Date: 2016-07-11
From: Caribou Valley Road

To: Perham Stream Road
Miles today: 0.0

The bandages on my shoulder seem to help hiking, but I remove them at night to let the sore air out and dry. I noticed that I'm leaving a little blood and yellow residue on my pillow case in the morning. The bandage does help with the pack strap though. Ben dropped me off at Caribou Valley Road around 8 and I walked the 1 mile dirt road back to the trail where I left off yesterday. The road was a nice warm up. My cough seems to be getting better although it's still there. From the dirt road, the trail dips down a very short rock scramble to the Carrabassett River, crosses it and then goes to a steep 1100' climb over a distance of about 3/4 of a mile up the north side of Spaulding Mountain. The trail then levels off some and rolls up and down for 3 miles to the base of a short steep climb to the summit of Spaulding. Halfway on the 3 mile stretch is a side trail to the Sugarloaf Mountain summit and gondola, which is running and will take you down to the base of the ski area for lunch. I didn't take that side trip opting for another later in the day. I was moving pretty well up and over the summit and down 800' to the Spaulding Mtn lean-to, which is where I had lunch. Carrying a light day pack makes a really big difference on the steep ups and downs, and I was having a blast cruising along, so I decided to take the side trail that climbs Mt Abraham, which is an out and back adding 3.4 miles to the 9 official AT miles, the 2 dirt road miles getting to the trail and back to my pick up point for the day,. So my total for the day would be just short of 15 miles. The blue blaze trail up Mt Abraham starts out fairly level and then climbs up through pine forest to an alpine layer of forest and then finally to a rocky skree field on the shoulder of Mt Abraham. From there you start to get a good view of the area and a look at the rocky summit. Not sure why, but I went off trail through the rocks for a short distance an noticed that an animal had cleared out two 3' by 4' areas where tree and plant growth met the skree. Looked like it might be a bedding area for something big. Scrambled back through the rocks and up to the summit and was rewarded with a spectacular 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains. My Abraham looked to be a little taller than Spaulding, and certainly was more spectacular. It was getting late for my pick so I hurried back down to the AT junction over to the summit of Lone Mtn where I called the Shaw's, owners of The Farmhouse Hostel to let them know that I might be 30-40 mins late for my pickup. The climb down Lone Mtn was a little steep and slow, but I was moving well with a light pack. Got to the dirt road and went into a hikers gallop, a fast 3 1/2 mile pace. I saw two guys walking up the trail after about 1/2 mile. It was Shawn the owner of the Farmhouse and his son Shane. They didn't get my message, drove up to the pick up point and started to walk up to the trail head. I felt bad about that and explained that I took the side trip up Mt Abraham since it was a lovely day. Shawn didn't seem to mind. The drive to the Farmhouse was a good hour long drive down a series of dirt and the paved roads. Shawn and Stacey are new owners of the hostel and a very nice family. They moved out from Colorado a few years ago leaving a construction business with the idea that the hostel would give Shawn more time with his kids. The Farmhouse itself, is just that, an old farmhouse with a big extension built on. The original farmhouse is the hiker hostel with bunk rooms and a hiker kitchen. It was really comfortable and homey. The newer addition is where the Shaw's live. Shawn has been putting a lot of repair work into the building during the off season and had a work in progress. Took a shower and realized that my shoulder was still looking nasty, so I washed it out well and applied more antibiotic cream and bandages. Cough seems to act up more at night when I lie down, but fortunately was in a room by myself so I wouldn't infect anyone else. Stacy agreed to pick up my mail drop box at the post office the following day, which would save me some time. Went into Rangely for dinner at a local pub - burger, fries and a salad washed down with a beer. Sat with a few other AT hikers - Bear Bait, a big guy around 40 who was retired army, and Sunny Daz, a jovial 50 something year old who had enough of the corporate life and left it all behind. Back to the Farmhouse and looked over the map to see what the hike would be like tomorrow and hit the sack.