Appalachian Trail (day 87) - Black Brook Campsite to Little Swift River Pond / mile 1973

Another good day of hiking in Maine.

I wouldn't exaggerate at this point if I said that Maine is the second hardest state to hike after New Hampshire, the climbs and descents are not nearly as crazy but the roots and jagged terrain makes up for it. Trail even on "flat" terrain constantly goes over boulders and little hills making it way trickier to navigate than the southern portion of AT.

I haven't seen any Northbounders today but the steady trickle of Southbounders was passing through. I've met Salt Lake from Chicago, his wife was Lithuanian and he was living in a Polish neighborhood there, he got his trail name because he was sweating lot. Salt Lake was travelling with Downhill who was finishing his section hike of Maine and New Hampshire. I've also seen Raspberry from Switzerland, she has experienced her first trail magic today and was very excited about it, I've told her that she should have more of it when she will go through the Nobo bubble in a week or two.

There was some exquisite views today as well, Mooselookmeguntic Lake could be seen from a nice vantage point and what a name for a lake it was! Weather was hot and humid which made me want to drink a lot more water than usual, most of the streams were quite tannic, it made them taste and look a little bit like ice tea.

I've arrived at the campsite just before 6 PM, no one else was here yet. It was a big site located right next to a lake, there was few canoes available for public use which was a nice touch. If someone else was camping here with me I would probably have a paddle, doing it on my own didn't sit right with me.

Campsite was very peaceful, I could only hear frogs chatter across the lake while I was falling asleep.