georgia to Maine in 127 days.
8/29: 0 miles
Stayed in Monson. Haven’t felt real well today. Tired, almost feverish. Slept for two hours this afternoon, had breakfast at Shaw’s and are staying at the Lakeside Hostel. It’s not too busy and it’s real quiet.
8/30: 15.1 miles
Monson to Long Pond Stream Lean-to. Very hot and muggy. Didn’t feel well in the morning, crossed a lot of streams. Food has no appeal to me right now even though I know I need to eat. I’m just sort of making myself eat. But I’m certainly not eating during the day like normal.
8/31: 10.9 miles
Long Pond Stream to Chairback Gap Lean-to. Had a bad nights sleep. Mice were running all around, I was hot hot, my mattress went flat. Woke up tired and achy and had a very hard day. It was hot and humid again and I felt like I almost had a low fever, that kind of all-over body ache. Climbed up Barren Mt. for some good views then over several other peaks to Chairback Gap. It was very hazy so distance visibility was very limited.
9/1: 9.9 miles
Chairback Gap to Carl Newhall Lean-to. Very hot today and still didn’t feel too well. Met Kathleen and Suzie (Kathleen’s sister) at Gulf Hagas where they brought us an incredibly good lunch and I got to meet Rilla (our new puppy) for the first time. I wish I had been feeling better so I could have eaten more fried chicken, potato salad and fresh homegrown tomatoes. It was a real treat. Kathleen also brought four day’s worth of food to get through the rest of the 100 mile wilderness for both myself and Tequila John.
9/2: 16.6 miles
Newhall to Crawford Pond. Went over our last big mountains today! Hot and hazy again so we couldn’t see Katahdin from the top of Whitecap. Camping by a pretty, uninhabited pond. Went swimming and it felt really good to get cleaned off after all the hot days. I felt a lot better today. We climbed over Gulf Hasas Mt., West Peak, Hay Mt. and Whitecap and Little Boardman for a little extra fun. We heard that there’s a hurricane coming so we are trying to figure out what to do about that.
9/3: 13.7 miles
Crawford Pond to Potaywadjo Spring Lean-to. This place had a unique spring about ten feet in diameter and the water comes up through a sand bottom, nice and cold. It was a treat after all the warm pond water. Bad weather is on the way in the form of a hurricane. It’s supposed to start raining tonight and drop around five inches on us.
9/4: 14.1 miles
Potaywadjo Spring Lean-to to Crescent Pond. Rained all night and most of the morning and cleared up by about noon-time. All the rivers were full so fording was a lot more difficult and we got pretty wet hiking in the rain in the morning. After it cleared I got my first view of Katahdin from Nesuntabunt Mt. Found a campsite on a pond with good sun so I could dry out my shoes and clothes. We’re still camping with Akido Joe, Sherlock and Saguaro.
9/5: 15.5 miles
Crescent Pond to Hurd Brooke Lean-to. Mostly flat hiking today. Cooler today for the first time in weeks. Got our first clear view of Katahdin from Rainbow Ledge, probably only ten miles away but still 22 trail miles left. It’s our last night in the 100 Mile Wilderness. Food worked out well and I can get more at Abol for Monday and Tuesday.
9/6: 3.5 miles
Hurd Brooke to Abol campsite. T.J. and I have a day to kill before family and friends arrive on Tuesday in Baxter. We took showers and did some hand laundry. I feel a whole lot better after seven hot days in the woods. Tomorrow ten miles to Katahdin Stream campsite and Wednesday 5.2 to the top. Hard to believe I have made it. Except for the heat which really bothers me, I have loved every minute of this trip. I am so glad I got a chance to do and have fulfilled a long-held dream. Thanks to Kathleen are hard to make big enough for sending me food and holding down the fort. I have had a great time with all of my hiking partners. It seems I only hiked alone for a few brief weeks in North Carolina and Virginia.
