Date: 2008-07-29
From: Little Bigelow Mtn lean to

To: Northern Outdoors/Route 201
Miles today: 21.3
Weather: light rain

Yowza! I hit the jackpot on this place. Northern outdoors is a rafting company, (sorry - adventure company... they do more than just rafting) with a complex here near the a.t. I got a tent cabin for 10 bucks, and got to shower and hang out in the lodge. (I just hung out at the lodge. I showered in the shower house.) They also have a hot tub, a pool, volleyball and basketball courts. they also have a microbrewery on site and a pretty good restaurant. No resupply, unless you can resupply from vending machines. Or you need a t-shirt, sweatshirt or hat. I would highly recommend this place to anyone hiking on the a.t. They like hikers here...I started today at 5am, with the intention of going 17 miles to pierce pond shelter, and staying there, then going to harrisons camp and getting the pancake breakfast. chili pepper and i said our farewells and took off at 6. He hikes faster than me, so it wasn't long before he was out of sight. The trail was most excellent coming out of the shelter and down to the first road crossings. Then it became typical maine, with lots of mud, bog bridges, roots, and mixtures of all 3. I got to the first shelter by 8:45, and i filled up my water and continued on. It was pretty hiking today with the trail skirting a couple of big lakes. Made for some tough walking along the shorelines, but it was still pretty, and nice to hear the waves lapping against the rocks at the edge. The "fun" part of the morning was the arnold trail... named in honor of benedict arnold. Apparently, someone ordered him to attack a british outpost in quebec in DECEMBER. Why??? was this superior officer off his rocker? audacious? perhaps... foolish? most definitely. His route to get there came through maine... and the a.t. paralleled that route for a couple of miles. I think the only reason the a.t. did that, was to emphasize that not only was the guy a traitor, he also wasn't very bright. First, who tries to go to/through maine in december? Second, he must have chosen the most forsaken route to come through maine, because that stretch of trail SUUUUUUUUUCKED. It was all mud, and where it wasn't mud, it was water, or muddy, slippery rock. What was he thinking??So i think that section of trail was included to lower our opinion of the man just that much more. It worked on me!Otherwise the trail was good, all things considered.. (all things being that this is maine). I got the pierce pond shelter at 1:30... much earlier than i expected. So i debated about sticking to the original plan, or shooting for the ferry over the kennebec river, and coming here. Well, i decided to push on. I stopped at the harrison camp for water, and met the owner... nice guy. Maybe next time i'll try the breakfast... and he said it would take me about an hour to get to the ferry. So i hauled butt through the woods to make sure i got there before 4, because in the afternoons, the ferry only runs between 2 and 4. I left the camp at 2.... aiya! So the section of trail down to the ferry was very pretty, and really warranted a slower pace to enjoy the scenery, but i was too busy running to do that. I got to the river at 3... yay! 21.3 miles in 9 hours. But i didn't stop for lunch... i was hungry....Anywhoo, the ferry - a red canoe - came over and picked me up, and delivered me to the other side. Yay! Another a.t. obstacle done and over with. The ferryman was really nice. Must be cool to get paid to do that. So that got me across in time to get my food drop at the post office in caratunk, and i hitched a ride here. First car picked me up! Thanks for the ride.I've been here ever since. I wish there was a way to tell knuckles and gobbles and the gang about this place... they might pass it by. Oh well, i can have something to counter their "town" stories from their zero day.I've been thinking that the a.t. needs to install "shelter phones", so that people can call from shelter to shelter and share info. But it would only be from shelters to other shelters. Not only would it be useful, but endlessly entertaining calling up random shelters.This part of maine is really nice, and it would be fun to come back and hang out at one of these lakes, or go whitewater rafting up here. The trail has been nice too, although i hear it deteriorates again once we enter the 100 mile wilderness. Bummer about that.Still haven't seen a moose in maine. Lots of poop on the trail though. (moose poop). Oh yeah, wild blueberries do not agree with my digestive system. Beware you hikers following this journal... the blueberries look good, and they taste good, but they have the potential of causing problems for you later. Kinda like old country buffet...That's all for today. The gang is still behind me somewhere. They won't catch up for another 2 days or so. It's hard hiking alone after being with people the rest of the trip. Having the mp3 player helps, but it's not the same....Time for sleep.Stay tuned for more wacky maine adventures as i attempt to get to monson....