Date: 2018-08-26
From: Poplar Ridge Lean-to

To: South Branch Carrabassett River
Miles today: 13.1

DAY 173I guess it's official, I'm sick. My nose is running, my throat is sore, and I have a fever. But, at least it is "only a cold". Picked up camp, and as I finished getting ready Mary headed up to get water near the shelter.About 3 miles from the shelter we crossed Orbeton Stream, Sluice brook empties into the stream creating a nice little waterfall. Neither of us were feeling real energetic this morning, fortunately the trail was fairly mellow. When we arrived at Perham Stream we decided to stop for a snack and to soak our feet before starting the climb up Lone Mountain.We made it to the top of Lone Mountain and started across the ridge. With neither of us feeling well we decided to stop at the side trail for Mount Abraham and boil water for the Lipton Cup a Soup we were carrying. Not exactly grandma's chicken soup, but it was hot and tasted pretty good. As we were sitting enjoying our soup a southbounder came along. We chatted with her and she said she had started NOBO, but flipped up in New York to Katahdin. We asked if she had met another flipflopper named "Minnie", and she said she had seen her at Shaw's Hostel in Monson. Soon after we got going again we met two more southbounders. When Mary asked if they were southbounders or flipfloppers "Two Clicks" replied that he had actually finished his NOBO hike and was yo-yoing. He was hiking with Pappy's granddaughter and they mentioned Pappy was coming behind them. We chatted a while and continued on and shortly came upon Pappy. We hadn't seen Pappy since Erwin, we chatted with him a bit and asked if we could get a picture with him. We didn't want to delay him too long as he has become somewhat of a celebrity on the trail and probably has to stop several time a day to get pictures taken with hikers. Good to see Pappy is still going, he is an inspiration to many and we wish him well on his endeavor.We went by the AT Completion Marker showing that the CCC completed the final link of the trail near this spot in 1937. This spot also holds significance this year as we now have less than 200 miles to go! Shortly after we started the climb up Sugarloaf, which was a nice gradual climb. You don't actually go to the summit of Sugarloaf, but there is a half mile side trail that climbs steeply to the top. Since the weather was starting to look like rain, we skipped the summit trail and started the descent. The trail was muddy and at one point you are on a slide area followed by some rocks that we came down hand over hand backwards. This section slowed us down, and was another section that made Mary again state that she felt she had "no business being on this trail". She may have also used some unlady like language, but with some guidance of where to place her feet and hands, we made it down that section.The plan today was to make it to Crocker Cirque campsites, but when we reached the South Branch of the Carrabassett River we decided to stop for the day. When we reached the river it had already rained on us once, and it looked like it was going to rain again. You cross the main channel of the river on a single board sitting on two boulders. Once we reached the other side we saw a couple of hikers setting up camp. They said there were more sites down a trail, and it just so happens I camped here in 2011 with Mammoth. We found a fairly flat spot and quickly set up hoping to avoid getting soaked. We made a trip down to the river for a "wash", foot soak, and to get water.After we ate dinner it started to mist and we quickly picked up, hung the bear bag and climbed into our tent for the evening. Mary's throat has started feeling worse, and she is developing a fever as well. We both have runny noses and lack energy, which makes it hard to get in the miles that we would like to be making. We put in a call today to the Hostel of Maine for a pick-up at ME Route 27. They pick up at 1:30 and 4:30, and we are hoping to make the 1:30 shuttle so we will need to get going early in the morning. Looking forward to a hot shower, town food, and rest.