9/7: 9.9 miles
Abol to Katahdin Stream. Had a leisurely walk on our last day before our climb up Katahdin. Forded several streams that were running full. Got to Katahdin Stream about noon. We ate lunch and for the first time on the whole trip got bitten by black flies. Welcome to Baxter. T.J. met up with his son and I met up with Kathleen and Jim and Cindy Dunham. We had a great dinner at our lean-to. Woke up in the morning to find Jim and Cindy in the lean-to next door to us, as it turned out I snored pretty loudly that night. I’ll have to do better tomorrow night.
End of the trail
We had quite a climb up Katahdin on Sept.8th. We were in a patch of bad weather and it looked fairly good on Wed. morning so we decided to give it a go. We heard thunder storms on the way up, but luckily they went a different direction. The climb up is easy for the first mile, hard for the next three and then easy on the tablelands to the summit. The Hunt trail is 5.2 miles long, but you gain 4200 feet. To me it was probably the hardest trail on the whole AT and certainly the largest vertical gain. Kathleen, Jim and Cindy Dunham, Tequila John and his son Nathan and two of Nathan’s friends started out. By the time we got into the major rock climb the clouds had settled down around us and it was misting. I had to go ahead of Kathleen because I needed to get to the top before the weather got any worse so I left her with Jim and Cindy and wound up catching up with Tequila John, who I had hiked over a thousand miles with, so it was cool that the two of us made it to the top together. It started to rain and the wind picked up at the tablelands and you can see what the visibility was like from the pictures. I stayed on top for about 30 minutes , long enough to get some pictures taken and to eat a sandwich and have a sip of Champagne that Nathan carried up. I was getting cold from being wet and the wind was picking up so I put on my rainpants for only the second time on the whole trip and started down. By the time I got to treeline I was wet top to bottom, but as long as I kept walking I stayed warm. It was really nice to make it back to the lean to and have dry clothes to put on. Well the adventure is over, but I was ready to get off the trail and to get back home. It’s been an adjustment to be back in the world again, but having all the food to eat that I want, a bed to sleep in, dry clean clothes to wear, a shower close by and my family who are glad to have me home makes the transition a lot easier. I loved every minute I was out on the trail (except for the heat) and feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to hike for 5 months. I certainly couldn’t have done it without Kathleen’s support. She not only sent me food along the way but did an amazing job with the garden and all the other tasks around the house that I am usually around to help with. I met a lot of great people on the trail had plenty of great views from the tops of many mountains, had great weather and didn’t get sick or hurt. Right now I need to gain some weight back (I lost 13 pounds and was down to 148) so that I can replace some of the muscle that I burned up. I would say to anyone, if I can do it you can do it. follow your dream no matter how long it takes, it’s worth it.
Tillerman
From Kathleen…It’s so good to have him home home again!
Tillerman is all done!
Arrived home on Ducktrap Rd on Thursday afternoon after an assault on Katahdin (AKA Stonehenge) in rainy, cloudy weather. It’s all done! More later….
Goin’ to Baxter
In about an hour and a half, we’re heading to Baxter State Park to meet up with the Tillerman and Tequila John, planning an ascent on Katahdin for tomorrow. Of course, the weather promises to be lousy but we’ve packed good food and have a lean-to reserved so we’ll just knuckle under and do it. I’ve made a few of Andrew’s favorite foods to stimulate his appetite. Baked beans, ratatouille, and blueberry pie are on the list. Jim and Cindy Dunham, our neighbors and long-time friends are going with me.
After nearly half a year of Andy’s hiking and me running the ‘farm’, I expect some adjustments will be needed by each of us. Wish us luck!
I’ll post summit photos when we return. Thanks for tuning in…
Weary is the Word!
Although it may not look like it from this great photo taken by my sister Susan today, Sept 1, Andrew is bone tired with 6 days left on the trail and the biggest mountain of them all ahead of him. Susan and I drove to the parking lot leading to Gulf Hagis today to resupply Tequila John and the Tillerman. It was a day of misadventures including a flat tire. When we finally arrived at noon, the boys were just tucking into their usual trail food, having given up on us. (No phone service, of course.) However, we hauled out a cooler filled with fried chicken, potato salad, fresh sliced tomatoes and butter cream filled whoopie pies and got them to down their share of the picnic. The two of them proceeded to sorting out the provisions we had brought along for the last leg of the trek and repacked their packs. Andrew is still wearing the shirt he set off in on March 25th and it looks like it. Not much left of it or him. His appetite is down along with his weight and he is really ready to finish up and get back to our home.
