Date: 2015-07-10
From: Gorham

To: Carlo Col Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: few clouds

I got up about 6.20, as half of the room were getting up. Breakfast was at 7, so I got up and collected my freshly laundered clothes, packed my gear in my backpack, then drank some tea whilst I waited for breakfast. The living room and dining room quickly filled up with people- the hostel and lodge were completely booked again. The breakfast is described in the guide as "huge" and "gourmet". I don't think that's how I would put it, though it was certainly nice and clearly homemade. There was a thick slice of French toast, a couple of hash browns, two small sausages, and a blueberry muffin. I quickly ate my food and then set out just after 7.30. I had no idea whether the trail was going to be brutal or not. The weather was clear though, and became and incredibly hot and humid day later on. I applied sunscreen every couple of hours, even though I was only in the sun for a few minutes at a time. The weather is predicted to get even hotter and warmer over the next couple days, which seems absolutely horrific because I'm sweating so much already. The first part of the day was mostly just walking up for a few miles. It only had short sections that went straight up, the rest was a gentle meander that went on forever. Still, there weren't too many rocks so I made decent time, compared to how the trail has been recently, anyway. There were also quite a lot of SOBOs, which was a little strange to see again. They all look so fresh faced in comparison to the NOBOs. I forgot to mention a really good thing about all the SOBOs- the hiker boxes are filled with good food again. I got a bunch of snacks and hot chocolate packets from one yesterday. I got to the shelter about 1pm. I had lunch there and decided to continue to hike. I had done 12 miles, I could do 5 more. The 5 more miles to the next shelter were not as easy as the first part of the day had been. There was a steep uphill climb to start, with plenty of annoying rocks. It got to the point where I was thinking "when is this mountain going to end?". Eventually it did of course, but it seemed to take the entire afternoon. Then I had to go down the otherside. This took a really long time, because there were so many giant rock sections that are just impossible to walk down. A couple times I slid down, but most of the time I was carefully inching my way down the edges of the rock and clinging to the trees to stop from sliding. About 4.30, I crossed into Maine. I took some photos of the sign. I couldn't quite believe that I had really made it to the mythical land of Maine. This whole time I've been walking towards Maine. Every time people have asked where I'm going, I've said Maine. And now I'm here. I guess I'll have to start telling people that I'm heading for Katahdin now. My introduction into Maine was a brutal one, and probably prophetic of the rest of the state ahead. There were giant rocks that I had to climb down, except there were no footholds or anything, I just had to somehow drop several feet. I ended up having to take off my pack entirely. Then when I put it back on, I got stuck in between two rocks. Then I had to slide down some more rocks whilst sitting down. There was a good amount of clambering and climbing. Tomorrow there will be even more climbing. There is a section that the book describes as "the hardest or the most fun section". It's a giant boulder field where I will have to go over, under, and around even more rocks. Considering how wide my pack is, I'm full expecting to get stuck literally a million times.Right now I'm at a shelter with just Not Yet and a bunch of mosquitoes. There is a group of Qu©b©cois camping loudly nearby. The hole in my shoe got even bigger, and the shoe is going to be completely worthless soon. I tried to resolve the problem of all the dirt getting inside by covering the hole with a bit of my bandana. The sewing is absolutely terrible, but it's better than nothing at this stage. I really wish Salomon had a faster returns policy. I've heard of other companies going out of their way to help thru-hikers, but Salomon obviously doesn't believe in that.