Countdown to Katahdin

Thur 21 July Day 133
I had great waffles and bacon for bfast at The Little Red Hen with fellow hikers before setting out at 9am for Stratton.

I was able to get a ride with Paul and Country Girl for $25 (saving me $125 that the hostel would have charged me!!!). We had a few stops on the way to look at Coos Canyon and the Rangley Lakes. We even saw La La as he crossed the road on trail.

It was 101 road miles from Andover to Stratton and with the stops it took us a couple of hours to get there. But it was only 11am and I had a room at the Stratton Inn in no time.

Time to relax and chill - after getting resupply food of course. Funds are running scarce so Aunty Visa bought me Ben and Jerry's along with the next few days necessities. :)

Met some new SOBOs - Moosehead, Smooth, Easy (an Aussie) and caught up with Hodgepodge again. Then Snifur and German Shepherd showed up as well. We spent the afternoon watching movies, drinking beer and eating ice cream. Hot Tub Time-Machine was quite funny and it was good to watch Reservoir Dogs again. The Last Air-Bender was awesome but one of a series so will have to keep my eye out for the others.

Late night getting to bed and must be up before 6am for a shuttle at 7am!

Fri 22 July Day 134
Up at 5.30am and feeling good. All packed up ready to go so we left at 6.40am for the trail.

It was the nicest trail I have been on for a really long time. There were heaps of ponds and woods trails. The hills were easy and I made good time again - amazing how good the flat is for my leg.

At lunch I had a swim in a pond - it was good to cool off. Saw a leech but didn't get one on me. Yummy chicken spread and tortillas for lunch and good conversation with some section hikers from Pennsylvania.

I saw 3 snakes today - the only ones since New Jersey/New York. I managed to get through to Pierce Pond Lean-to by 3.25pm, set up my mat then went straight for a swim. Magic!

Met some new section hikers and SOBOs, ate dinner and shared the usual trail stories. It's a beautiful shelter - right on the pond and we think the sunset will be an awesome one tonight.

The leg feels good. I have done my stretches and will see what tomorrow brings.

Sat 23 July Day 135
I got up early (6am) to make it to the Kennebec River by 9am. That's when the ferry service starts - it is compulsory to be shuttled across the river in a canoe as sometimes the gates are opened upstream and the water rises between 2'-4'.

Half a mile from the ferry was the road to the Caratunk Post Office. I had a parcel that I had sent ahead and needed to get a couple of things out of before sending it onto Millinocket.

All done and back on trail by 10am. The 6mi to Pleasant Pond Lean-to were really nice. Slight uphill but mostly pine forest trail.

The shelter was set back from a pond behind trees. It was about a 5min walk to a floating dock where the swimming was awesome. I lay in the sun for a bit then some guys turned up and were heading back across the pond from a golf tournament. "Would you like a beer?" "or two?". It was great - 2 cold beers and as swim on a sunny, Saturday afternoon.

Met some more SOBOs (frog catcher and Alex), section hikers and a NOBO called Munroe.

Another warm night ahead.

Sun 24 July Day 136
I slept in until 6.30am, which was later than I had expected. We had a random fireworks display on the pond last night from 9.45pm until 10.20pm. It was so loud as it echoed off the water straight into the shelter. The view was good though.

I was a bit apprehensive about today's hills - they were over 1000' climbs. But they weren't as bad as I imagined and my keg held up well for the whole day (13.1mi).

Going over the tops was great as there were lots of blueberry bushes. I ate lots of berries today. Nothing quite like a handful of sun warmed blueberries.

The decent was good too - must have been a good day. The Moxie Bald Mountain Lean-to is pond-side too. It is a beautiful day and the water is lovely.

They call these bodies of water ponds, but they are bigger than most lakes at home. I don't know what the difference is?

10 or so days to go until Mt Katahdin. Can't wait.

- posted by enzed :)