Enjoying Maine

Monday (8-23) was yet another beautiful day.  We have been very blessed with the abundance of nice weather recently.  After climbing 800 ft to the East Peak of the Little Bigelow Mountain, we had lunch at the lean-to at 1 PM.  We descended 1,800 ft to the serene Flagstaff Lake where I took a short nap.  Here is the lake.

At 2 PM we continued hiking and we reached the 2,000 mile mark painted on the road.  Because the AT gets slightly longer each year due to some relocation of the trail, we had already hiked 2,012.2 miles.  We climbed Roundtop Mountain and then we arrived at West Carry Pond Lean-to at 5:00 PM where we set up our tents.  After dinner we heard the sound of a loon on the large pond.  Overall it was an easy day of hiking and we traveled 12.2 miles.  Tuesday (8-24) started at 7 AM for us.  The trail was relatively flat with neither long climbs nor steep descents.  There was still an overabundance of roots, rocks, and mud.  Elevation change for the day varied no more than 200 ft at a time.  We enjoyed lunch sitting on a large log directly on the trail.  We reached Pierce Pond Lean-to at 2:00 PM and set up the tents.  It was a welcome change to be done hiking early in the day.  I was able to write my daily blog in the daylight and not feel rushed.  The ponds in Maine, like Pierce Pond, are huge--hundreds of acres.  They are surrounded by trees and the area is as gorgeous as you would imagine.  We started on Thursday (8-25) at 6:30 AM.  We hiked .4 miles to have breakfast at Harrison Pierce Pond Camps, a traditional camp for vacationers and anglers.  The camp was built in 1934 and is very rustic and decorated with a sportsman flair.  The owner cooked us an amazing feast.  I had 10 blueberry pancakes, eggs, sausage, coffee, and juice!  Within five minutes of leaving Harrison's, we saw our first moose about 90 ft away in a stream as we were hiking to the Kennebec River.  Wow, what a HUGE animal!  The Kennebec River is the most formidable unbridged crossing on the AT.  A thru-hiker drowned in 1985 trying to ford the river and many others have had close calls.  The river spans 150 yards and is up to six feet deep.  Dangers include rocks, strong currents, and unpredictable water levels due to releases to the dam upstream.  Hikers are urged not to attempt to ford the river.  The ferry (a canoe) is the official route and even has a white blaze painted on the bottom of it.  Over the last 20+ years the canoe has ferried in excess of 20,000 hikers.  After we crossed, we hiked to US 201 where we were picked up and driven two miles to the lodge where we sent our food earlier in this week.  We did the usual--showered, did laundry, and had dinner.  I can see why people who love the outdoors appreciate the beauty of Maine.