Date: 2016-08-26
To: ME 27, Stratton
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Destination: ME 27, StrattonStart: Caribou Valley Rd.Miles: 8.8It rained lightly overnight. Despite the fact that my tarp was tenuously set up, I didn¢t get wet.   Although we were hiking a shorter day, 8.8 miles, we still left early in the morning. This was so we¢d arrive in Stratton with plenty of time to drive back to Rangeley to shuttle our cars forward. The hike was a 2-mile ascent to the top of South Crocker Mountain, about half gradual and half steep; an additional mile to the top of North Crocker, first a very steep descent, then a very steep climb; and finally a long gradual descent for about 6 miles to reach the trailhead at ME 27. I approached the top of South Crocker around 8:30, but as it was totally fogged in (see picture) I didn¢t take the 50-yard side trail to reach the actual summit (elev. 4040). I made it to the top of North Crocker (elev. 4228) a little over an hour later. It too was fogged in. For a while there was intermittent light rain, but the temperature remained warm. So each time I put my raincoat on I became really hot and took it off. Finally the sun came out, and the day turned bright and beautiful. I got to the parking lot at ME 27 in mid-afternoon. There I experienced my first trail magic: a family was parked in the lot handing out ice-cold Powerade. Wow! That really hit the spot. Steve and I headed to Rangeley to pick up my car. My blisters were still hurting, so we stopped at an outfitter to get new shoes for me. After trying on quite a few, I settled on Keen low shoes. The deciding factors were that they had a large toe box and quite stiff soles. I figured the stiffer soles would be more secure when moving from rock to rock. (I want to avoid twisting my left ankle, which I sprained badly a few years ago. I may need to switch to higher boots in rocky areas.)From there we headed to the Farmhouse Inn hostel, where we got showers for $5. I don¢t think I¢ve ever been so grateful for a shower. I¢d been hiking really strenuously for three days in 80-degree temperatures, so I was very stinky ¢ although probably not as stinky as my clothes. For the first day or so my shirt, made of synthetic material, just smelled like standard sweaty body odor. But after that it seemed like the bacteria creating the smell had fermented or somehow taken on a whole new life form. It was unbelievably rank. I too was filthy. My legs and arms were covered with scrapes, scratches, and dirt that had to be really vigorously scrubbed. It felt wonderful to be clean and to put on clean clothes. Next we headed to the Red Onion in Rangeley to get some real food. I wasn¢t very hungry because I¢ve been trying really hard to eat all my planned snacks through the day. Steve agreed to split a dinner with me. After that we caravaned in our separate cars back to Stratton. We stopped at a place where moose are sometimes seen, but we didn¢t see any. The group met at 7 PM to plan the next day. Warren suggested a 5 AM start. The hike ¢ over Bigelow Mountain, Avery Peak, and Little Bigelow ¢ was the most difficult hike of this section, and it was 16.8 miles long. Warren bases his start times on his estimate of how long it will take the slowest person in the group to finish while it¢s still daylight. His theory is that if you have to hike in the dark it¢s better to do that in the morning when you¢re fresh, rather than in the evening when you¢re tired from hiking all day. I¢m the slowest person in this group. Looking at the AWOL profile and considering how long it took me to hike the first day, I thought I needed to start earlier, maybe 4 AM. Steve volunteered to start at 4 with me. Later we thought maybe 3:30 would be better. So we set our alarms for 3 AM and went to bed. I slept in my car again.