Date: 2017-07-26
From: Speck Pond Shelter, ME

To: Pine Ellis Hostel, Andover, ME
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: clear sky

7/26/17, Pine Ellis Hostel, Andover, MEMiles hiked: 1615.0, Miles to Katahdin: 256.9, Miles to go: 574.8It was a clear night last night and got pretty chilly. I was nice and warm under my down quilt, so it was very hard to drag myself out of bed this morning. As a result, I didn't get on-trail until after 7:00 AM. I find without 1st Sgt's influence, I tend to be a bit lazier about getting going In the morning. I'm still hoping to catch him in time to summit Mt Katahdin with him. Another old friend, J, who hiked with me and 1st Sgt for awhile in CT and MA, was at the shelter last night. He was up and gone while I was still lazing in my tent. We Another thing that slowed me down this morning was my tired body. Yesterday's hike left me a bit stiff and sore. I took a pretty good fall onto my left hip, leaving it feeling bruised today. I know you are probably getting tired of hearing it: but, all of us NOBOs are getting weary. Not just tired, which you can recover from after a day's rest, but weary, which takes an extended period to recover from. It's not just me and 1st Sgt and the older hikers either. It's everyone. I must admit that I was glad to hear Hummingbird, who is 25-30 years younger than me and continues to fly past me on uphills like I'm standing still, say that he was finding Southern Maine to be tough. My friend Antman, who I met my second day on the AT and who is also 25-30 years younger than me, has decided to leave the trail for a while to rest up and put back on some weight. He's down to 133 lbs and just not feeling the trail love. Ok. Enough whining! Today's hike was actually quite nice. We were back to cloudless cerulean skies. I even broke out the sunglasses today. We had several steep climbs; but, they weren't utterly ridiculous. OK, we did have a couple log ladders and rebar rungs set into vertical rock faces; but, it wasn't like yesterday. I climbed up and over Old Speck Mt and dropped down to Grafton Notch, where I caught up with J and his two hiking companions. Then it was a fairly gentle climb up to Baldpate Lean-to for lunch (shelters in ME are called Lean-tos). Then I got down to business and started the steep climb to the summit of the West Peak of Baldpate Mt, followed by a traverse of a rocky saddle and then a steep climb up the rocky and exposed East Baldpate Summit. Once again, I was glad for dry wether and wondered about the hikers who crossed this in wet weather. After another small but steep bump, I began a four mile descent to B Hill Rd, where I had made arrangements to be picked up by a shuttle at 5:45 PM and be taken to the Pine Ellis Hostel in Andover, ME. I arrived at 5:38 PM, along with another NOBO named Ace. We waited for the shuttle, and waited...and waited... We would've hitched to the hostel; but, this was a rural road and no cars passed. We would've called the hostel; but, we had no cell service. So, we waited...Finally at 6:40 PM, a minivan roared up with two rotund, fairly toadish women in the front seat. The driver apologized for being so late. The hostel had sent her to the wrong road crossing to pick us up and she wasn't happy. As we jumped in, she offered us lukewarm lemonade as compensation. We were a little scared to refuse. She roared off at high speed down this country road with Ace and me trying to keep from spilling our lukewarm lemonade. We arrived at Pine Ellis Hostel, which is basically these people's house to which they've added a bunch of beds. It turns out that I know over half of the the other hikers here. I quickly showered, threw my clothes into the wash, and headed to the General Store/Diner to grab some dinner before they closed. Although this isn't the nicest hostel I've visited, I've decided to do an 11 mile slack pack tomorrow and spend another night. I think I would go crazy sitting around here all day, so the slack pack is a good alternative. I will still get another 11 miles in; but, I won't be carrying the weight of my full pack and I'll only spend about five or six hours hiking. The shorter day will also give my friends behind me a chance to catch up. Hopefully, in another 60 miles or so we will begin to hike out of the big mountains of Southern Maine.