Date: 2014-09-20
From: Woods Road

To: Crocker Cirque
Miles today: 11.5

My strategy for getting started on cold mornings is to break camp as quickly as possible and start hiking to warm up. It worked well this morning. I got a few slugs of water and some sugar from a small pack of Oreos. Getting dropped off at the trailhead is great, but nothing can beat walking two hundred feet to reach the trail then immediately begin the climb. The total feet climbed were about the same as yesterday but seemed to go much smoother.Since arriving in Maine, there isn't a day that goes by without suddenly realizing as if for the first time: I'm hiking in Maine! My concept of Maine was a long piney forest with continuous bogs that suck your shoes right off your feet plus constantly having to wade through creeks up to your waist.It has not been that way yet. There have been a series of mountains like an extension of New Hampshire that I climb each day. However, each day I have more regular hiking paths and the mountains are farther apart. Steams have all been fordable on stepping stones. Southbound hikers had more fords than me but water levels are down now. Will tomorrows rain change that? Today, the Carrabassett River had a long plank to totter across. But I have also heard Maine is the most beautiful part of the AT. I am experiencing that beauty more each day.I passed the plaque that commemorates the completion of the last section of AT construction in 1937. More importantly for me, it marked the location on the map that said I have 200 miles left to go. I texted Marcia and she replied "Yay!" I felt more emotional about the moment by sharing in the celebration with another.I passed Route Step (or right step?) again today. He is going northbound but hiking south by sections each day. I mentioned Geraldine and he had seen a poster about her. As he went on his way, he said be careful. I found out later why he said that as I started descending the north end of Sugarloaf. It took over an hour to get down as the trail wound around a cliff side, over stone steps, ledges and boulders.I was very cautious as I held on with both hands when possible. I didn't want to end my hike at the 200 mile point.After picking my way tediously down the hill for a while I began to hear the sound of the river. Until this moment I had been dreading the icy walk across the river which according to the guide said "ford." Now I am happy to just be getting to the crossing. And as I got nearer the crossing I smelled the smoke from a welcoming campfire.Little did I know how welcoming that campfire would be. As I walked up to the four hikers around the fire, the first I saw was B-Man. I couldn't believe my eyes! Before I could stammer a word, he yelled "Blueberry!" He reached his arms out and gave me a big bear hug. And about that same time I realized it was Jo Cool with him and she gave me a big hug. I last saw them at Hot Springs shortly before I got word Aunt Edith had a stroke. I didn't get a chance to tell them I was leaving or to get contact information. I never saw them again after I got back and eventually heard they had left the trail. I have wondered about them often and today they just appeared. Jo Cool is back on the trail finishing an uncompleted section and B-man joined her. What a fantastic day!