Appalachian Trail (day 89) - Spaulding Mountain Lean To to Hostel of Maine / mile 2010

"When I went to pick up our first Nobo thru hiker for the season, he smiled at me and his tooth fell out" Jenna

Short and sweet day, finally crossed that 2k mile marker!

Mission for today was to go over three 4000+ feet mountains: Spaulding Mountain, South and North Crocker Mtn and end the day at either Stratton or Bigelow town. Climbs and descents were pretty hefty but considering it was only 14 mile day it balanced itself well.

I've met Twilight again in the morning, since he was doing the "Maine 4000 footers challenge" he would often take additional blue blazes to the mountain tops, last evening he climbed Mt Abraham which took him extra two hours, since he was going late into the evening he run out of daylight and decided to set his campsite by the trail in the tiniest flat spot I have seen. I really admired his commitment. Few days ago I met his dad who was also doing 4000 footers challenge, he was climbing Old Speck Mountain in the pouring rain, I guess tenacity ran well in his family.

I said goodbye to Twilight and hour later after he dropped off his backpack and ran away to do another 4000 feet side quest. Second part of this short day was a long descent to Route 27, I've met another batch of Southbounders along the way: Dragonfly, Cricket, and Glitter Glue with her boyfriend. I've also went past the place where last portion of Appalachian Trail was completed officially linking the whole trail together.

I decided to stay at Hostel of Maine in Bigelow mainly because it was the cheapest option but it also had some great reviews from hikers. I couldn't choose better, a couple running the place Caneon aka "Papa" and his partner Jenna were very friendly, they been work to staying here with their 14 months old daughter taking time off from big cities and important jobs. Papa drove us to the market to resupply. I've spent rest of the afternoon eating, chatting to two other thru hikers Buckskin and Cat and reading the book "The World Without Us" by Alan Wiseman.

Tomorrow's weather forecast looked quite scary with thunderstorms starting in the morning and finishing in the late afternoon. I would check it again in the morning and decide weather to carry on hiking or take a day off for safety reasons. Weather forecasts in Appalachia has proven to be very unreliable and it was always good practice to check them every few hours.

One way or the other it was tomorrow's problem, for now I was happy to be fed, showered, have a comfortable bed and solid roof over my head for the night.

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