Appalachian Trail (day 91) - Flagstaff Campsite to Middle Mountain / mile 2055

"Once or twice a month someone is trying to ford the river when I'm not here, once every five years someone dies while doing it" Kennebec Ferryman

Mission: get to Kennebec River in time for the ferry crossing has been successful.

To allow success of it I've woke up at 3 AM and walked an hour in the darkness but terrain was very kind, some of the nicest miles I've walked on AT, not much elevation gain, sporadic rocks and mud and mostly an even, pine needles covered trail.

After Flagstaff Lake, AT was winding around few other smaller lakes with clean water and even some sandy beaches to relax on, I've had my lunch on one of them.

I've arrived at the Kennebec River at noon, waved the ferryman over as he was on the other side of the river and ten minutes later he paddled across in his canoe. I had to wear a safety jacket, sign a safety talk paperwork  and had an option to help paddling which I did. Five minutes later I was on the other side of the river, I've left ferryman 2$ tip and carried on hiking.

Right around the corner was a village of Caratunk, with two hostels I wasn't planning to stay at and food truck I definitely wanted to pay a visit, it was only quarter mile off trail as well. It didn't take me long to walk to Confluence Cafe, I bought here a large latte, ham and cheese panini and a blueberry muffin, it was all delicious but the portions weren't quite hiker sized.

Pleasant Pond Mountain was the final boss of the day, a two thousand feet climb turned out to be quite gradual and fair, without any crazy elements AT liked to throw at you, but still the famous Maine roots were a big part of it. 

Views from the top were great, I've met here a whole cohort of girls from Quebec talking French and presumably thru hiking south. I've also met Leaf, it was his third time hiking AT, he was just coming back from Kathadin, or as we like to say it "yo-yoing", trying to complete the trail both north and southbound. He seemed absolutely in his element and shared with me some tips for the upcoming sections.

I've arrived at the unmarked campsite at 5 PM, a bit early but I've also started early so compensating for it seemed like a good idea. I've had 25 miles left to Monson, was hoping to get there tomorrow evening and have a zero day before heading out to Hundred Mile Wilderness, there was no more stopping until Kathadin after that.