Date: 2014-08-06
From: ME 4

To: Spaulding Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 18.7

The night in the hut was very restful and had me pumped up for the Saddlebacks! Decided to get an early start for the long day. I thanked Katherine and Steve and then rolled out - ran into some SOBOs coming from Piazza Rock Lean-to and a nice walk first thing this morning. From the lean-to up to Saddleback Mountain the terrain got tougher - turned out to be a harder climb than I expected! I was also surprised to see a bunch of fog as I went up closer to the treeline - I thought it was clear up overhead! So I had no views for most of the Saddlebacks - it even started raining lightly while I was up there forcing me to cover up - it was windy too! Even without the rain the views were socked in with fog most of the hike in this section - a bummer since it is supposed to be a really nice section to see! But I couldn't wait and I had to keep pressing on.Finally the views started appearing once I reached Saddleback Junior Mountain - I looked back to see some of the views I missed and the mountains I just walked over. It was some nice views but the fog and clouds still prevented me from seeing the whole thing and the wind kept me moving - I really didn't have any break time this morning since I was above treeline in the weather and didn't want to stop. I was getting pretty weary but I promised myself a nice break at lunch. Along the way I ran into Birdman and we hiked together to the shelter - nice hiking with someone you know! It made the time go a little faster and soon it was lunchtime with One A Day and Birdman at the shelter with "baseball bat" flooring. An odd style of flooring where the floor is made up of round pieces instead of flat pieces! Still a nice place to rest and get some energy back - the Saddlebacks required lots of energy! Continued hiking with Birdman down a long way to the first time I had to ford a stream in Maine! Birdman was able to rock hop across but I didn't want to try and get my boots wet so I walked across in my camp shoes - they worked wonderfully and dried quickly! I investigated a waterfall near the stream before moving on to start the climb up to Lone Mountain - appropriate since Birdman had gone on ahead and I was solo again.I was surprised to find nice trail along mostly gradual up to Lone Mountain - it was like actual trail! Even with the nice trail I was moving a little slowly for some reason up the hill - think I was tired from only taking one break this morning. I kept plodding along and made it up to the top - the trail gets a little steeper near the top but overall a nice climb! The trail after the summit was still nice and Birdman and I walked to the shelter together enjoying the nice trail. Upon reaching the shelter we met two section hikers (mother and her son) doing the stretch from Gorham to the Bigelow Mountain after Stratton. Later on two SOBOs showed up from Stratton and Politician came in a little later - he had a late start since Steve had made them all breakfast!The conversation flowed tonight and we talked about the trail, the end of Maine, the White Mountains, and even English Literature - who knew?! It was a talkative group and it was a nice evening but still an early night for everyone - people were in bed before eight pm!Stratton tomorrow!