I’d wanted to hike the whole weekend but the weather was miserable yesterday. Since it looked better this morning, I thought I’d try my luck in the Maine Woods! I left my condo at 0645 and drove north via I-91. Got off the Interstate at Barnet and used NH-135 to reach I-93. After driving south for a little bit, I got off the Interstate again at US-302 (east of Littleton) and followed it all the way to Twin Mountain. I then used US-3 and NH-115 to reach US-2 and then continued east into Maine. Following US-2 through Farmington, I then switched to ME-234 and followed it to US-201A. From there, I got on US-201 and drove north to Bingham. I used ME-16 until I got to Abbot and then ME-6 all the way to Greenville. Using E Road for the last part of my journey, I arrived at the Hedgehog Checkpoint of the KI / Jo Mary Multi-use Forest at 1300. I checked in with the nice caretaker couple and then drove to the Gulf Hagas Trailhead. About 15 minutes after that, I geared up and headed north towards the intersection with the AT (0.2 miles away) - this was also where both trails crossed the West Branch of the Pleasant River. When I reached the water’s edge, though, I found it to be very un-pleasant - it was as high and swift as any un-bridged river I’ve encountered in all my AT hikes. There were several people on the other side, contemplating a crossing, but I was already sure I wasn’t going to try it myself. Instead, I hiked back on the AT to Katahdin Ironworks Road (about 0.3 miles). I encountered a SOBO Thru hiker there (“Trey”) - he told me he'd barely made it across the river earlier in the day. We talked about his pace, the inclement weather during the previous week, NOBO encounters and his expected arrival date in Hanover, NH. I told him about my planned Trail Magic event on July 20 and he promised to share the news with other Thru hikers. From there, I walked back to my car (0.5 miles), arriving at about 1445. I met an AT Ridgerunner at the trailhead who described harrowing crossings of the river (people and dogs swept away) that he’d witnessed during the previous 24 hours. He explained that the recent heavy rains had definitely risen the water levels by two to three feet. As he was finishing talking with me, he had to rush over to a young mother and her two little kids to dissuade them from trying to hike to Gulf Hagas from the trailhead. They didn’t listen… I didn’t stay to find out what happened, through. Instead, since my plans had been stymied, I decided to drive east in an attempt to access another connecting trail (White Brook). I’d hoped that this action would help me to cut a 15 mile AT section into three parts. Using several of the logging roads within the KI / Jo Mary area, I drove north. I managed to get within about a mile of the trailhead but, unfortunately, the road conditions had gotten so bad by then that I had to give up my attempt. Retracing my steps to KI Road, I realized that I’ll have to come up with another plan to complete the section… Fortunately, I had a backup hike in mind and found the trailhead (Third Mountain) by 1530. From there, I hiked 1.4 miles (up the north side of the Barren-Chairback ridge) to reach the AT. At one point in the climb, I was startled by a HUGE tree that fell pretty close to me - the amount of noise that made was sort of scary (glad I wasn’t closer)… The trail was wet and muddy but I made good time. Heading SOBO (west on the compass) on the AT from the trail junction, I began to tackle the 3.7 mile section. Temps were in the low 50s and there was intermittent fog, mist and rain. Trail conditions on the AT were even worse than I’d encountered below and I had to be extremely careful, with every step, not to fall. The section contained three climbs above 2000 feet: Third Mountain, Fourth Mountain and the eastern peak of Barren Mountain. Between each peak, I had to descend into steep ravines. Along the way, I encountered two pairs of guys (all NOBO HMW Section Hikers) who looked like wet animals after being in the Maine Woods for over a week in the rain. Otherwise, I was completely alone... I trudged, resolutely, across rocks, roots, slabs of granite and rotting “boardwalks”. I constantly found myself wading in creeks and bogs. There were lots of mosquitos but no black flies. I passed a plane crash site on Fourth Mountain and remembered that the AT had recently been rerouted in the area to allow hikers to see the wreckage. By the time I reached the trail junction for the Cloud Pond Lean-to, I was physically exhausted, wet and mentally drained. It was only the halfway point, though, and I still had to walk all the way back to the car... Somehow, I managed to do it, with difficulty, but also soon had another challenge: darkness. Even though I was hiking on one of the longest days of the year, my nearly five hours (at that point) on the ridge had used it all. I realized I would be in real trouble if I hadn’t brought my headlamp but was relieved I’d packed it (first hike of the year with my day pack). I spent nearly an hour in total darkness, carefully (but clumsily) descending via the Third Mountain Trail to my car. I arrived at around 2145 and decided not to proceed to my campsite on Long Pond - instead, I set up my “car camp” (seats down in the back) at the trailhead. It was cold enough by then (mid 40s) that there weren’t any mosquitos, fortunately. Everything I was wearing was so wet that I had trouble getting dry and was hesitant to get into my sleeping bag... Waiting a little longer to get to sleep, I looked outside the windows of my car and saw SO MANY stars. By my calculations (from maps), I hiked about 12 miles today. According to my pedometer, however, I could have walked nearly 17. It sure felt like the latter amount! Regardless, I felt good that I’d chipped away at my AT total and easily fell asleep after my hard day. AT Today = 4.0 miles / Grand Total AT = 2122.3 miles / AT Left = 63.0 miles
