Date: 2013-08-29
From: rangeley, me. 

To: stratton
Miles today: 32.2

After a good nights sleep and a RedSox win, we hiked out of Rangeley, I spelled it right, and up over saddleback mountain at 4116ft. in the rain. We seemed to hike right thru the rain clouds and out on top of the cloud, I think I finally found heaven! It was not windy at all and the clouds just hung around. The temperature was even nice and the rain was very bearable as we continued over the 4032ft. Horn and saddleback junior at 3655ft. before stopping at poplar Ridge lean-to where we had to tent because the shelter was full. Tomorrow we'll hike a little over 13 miles and only one peak over 4000ft., Spaulding mountain. We have to ford the south branch of the Carrabassett river about the 13 mile mark so we figured it best to cross at the end of the day rather than walk with wet feet all day after. This leaves us with a morning climb of south and north Crocker mountains before descending to the road here we'll hitch into the town of Stratton , Me. Three days feels good between towns and we are hiking reasonable miles as we make our journey towards " The Greatest Mountain"What's today, Friday? This morning I awoke to rain and pine cones hitting my tent at about 5:00am and I was not looking forward to putting on my wet clothes and leaving my nice and warm sleeping bag. As I started heating water for breakfast, I heard the red squirrels chattering above me and realized that they were the ones responsible for pelting my tent with pine cones. Thump! A pine cone appeared to be thrown at me and I swear it came from the direction of "Big Red" squirrel and as I turned to say something to him, a pine cone knocked the spoon out of my hand. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I thought I was being attacked by squirrels and was thinking about countermeasures as mother Teresa stood laughing in amazement! I wonder if Rocky the squirrel was a red squirrel because I started getting bombarded with pine cones, about two or three per minute, CRAZY!Any who, after eating a good breakfast of oat meal mixed with Red Squirrel, we broke camp and hiked 13.1 miles covering three peaks and two river crossings. Orbeton stream was easily forded by rock hopping across and we made our way to the summit of Lone mt. Today's high point was Spaulding mt. at 4000ft and we hiked over the side of sugarloaf mt before dropping down the steep side hill overlooking the south branch of the Carrabassett river. As it turned out this river was easily crossed and the suspense of crossing a treacherous river will have to wait for another time. It was nice to see some sunshine this afternoon and I was able to dry out my gear and made a nice dinner of ramen noodles with bacon. Light weight and not too bad after a eight hour hike.Just took my clothes in so they will be just dampin the morning. Listening to the neighbors dog snoring, he sounds just human like. Tomorrow we hike over south and north Crocker mountains and then into Stratton where hopefully, we can stay at the hiker hostel and get cleaned up, fed and resupplied for the next three days and the town of Caratunk. 196.6 miles to Katahdin1004.4 miles of the AT hiked so farI woke up at 4:50am to the sound if pouring rain and thought,this is great! I can't believe God has blessed me with rain for the second day. I can't wait to put on my wet, dirty and stinky clothing and break camp n the rain. What an amazing experience! After laying in my sleeping bag for about an hour, the rain eased up and I decided to go for it, after all, I was not about to spend the day sitting in my tent waiting for the sun to pop out. As I dressed and unzipped the tent, I learned it wasn't raining and the trees were shedding water on me. I actually felt better and as the morning progressed; the sun did come out and it turned into a glorious day as we hiked over South and North Crocker mountains and into rt 27 where we got a ride into Stratton, me. Staying at the hostel in town and planning a 17 mile slack pack tomorrow so we won't be carrying heavy packs when we scramble thru the rocks of the Bigelow mountains. I hopped on the scale at the hostel and it weighed me at 198 lbs. I think the scale is off a bit but still, I feel pretty light. My 36 pants look baggy on me and the waist belt is winched up tight. I think 34 waist is in line now and I don't remember the last time I had on a 34 pant. The white wolf restaurant is getting my business this evening and I hope they have a nice piece of meat and a big potato to satisfy my appetite. Only other thing I look forward to is a RedSox win. GO SOX!!Do to the two large glasses of iced tea I drank with my meal last night, I slept maybe four hours and am now very tired as I prepare myself for a long hike they the rock scrambles of the Bigelow mountains. I am slowly running out of mountains and have about ten or so more til I climb Katahdin. Yesterday when I got to this hostel I'm staying at, the woman running it gave me a hard time because she wouldn't accept my credit card and said it was cash only. I tried to point out in the northbound thru hiker book where it said cards accepted and she got nasty and suggested I was giving her a hard time. I had to eat humble pie because their was not a single other bed in town as it is labo day weekend. Wow, I wasn't even aware of the holiday. You don't realize just how isolated you can get out in the mountains. Anyway, this grossly, morbidly obese woman with a short spiked hairdo and a lazy eye won over my heart and we became best of friends, NOT!! I'm still a C/O at heart and if I had not just hiked for three days and stunk to high heaven, I would have been less than a gentleman as I thanked her, payed her cash and slipped out of her office and thought about her no more. Do you think she likes me? :-/I checked the weather and it looks like rain for the next several days and I am excited to be stomping through the mud , roots and rocks as I get closer to my goal. I hiked over 1000 miles yesterday and by the time I finish the New England section of the trail, I will hike over 1200 miles. I am slowly realizing that I probably won't get the thru hike done this year but I have a compliance so much in terms of health, both physically and mentally that I can't be too disappointed. I've lost over forty pounds, I'm no longer diabetic, I don't take anymore statin drugs or meds for diabetes and I feel awesome. My groin pain is not as persistent as it was before and my ankle is doing better with my new boots. My chafing problem is much better since the neutering, just kidding! All in all, I feel pretty damn good. Seriously, give me a squeeze and you'll see!About the only thing I could possibly want at this time is for my Beautiful wife to be out here experiencing this adventure with me. She is quick to point out that unlike me, she's still working and has been since the age of fourteen. I'd better figure out how to retire us both so we can hang out together doing whatever we can do, while we are still fit and able. The next big trek is coming. Google; Camino de Santiago and put it on your calendar. We'll talk later! :-)