Date: 2009-08-25
From: Pierce Pond Camp Access Road

To: Boise-Cascade Road
Miles today: 8.9

Access:South--This was a 1.5 hr car plant from the NOC. We went south on Rt 201 to Bingham and then went west on Rt 16 and took the bridge over the Kennebec River. As soon as we crossed the bridge we turned right and the rest of the description mile-wise is from here. You follow the dammed-up Kennebec River (Wyman Lake). At 4.5 miles you turn right on Carry Pond Road. The road turns to gravel at 4.9 mi and becomes rougher. At 12.4 mi take the right fork. At 13.7 mi take the left fork. At 14.8 mi you take the right fork. At 16.4 mi stay to the left and the AT crosses at 18.7 mi. There is an AT mileage sign at the edge of the road and parking for about 2 cars. North--Boise-Cascade Road--see yesterday's hike.The Hike:We woke up early but didn't get started hiking until 8 due to the long drive. We were nervous, as we needed to be at the Kennebec River by 11 to get the ferry across. This ferry (aka canoe with a white blaze painted on the bottom), sponsored by the ATC and the MATC (after a hiker drowned in 1985 tring to swim across) is the smart way to ford this river. It is the widest (almost the length of a football field), unbridged river on the AT with very unpredictable currents due to releases from the dams upstream. During high season the ferry runs from 9-11am and 2-4pm.At any rate, we surprised ourselves and covered the 3 mi to the ferry in 1.5 hr! Nothing like a little adrenalin! The trail to the river followed beautiful Pierce Pond Stream with its rocks and cascades, but we didn't have much time to stop and look.Coming across in the canoe from the north bank were the two section hikers we have been criss-crossing for the past week--Mossy Brown and Gaia. We got a mini-video and some photos of them and hopefully we can forward them when we get home.We signed a release form, strapped on life jackets, and Burly Girl paddled in the bow while Bugsy videoed the journey from the middle of the canoe. Hillbilly Dave, our river escort, was full of stories about the river this season. He has taken 800+ hikers thus far. 7 hikers have succeeded in swimming or fording, but he didn't recommend this.After saying goodbye to Dave we crossed Rt 201 in Caratunk (tiny town...we only saw a post office and houses...no store) and headed into the woods. We did 2 miles of uphill hiking, then a steep down and then traveled along Holly Brook. There were many mud bogs toward the end, and when we crossed Hangtown Road we saw huge piles of bog logs ready to install some day...oh well...future hikers will enjoy these!When we reached our car at Boise-Cascade Road, we had to drive an hour and 45 min to retreive our car at Pierce Pond Access Rd. On the way out of the Pierce Pond wilderness area we blew a tire. It was good that we were already dirty and didn't care about gettin dirtier while changing to the spare as AAA would never have found us!We were a bit disappointed that in these past 6 days we have only done 48 miles, but Maine is TOUGH!! If you're not slipping on granite slabs, you're knee-deep in mud or trying to figure out a river ford. We have 91.5 miles left in Maine and are counting down every one of them!!!