Date: 2016-08-25
To: Caribou Valley Rd.
Miles today: 0.0

Destination: Caribou Valley Rd.Start: Perham Stream Logging Rd.Miles: 10.5 (plus 1.5 to get to trail)It was still dark when I got up, and it took quite a while to take down my tarp, organize my other bins, and get ready to go. We left later because we were going a shorter distance, 10.5 miles. Our starting point on Perham Stream Logging Road is listed in AWOL¢s guide as ¢not accessible by car.¢ The road itself is totally passable, but the entrance from the paved road crossing is blocked by boulders. So in order to get access to our gear in the van we had to camp near the road crossing. This required us to walk a mile and a half to get back to the trail. The hike was a steep 2-mile ascent to the top of Lone Mountain (elev. 3260), about 3 miles of relatively level trail, a steep ascent to the top of Spaulding Mountain (elev. 4000), a short steep descent and then a level section to Sugarloaf Mountain (elev. 3727), followed by a 2-mile very steep descent to the South Branch of the Carrabassett River. I started the day with big blisters on the inside bony part of each foot. Although I taped the blisters, they still hurt. I realized that my hiking shoes were too big. This caused the front part of my foot to slide around inside the shoe whenever my foot wasn¢t level, which was pretty much all the time on this terrain. Fortunately, I had brought an old pair of hiking boots and was able to switch to them. I had to focus so hard on just getting up and down the trail that I hardly took any pictures. The vegetation atop these mountains was stark: scrubby short evergreen trees with taller scraggly evergreens that looked like they¢d been blown to death by wind. Although the day was pleasantly warm, I could imagine how severe the weather must be to create such a landscape. From the top of Sugarloaf Mountain I looked down on the ski runs far below. On one of the more level sections of trail a plaque affixed to a large boulder honored the CCC crews who worked to complete the Appalachian Trail in Maine from 1935 to 1939. Near the spot where the plaque was located a group of them completed the final link of the entire Appalachian Trail in 1937. At the time the trail was 2,054 miles long. Coming down the steepest part of Sugarloaf Mountain I reached the top of the place in the picture. (The picture is from the bottom, looking up.) Earlier one of our group who was hiking south had told me there was a very steep section coming up. When I got there I was utterly terrified. It was all extremely steep, and there were no trees to provide a handhold. My first thought was, there¢s no way I can get down that. My next thought was, no one¢s coming to rescue me. Then, everyone else in the group got down; they figured out a way. I stood for what felt like a really long time figuring out a plan to get down. Finally, I picked a big granite boulder that was slanted steeply downward. I sat down, leaned back, placed my hands as far apart as possible, and gradually eased my way down, using my hands to brake, till one foot touched something and I could stand up.   Partway down, music started playing in my head. What I heard was ¢Lo-Slo Bluze¢, a long track with Cat Anderson on trumpet, from the Newport in New York ¢72 album. It had an amazing positive effect: it helped keep me calm through the scary place. So I¢ll likely use this coping mechanism again. At the end of the downhill I came to the South Branch of the Carrabassett River. The water level was very low, so most of it could be crossed by jumping from rock to rock. A plank about 10 inches wide was balanced on two rocks on the only part of the ford that had water. Even days earlier I would have been scared to cross that plank, but after all the scary places I¢d been in the past several days it was no big deal.I got to our planned camping spot beside Caribou Valley Road in plenty of time to relax and set up my tarp before dark.