281 miles of joy and utter wilderness
10/7: Hotel in Millinocket complements of Steve
10/8: Hurd Brook Lean-to
10/9: Rainbow STream Lean-to
10/10: Logging Road
10/11: East Branch Lean-to
10/12: Carl A. Newhall Lean-to
10/13: Chairback Gap Lean-to
10/14: Cloud Pond Lean-to (so so cold)
10/15: Monson, ME (Shaw's)
10/16: Millinocket (AT Lodge)
10/17: Millinocket (AT Lodge) (summited Katahdin!)
10/18: Monson, ME (Shaw's)
10/19: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to
10/20: Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to
10/21: Caratunk, ME (Steve's)
10/22: West Carry Pond Lean-to
10/23: Little Bigelow Lean-to
10/24: Stratton, ME (White Wolf Inn)
10/25: Stratton, ME (White Wolf Inn)
10/26: Spaulding Mountain Lean-to
10/27: Poplar Ridge Lean-to
10/28: Rangeley, ME (Saddleback Inn)
10/29: Bemis Mountain Lean-to
10/30: Andover, ME (Pine Ellis)
10/31: Baldpate Lean-to
11/1: Full Goose Shelter
11/2: Hiked into Gorham, NH and stayed at Hiker's Paradise. The next morning I took a bus to Delaware Water Gap on the PA-NJ border and began hiking south through PA.
As I entered New Hampshire from the south, Hurricane Floyd hit the U.S. east coast, bringing lots of rain into the northeast. By the time it got to me, it was snow. So most of my hike through New Hampshire was in very cold and snowy conditions. Very scary at times. When I got into Gorham, NH, on the ew Hampshire/Maine border, a fellow gave me a ride to Mt. Katahdin so I could summit it before it closed on October 15. It didn't exactly work out that way, but basically after hiking north through New Hamshire, I hiked south through Maine.
Here's how I finally got up Mt. Katahdin. When Steve dropped me off at the mountain on the morning of October 8, the mountain was virtually locked in ice. The ranger told me to come back in a week or so when the ice had melted a bit, so I started hiking south. Ten days later, I was hiking through the forest north of Monson when I came across a couple of northbounders. We started chatting, and I told them how Katahdin was iced over and I was looking for a way to get back up there soon. They looked at each other and smiled. It turns out that they had rented a car and had been yellow blazing the trail for a while and had recently left the car in Monson. They were looking for a way to get the car up to Katahdin! So right there in the middle of the forest, a couple of people I had known for literally minutes gave me the keys to their car. I couldn't believe it. SUre enough, when I got into Monson the next day the car was there, and I had a blast driving it up to Millinocket (the town nearest Katahdin). While in Millinocket I met Rubicon, quickly made friends and we summited on October 17. A GLORIOUS day. Meanwhile, the couple had finished hiking north into Millinocket, so when I got off the mountain I met them at the AT Lodge hotel and gave them their car back. The next day, Rubicon and his wifedrove me back down to Monson so I could continue hiking south. It all worked out beautifully. Absolutely amazing.
I came back
and summited on 10/17.