Date: 2012-07-19
From: Spaulding Mountain Lean-to

To: Cranberry Stream Campsite
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Great weather again today, sunny, blue skies and not too hot. I woke up a little earlier than normal and was one of the first hikers to leave the shelter. Before long, I came to a plaque mounted on a rock next to the trail. The plaque honored the Maine CCC and commemorated the last link of the AT to be finished nearly 75 years ago. The trail was only 2,054 miles long in 1937, 130 miles shorter than its length in 2012. Continuing on, there were some views of Sugarloaf Mountain, the Carrabassett River, and the Crocker Mountains. On the long descent to the Carrabassett, I stopped to talk to a SOBO who advised me that the Crockers "suck" but the Bigelows (the next range to the north) weren't bad. The Carrabassett is listed as a river ford, but the water was low enough to just rock hop across. After a snack break, the long climb up South Crocker began. The first part wasn't terrible, and there was a decent view part way up. I grabbed my Fuji Touristcam for a few photos, but the battery was completely dead and I couldn't even take one shot. Mildly disappointed with my camera, I continued the climb and came to the top of South Crocker. Not much to see here, onward to North Crocker, another mile ahead. This part of the trail was a little boring, compared to what I'd been experiencing over the past few weeks. No views, just a trail through the trees. By the time I reached the top of North Crocker, I'd gained about 2000' since the Carrabassett crossing. Now it was five miles of steady downgrade to Route 27 and the town of Stratton. As I continued along at a good pace, my thoughts turned to the hearty meal I was planning to eat at the Stratton Diner. I'd start with some bacon and eggs, followed by a sandwich or two, and an ice cream sundae for desert. This went on for several miles, with no scenery to distract me, all I could do was think about food and how exciting it would be to finally get to the diner. After what seemed like an eternity, I could hear traffic off in the distance and I knew I was getting close to the road that would take me to food, umm, Stratton. I crossed the highway and started hitching, it took about 45 minutes to score a ride in the back of a pickup. I hopped out at the post office, thanked the driver for the ride, and walked down the main street to the diner. There it was, like an oasis - or more accurately, a mirage. Approaching the diner I noticed that it looked awfully quiet and empty - it was closed! All of my meal planning went for naught! Luckily, Stratton is also home to the White Wolf Inn, a fine establishment that was open and serving pizza. The pizza hit the spot, but I was still hungry. While in town, I needed to do a food resupply to last until Monson, almost 75 miles away. Fotter's Market was right across the street and it was one of the best grocery stores I went to on my hike. It's small, but it has plenty of hiker food, and the prices weren't half bad - especially for a little store in the middle of nowhere! Since I was still hungry, I picked up a box of 12 ice cream sandwiches. I didn't think I could eat all 12 after a whole pizza, so I offered some to the friendly server at the White Wolf. She politely declined, but said the chef would probably enjoy some. I gave him two, and gave some to a family who had just finished their dinner. This left me with half a box of ice cream sandwiches, which I quickly consumed. My camera battery had finished charging by now, and I was well fed, and fully stocked on food. It was about 6PM when I left the White Wolf, and Stratton looked like something of a ghost town. There was hardly any traffic on the main road and I wondered if I'd be stuck walking five miles back to the trail. I lucked out and got a ride from a couple in a pickup and it was a crew cab so they let me ride INSIDE the truck! Back on the trail, I still had about two miles to go before getting to Cranberry Stream. It was close to level from Route 27 to the campsite, but I could quickly tell that I'd gone a little overboard on my food purchase in Stratton. My pack felt like it had a couple of bricks in it, but I got to the campsite before dusk and set up camp for the night. Space had been there for a while and there were several SOBOs too. Some of them were running low on food, so I passed out Little Debbies and candy bars from my food stash. Good group of hikers here, I hope they all made it to Springer!