Appalachian Trail (day 88) - Little Swift River Pond to Spaulding Mountain Lean To / mile 1996

Good day, looks like I narrowly avoided some thunderstorms.

Early start, just in time to see a beautiful sunrise. My plan was to hitch down to Rangeley, six miles away from trail, eat breakfast, buy many snicker bars, go back on trail and carry on hiking. I've got to the road at 6:30 AM, caught a hitchhike shortly after and was at the IGA supermarket in Rangeley just before they've opened at 7 AM, perfect!

I've bought a lot of unnecessary food as I was planning to resupply and potentially stay in town tomorrow anyway but two sausage and egg bagels with coke and doritos were terrific! I've sat outside the store while having my breakfast and chatted with local's about weather and hiking.

I've got picked up by a shuttle driver on the way back, he charged me 10$ for the ride but it was fast and easy. Iceman texted me in the meantime saying that he decided to take a zero day in Rangeley as he felt exhausted from last couple of days, hopefully he could catch up with me before 100 mile wilderness section.

Climbing out of Rangeley to Saddleback Mountain was long and steep, the rain started to fall just as I entered the exposed alpine section of it which wasn't ideal, luckily it only rained for two hours, rest of the day was cloudy. Once on top trail was running along the ridge, which in good weather must have had some great views, I've met here few more southbound hikers and Tree House who was slack packing to chase his tramily, his wife came to visit and he slowed down for few days to spend time with her.

I've tried to keep my feet dry best I could but there was simply too much rain and mud along the way, once I've arrived at the Orbeton Stream crossing I was quite happy to just walk through it with my shoes on. A mile later I slipped on the rock just before another small stream crossing and fell down backpack first right into it, I got completely wet but managed not to injure myself in any noticeable way.

I've arrived at the campsite populated by boy scouts at 6 PM, they were really nice and kept quiet after 8 PM. I've ate a ramen bomb and hanged all my things to dry but I knew full well that tomorrow I will be hiking out with mostly wet clothes anyway.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Appalachian Trail (day 77) - Hikers Welcome Hostel to Eliza Brook Campsite / mile 1816

Image
"After hiking in White Mountain's everything else seems easy" Sue First day in the White's, I can confirm now that terrain here is unlike anything we faced on the AT so far. In the morning I had a coffee and a breakfast muffin at the hostel, surprisingly despite the early hour Tum Tum, Iceman, Yukon and Gutsy were up as well. Weather was supposed to be a mixed bag but we were all determined to climb Mt Moosilauke today. I headed out and started the 4000 feet climb first, it was a long, steady uphill going through well maintained terrain, problems only started at the top. Day was quite windy, combined with the rain and exposed, alpine environment, it became a recipe for a very wet, cold and uncomfortable time. At the top wind was pushing me left and right and rain was cutting across with great speed, I was completely drenched in just few moments. Luckily exposed section didn't last too long and the AT dived into the pine forest soon after. ...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 12) - Icewater Sorin Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter / mile 231

Image
Today could be described in one word - windy. And it was not your refreshing summer breeze, it was the kind of wind that chills your bones and the moment you feel it you want to turn around and go back home, except there's no home and you can't turn around. The food I hanged last night was completely frozen, it was funny to crunch on a solid snickers and granola bars for breakfast. At least it was sunny, I've put all my layers on and started hiking. Trail looked really good, I could see small patches of snow and icicles probably formed last night hanging from the bushes. Later during the day you could see the damage last years hurricane has done, fallen trees, layers of uncovered rock showing that there was not much trees could hang on to beneath, trail was trying to manoeuvre around the blow downs and disturbed earth. I haven't met many people today but I hiked alongside Blazer, a friendly, older American guy. He also hiked PCT, so w...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 8) - Nantahala Outdoor Centre to Cable Gap Shelter / mile 159

Image
"I don't even know who Rod Stewart is" Rod Stewart I woke up just before seven and started to pack up, everyone else in the room made a move as well. I've grabbed my stuff and went to the kitchen area to sort out the resupply. I've got six plus days worth of food in Dollar General for 35$ yesterday but I didn't have time to repackage it. Fifteen minutes later it was all done and I was ready to go. Next step was an eight miles long and four thousand feet high climb up from the valley NOC was located in. It took several hours of steady climb to reach Cheoah Bald mountain. The night must have been really cold and windy as all the trees were covered in ice, it looked like a winter wonderland up here. Sun was hitting the frozen branches, melting them enough to cause a small icicles fall to the ground when the wind blew on them. It looked really cool and I wondered if there's special name for this phenomenon. My other knee started to hurt now after t...
Read more