Date: 2007-08-31
From: Bald Mountain Brook lean-to

To: U.S. 201 (Caratunk)
Miles today: 14.7

It rained all night and I stayed in my tent until about 8 a.m. until it tapered off somewhat. I had hung my foodbag in the shelter and to my suprise when I went in to retrieve it there were two big spaces in the shelter where I could have slept. Apparently, most of these kids had set up tents and slept in those. I was a little pissed as I packed up my gear knowing I could have had a completely dry pack instead of a wet tent, but I wasn't too mad because I was going to Northern Outdoors Resort for the night. Most northbounders I talked to had stayed at the place and they said there was a hot tub, microbrewery, and $10 cabin tents, and the place was located just two miles off the trail. It was a fairly easy day of walking with just one big climb up Pleasant Pond Mountain. No view with the fog and the drizzle, and the rocks and roots were again slippery, but I managed with minimal falling. I stopped in at the lean-to after the mountain for lunch, and as I was there, a northbound section hiker rolled in and we got to talking. He reaffirmed everything about Northern Outdoors. He had been section hiking the A.T. for about 10 years, and on this trip, he said he was surprised by how many hostels there were. Pretty soon, he said, the A.T. will be like Europe and we'll just hike from hostel to hostel carrying our wine and cheese for the day. I think that could very well happen. The popularity of the A.T. has increased dramatically over the past 15 years, and with all of the roads the trail crosses and the increasing coverage of cell phones in the East, I can see a day when a thru-hike could occur by hiking from hostel to hostel. I'm not sure how I feel about that. In some ways, it's almost what the creators (at least Benton MacKaye) of the A.T. had in mind with a series of farming and self-sustaining communities connected by the trail. Hostels are a far cry from this, but the A.T. has evolved into a thru-hiking endeavor so the question is, would a hostel every 20 or so miles diminish the A.T. experience? Those that view the A.T. as a rugged wilderness experience would probably think so, but the reality is that the A.T. isn't truly a wilderness experience although some of the trail in Maine and New Hampshire is quite rugged. With so many road crossings, I hardly ever feel as if I'm truly in the wild. Personally, I wouldn't care if there was a hostel every 20 miles, I certainly wouldn't be staying at every one.I eventually made it to U.S. 201 and walked the mile up the road to Steve Longley's campstore. Steve also runs the ferry service across the Kennebec (the big, bad river on the A.T. if you are to believe the ATC). I resupplied at Steve's diverse and well-stocked store, letting slip that I had forded the river in 2000 but he seemed cool with that. His official stance as ferry operator has to be that he recommends hikers take the fairy, but I have a suspicion that he really doesn't care if people ford as long as their smart about it. When I forded in 2000, I waited until early morning when the water level was fairly low and it really wasn't a big deal to walk the 70 yards or so across the river. It was a fast current, but only about thigh deep.After resupplying, Steve gave me a lift up to Northern Outdoors where I got a cabin tent down by the river. Eventually, I strolled over to the campground shower house to clean up. I had no towel, shampoo, or soap and was provided none of the above by the resort. But the showerhouse did have a liquid soap dispenser and one of those hot air dryers for your hands so I was able to make do with what was available. After cleaning up, I went up to dinner where I ran into the flip-flop crew. Spyder had pulled a 19-mile day, but Ragnar, Highlife, and Otter had randomly caught a ride at a logging road from a local headed to Caratunk. I joined them for dinner and afterward, Ragnar and I split a 6-pack and went back to their room. I finally rolled to bed around 10:30 with no real desire to get an early start on the next day.