Date: 2018-07-04
From: Poplar Ridge Lean-to

To: Cranberry Stream Campsite
Miles today: 23.3
Weather: scattered clouds

This morning felt nice at elevation and I got up around 5:15 in a fairly decent mood. Packing up, I could hear the shelter murmur then Two Clicks passed by at about 5:30. Pretty early! He pushed on and eventually I got out around 6 or so.Unfortunately, we were headed down the mountain and the humidity and bugs could be felt pretty quickly. I will say I think I was lucky today. The bugs seemed to leave me alone until later in the day and I didn't even put on bug spray. I try not to if I don't have to. That hiker who told me "that stuff is bad for you" would be happy. Yes, I do hold some grudges.We "forded" the stream at the bottom (it was rock hoppable but our guidebooks said we would need to) then made our way up towards Lone and Spaulding Mountains. Up on the ridge it was nice once again and the trail seemed to be fairly forgiving. It was soft pine needles with some rocks and roots but some of the best trail yet. The only bad thing was there were so many blowdowns. They slow you down for sure. When I was bypassing a blowdown today, I must have scared a quail of some sort. She had her babies all around her and as I approached, she attacked! I had this happen the other day too! Out of all animals I think birds scare me the most. They can attack from all angles and from the air and I don't have an Air Force to protect me. I am strictly a ground unit. I flail my trekking poles around hoping she would keep her distance and did my best to get by. I'm not here to hurt you! There were no incidents but birds still aren't my thing.I pushed to the first shelter and asked a few southbounders where the water was. I've seen way more southbounders than northbounders for sure. Two of them pointed towards the water and we got to talking. They are from Exeter, NH! They write blogs for the trek and just hit the 200 mile mark so if you're interested, I believe the guys name was sugar feet. The woman didn't have a trail name yet. It was pretty cool though. Small world.After the shelter I climbed the shoulder of Sugarloaf Mountain. The trail doesn't go over the top and that was okay with me. At the bottom of the ravine, I ate lunch next to a river that again we were supposed to forde but someone had placed a wooden board across to make it. Here, I downed pretty much the rest of my food and drank as much water as I could with a double coffee. I was packing up as Two Clicks arrived and he took lunch here too.The last climb of the day was over south and north crocker mountains. Just a quick 2000' gain in two miles. No biggie with a double coffee haha. I pushed up the mountain and was there before I knew it. No real views but it was done. I got over to the north summit and texted home with service then descended towards Stratton. On the way down we would hit the 2000 mile mark and Two Clicks had asked me to wait for him to take his picture. I did most of my waiting at the top of North Crocker before the bugs got too bad. On the way down I found the "2K" sign written in rocks on the trail. Luckily I didn't have to wait long because the bugs were getting super bad.After I took his picture we pushed on to the bottom to ME 27. Here I attempted to hitch with the small amount of cars passing and after a half hour finally got one. Two Clicks was beat and decided to go to a hostel tonight. He had already called them and they were coming to get him but I took the hitch to the store 3 miles east.I considered staying at the hostel but ended up resupplying for the 3-4 days to Monson then eating the crappy pizza and sandwiches they had with some Gatorade and root beer. I called Two Clicks letting him know I was moving on as we had planned that morning but no answer so I texted him. I got a hitch back to the trailhead after waiting 20 minutes (come on Maine I figured it would be easier!) Then pushed on just under 2 miles to a campsite. Two Clicks and I always attest to being solo hikers and so separation was somewhat inevitable. I'll admit I'm not the most jolly in the heat and I also have had a rough time leaving the short stay in Bethel with Abby and getting back to the grind even though it's less than 200 miles left. 200 miles is still significant and I've got to keep in the hiking mode.At camp I skinny dipped in the stream (wooo! Happy 4th!) Then set up shop and ate a little bit more. The cold water felt amazing and I was able to clean my legs of mud and make all my bug bites feel a little bit less itchy. I laid in my tent to avoid the mosquitoes and hung out alone at the tentsite.P.S: In the heat, it seems I am participating in a water crawl. I pretty much crawl from water source to water source and guzzle water. It's funny because sometimes I'll bypass a source thinking I have enough water until the next but then I'm instantly thirsty as soon as I pass. Oh well, I've made it so far and the heat will be over after tomorrow!I'm also really surprised at the service I've had in Maine! Yay Verizon!