Date: 2009-09-13
From: Rangely, ME

To: Old Woods Rd Campsite, ME
Miles today: 13.5

After an excellent zero in Rangeley, Bark and I were ready to get back to the trail. We usually stretch our overnight stays in town to the very last minute before checkout, but not today. Since we are not quite out of Southern Maine yet, we were expecting a big day with a lot of steep climbs and alpine hiking. With that said we hit the roadside around 8:50am and stuck out our thumbs. Traffic was slow for Sunday morning, but luckily one of the guests from our hotel (a former Triple Crowner named Steady) drove right out of the parking lot and across the street to where we were waiting. What a trail angel! Thanks to "Steady", Bark and I were hiking by 9:00am. It was going to take almost 6 miles to reach our first summit of the day- a long and rocky climb. We made it up to Saddleback Mtn. in good time only to look around and see masses of gray clouds and cold mist headed our direction. Best part, we were exposed for the next 3 miles in alpine conditions. Well we tucked away in some small trees, ate a quick lunch and bundled up for approaching weather. It seems as though our streak of clear blue skies has come to an end (for now). Bark and I had to hike on in order to get below treeline and make it the next 5 miles to the shelter. On the way we saw Goose and Chewy who we also saw later on at the shelter. We have not seen them since Vermont and were glad to hear they were doing well. Overall, the terrain was not as bad as we were expecting it to be based on our previous few days in Southern Maine. We made it down to the shelter a little after 3 o'clock to grab a snack, check the elevation profile for what was to come and then headed back out. The weather remained confusing with dark clouds causing mountain tops to disappear, and then small patches of blue sky appearing for moments at a time. We couldn't decide if we were cold, hot, feeling rain drops or just dripping sweat. Either way the weather is definitely getting cooler up here.Bark and I hiked another 3 miles to a stream/ old woods road and set up camp for the night. Anything else we would have attempted tonight would have taken us straight uphill. It is another 19 miles to Stratton, ME, but a tough 19 miles no doubt. If this were Virginia, 19 miles would have been totally feasible, but this is far from VA. Bark and I are enjoying the scenery and the beautiful views all the time. Our moose hunt has not proven fruitful since our first moose spotting, but we're hopeful that over the next couple of weeks there will be more. Almost every night Bark and I check our phone to make sure we have not missed any important family phone calls. There have been very few nights away from town that we have actually gotten service, but tonight we had just enough to check 2 new voicemails. At first we had no idea who it was, but soon realized it was "Stickman" (this is not the Stickman who is hiking this year) a hiker living in Maine who has been following our journals. He lives around the Stratton area and gives trail magic to hikers coming through that particular road crossing. It was great to hear from him and we will hopefully get a chance to meet up in the near future. Thanks for all you do for hikers Stickman- keep up the good work! Tomorrow Bark and I face a few more big climbs so we are keeping a positive attitude and praying for dry weather.