On Sept 7, we will meet again at Katahdin Stream campground in Baxter State Park for the final ascent. I foresee rest and food in Andy’s future, perhaps a few gentle walks. The Hazens called today to make sure I pick up a six pack of Andrew’s beer from them for the Tillerman’s homecoming. Will do! I think he needs the protein and B vitamins as well as the rest that comes with a good draw on a tall cold one. Thanks, folks.
Will enter a few more notes this week before I start packing up for the trip. Thanks for all the good wishes you’ve sent thus far.
August 13 -17
Day 143: 1.6 miles
Rattle River to Gorham, NH. Spent the day at the White Birches campground and in town. Tried to rest as much as possible but it was pretty noisy. Got a hold of Tree who was in Lincoln so he is quite far behind.
Day 144: 11.7 miles
Gorham to Gentian Pond. Looking forward to a good night’s sleep here in the woods. The hotel was pretty noisy til about 10 or 11. Ran into Just Blue Skies who I last saw around Hot Springs and Jim from Maine. He had Lyme disease and was off the trail for 6 weeks. His wife, Which Way,”blew out her knee” and is off the rail altogether. It reminds me how lucky I am even though I don’t feel very strong anymore. I can’t tell whether it is me or the big mountains or a combination of the two. Tomorrow, in 4.7 miles, I’ll be in Maine and only 280 miles to go. Amazing!
Day 145: 9.6 miles
Gentian Pond to Full Goose Shelter. Nice hiking today and after 4.7 miles, we crossed into Maine. Finally, the last state although it will be one of hardest if today is any indication. Has ups and downs with steep cliff climbs. We decided not to do Mahoosic Notch until tomorrow so we can spend as much time as we want going through. While I was in Gorham, I had a bottle of Ben’s bug dope leak in the bottom of my pack and it melted the edge of my sleeping pad. Last night I spent on a flat pad. I had a patch kit which I used today so I hope I will have something to sleep on tonight. If not, I’ll have to get a new pad somewhere or see if Kathleen can bring one from home. I’ll soon find out.
Day 146: 12 miles
Full Goose to Bald Plate. Mahoosic Notch and Arm and Old Speck. It rained last night but luckily, it had stopped by morning. The trail through Mahoosic Notch goes over, around and under huge boulders that have fallen from the cliffs nearby. It’s a mile long and it took me 1 and 1/2 hours. It was a lot of fun but it wore me oout. The arm is the next mountain and it is about straight up and all ledge. Really hard. The overcast stayed most of the day so the views weren’t too good. The trails through the Notch and up the Arm were slippery so it was a day to be careful where to put the next foot. Help is far away and cell phones don’t work.
Day 147: 8 miles
Bald Plate lean to to Andover. Bald Plate was a pretty mountain to go over today. The top is completely open with ledge rock so the views are good all around. Called Pine Ellis hostel to arrange a pick up at Hill Broad. Glad I did as there isn’t much traffic and hitching would have been tough.
Where is Tillerman?
Ever closer to home, that’s where. The man arrived in Stratton on Sunday, right on schedule to pick up his mail drop Monday morning at the PO. He is happier than ever in the mountains of Maine, cheered by the cooler weather and the opportunity to swim in beautiful ponds on occasion. I will be mailing his LAST food box today to Monson which heralds the beginning of the Hundred Mile Wilderness. To save on the weight for this section of the journey, however, it will be a small one and I will drive up to Gulf Hagis the first week of Sept. to re-provision him for the final leg.
On Sept 7, I’ll be heading up to Baxter State Park to meet Andy and Tequila John for the final climb along with some friends. We have a lean-to at Katahdin Stream. According to the Tillerman, they will arrive on the 7th and ascend on the 8th. Hoping for a little fine camping myself with good food and good company.
