JIMarx.comHiking the Appalachian Trail
Back On The Trail | July 27, 2008
Hi from Greenville, Maine.
I’m back on the trail again heading south this time from Maine back to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Maine is so New Englandish; even the names sound very English such as Penobscot River, Pemadumcook Lake, and Pollywog Stream. There are many lakes, ponds, streams, bogs, and woods with white birch trees and the sound of loons. From all of this, you just know you are in New England!
The trails here are full of moose droppings. Now, I don’t know shit about animal poop; but I’m told the piles of big round turds are from moose. I thought it was giant rabbits. I was expecting to see a 10 foot bunny hopping down the trail. For all the droppings I have seen though, I have still not seen a moose. I'm definitely going to keep looking in the bogs and around the lakes and ponds.
I got to Maine last Wednesday, July 16th via flights from Detroit to New York to Boston to Bangor, Maine. I arrived in Bangor but unfortunately my backpack didn’t. I went on to Medway via bus and then to Millinocket and waited overnight for my backpack to catch-up. It didn’t, so I gave Delta Airline instructions to deliver my backpack to the ranger’s station at Katahdin Stream Campground in Baxter State Park, and then proceeded on. At 10:00 I began my climb up Mount Katahdin to Baxter Peak, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. I had to get to the top to start my 1,166 mile trip south. It quickly turned from a hiking trail to a rock climb. Of the five hours it took me going up, I was probably walking erect for two hours and climbing on all fours for the other three. And of the two hours erect, I was rock hopping half the time. But I was very lucky that it was a beautiful day, (the whole day) because the rocks were dry. Wet rocks would have added another very difficult dimension to the already difficult day. Once I got above the tree line, there were some of the most scenic views I’ve seen so far on the trail. It was a magnificent day, and very rewarding to have achieved the climb both up and back down. To top off my luck for the day, my backpack was at the ranger’s station when I arrived back down.
Maine has a reputation of having the most difficult trails on the AT. I now totally agree. On my first day after climbing Katahdin, I only got 10 miles in. The trails are very rocky, full of tree roots, and black muck in the wet spots. The next day, I was already heading into the area they call the 100 Mile Wilderness. There is a warning sign posted that says not to enter unless you are prepared and have at least 10 days of food. I had seven days of food that I could very easily stretch into eight if I had to. However, despite the mystique of the 100 Mile Wilderness, on the second day I ran into day hikers that got in on a logging road. I met other hikers that had food drops prepared along a logging road halfway through. I was carrying a 15 pound food bag at the start. And on the third morning into the “wilderness” I was having bacon and eggs, toasted muffins and blueberry pancakes for breakfast at the White House Landing. To get there I had to hike 1.2 miles off the trail and sound an air horn on a boat dock. Bill then came across the lake and picked me up where I stayed in the bunkhouse for the night. I was too late for dinner, but had some ice cream and a couple cold beers.
One of the differences between the trails in Maine and the trails I was on in the south is the stream crossings. In the south they build bridges, here you are on your own. My first experience was a stream crossing that looked too difficult for me to make. The rocks were too far apart to jump across, and the tree trunks lying between some rocks look to small to support me. So I reluctantly decided to take an alternate blue blaze trail for high water conditions. I was disappointed because I had been able to stay on the white blaze trail so far, and never taken a blue blaze trail meant for adverse conditions. After twenty minutes on the blue blaze, I came to another stream that looked waist deep that I would have to ford through. I decided that if I am going to get wet anyway, I would do it on the white blazes; and headed back to the original crossing. There I did manage to straddle a couple of the tree trunks together and sort of crawled across without getting wet.
Not getting wet at all ended two days ago when I crossed Long Pond Stream. It had been raining for several days and the streams were swollen. When I approached Long Pond Stream, people were setting up camps and waiting for the water to recede the next day. I was already totally soaked from head to toe from the rain all day, so just decided to walk on through. Fortunately there was a rope strung across to hold on to. The current was so strong and water up to my waist that I don’t think I could have made it without the rope. It was my first experience fording a river. There was one earlier the day before, but all I needed to do was take my hiking boots off to keep them dry, and walked across in my crocs with water just up to the calves of my legs.
I got four more experiences fording streams yesterday. It had continued raining all night. The first stream I came to yesterday, I was studying how to get across, when Strider and Red from Pennsylvania approached also. I didn’t think there was a way to get across as deep as it was and as fast as the current was, until it receded. It was Strider’s idea to put our food bag ropes together to make a line long enough to reach across. He took the line across without his backpack on and we all made it with aid of the rope. The next stream had a fallen tree to walk across, which is still a thrilling adventure with the water raging below and a falls just down stream.
Here's me fording a river in Maine
When I as on the trails in the south, there were times it seemed like I was walking on trails that were likely there when Daniel Boone and Davey Crocket where there. It was easy to imagine that I would meet them on the trail in their buckskin coats. Here in Maine I imagine meeting Henry David Thoreau. Or would it be Bill Bryson and Katz finishing their hike? It was in fact the 100 Mile Wilderness and fording a stream that they quit their hike. I can now understand why. I have met a surprising number of thru-hikers from Springer Mountain in Georgia about to complete their journey; almost one or two every day. Most of them that are finishing now started in February or March. Surprising to me, is that they never seem very excited about it. I suppose that its just that they have struggled through Maine, and are so beaten down by the trail conditions here.
Another interesting contrast are the sounds of nature. In the south there were always so many sounds in the woods. I suppose most of them were those of birds. Here in Maine though, there are times when the only sound in the woods is me cursing the rocks and trail. If I am quiet, the only sound is silence, and its sort of an eerie silence.
The last two days were two of the toughest I have had on the entire AT. Not only was the trail in such a rough condition, but also the the weather was so wet. I think they like the idea in Maine of it being the toughest part of the AT. While it looks like the trails were designed in the southern sections, it looks like someone just bushwhacked their way through the woods here, and everyone has followed since creating a path. Admittedly, if I had started in Maine, I don’t think I could have made it up Katahdin and survived the first week in the physical condition I was in at that time.
That said, I have made good progress and am nearly 40% through Maine already, and I feel very well!
Happy Trails,
“Izzy” Jim
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