AT Days 140 to 149 - From Bigelow to Abol Bridge: The Final Push Through Maine’s Mountains and the 100 Mile Wilderness

Day 140

Knowing that it was hot and that we had some climbing ahead of us, we took the 9 am ride out of the Maine Roadhouse instead of staying until 11 like we normally do. We had an outstanding breakfast cooked by Jen, and we were excited to hit the trail, armed with the knowledge that it would be sunny. Despite the relatively quick gain in elevation, the climb up to the Bigelows was fairly pleasant, especially in comparison to some of our recent climbs. We took it slow because of the heat, my stomach (probably too much ice cream last night!), and because Instigator was still having balance issues from her head injury. As a result, our pace, frustratingly, was once again slower than planned. I guess that’s just apparently how all of New England works for us. The views from the peaks were every bit as incredible as we thought they would be, given how exposed they are and how much prominence they have relative to their immediate surrounding area. There were patches of thunderstorms rolling in around us, so we couldn’t see much to the north, only to the south. Thankfully, they all blew past us so we could enjoy the day without worrying about the weather. Eventually, we made it to Safford Notch Campsite, nestled inside a giant boulder field. We were able to grab one of the two tent platforms, which was incredibly lucky due to how sloped and rocky the area is. Not long after dinner, the wind picked up a bit, and the temperature dropped. This, combined with how wiped out we are, led to Instigator falling asleep almost immediately after we got into the tent! 

Day 141

I was thinking about what the unexpected wind and cool temps meant last night, and we ended up getting walloped by quite a powerful storm late in the evening. Unfortunately, we had pitched the tent high to get more circulation, so the two corners closest to the fly became soaked inside. Afterwards, it cooled off considerably, so we got some fantastic sleep. Thanks to the breeze from the front, the tent was nice and dry when we woke up, so we were able to hit the trail quickly. The first few miles were slow as we had to climb up and over Little Bigelow. At the road gap afterward, we were surprised with trail magic from Bourbon Batman again! We only hung out there for maybe 10 minutes before hitting the trail, eager to crush miles and make it to Pierce Pond. Those plans were quickly dashed, however, because the nice flat section we had been anticipating was completely washed out by the weather. Our pace once again took a nose-dive as we had to rock hop around deep mud and standing water. We hiked until we hit a stealth spot at East Carry Pond around 6:30 pm. We could have pressed on further, but with the rain picking up, we decided not to press our luck on campsites. We had an early dinner and hopped into the tent before the rain became too heavy. We’re hopeful we can get up early and run the 9 miles to make the Kennebec River Ferry in time before it ends for the day. I’m optimistic we can find some pace tomorrow morning and get back above 2mph!

Day 142

We once again woke up to a wet tent. Instigator left early as we were worried about making the ferry, and because I was dragging my feet getting out of bed. Once I managed to pack up my things inside, I was disappointed to find that the soaked tent had slugs all over the outside… Great. Once all the slugs had been removed and I was up and moving, I was able to crank out mileage pretty easily as the trail was blissfully kind. Empowered by music and the sun peaking out, I caught up to Instigator before our planned rendezvous point. We rolled in together to Pierce Pond Lean-to, where we enjoyed breakfast with a gorgeous view. A local hiker hanging out there informed us that the caretaker of the nearby Harrison’s Pierce Pond Camp had built a bridge over the Pierce Pond Stream, so we could do that instead of having to wade through the sketchy, swollen river crossing. From here forward, the trail was very friendly, and we made it to the bank of the Kennebec River in no time.

Once we arrived, we ran into a familiar face in the form of The Price is Right! He was the first very familiar face we had seen since coming back on the trail after our trip to Martha’s Vineyard, and it was a delight getting to catch up with him while we waited for the ferry. Once it was our turn, we hopped into the canoe and discussed with the guide how weird it is that there are so many river crossings without permanent safe solutions. Once across, we said goodbye and then hitched to Sterling Inn with Price is Right. We decided to have lunch there and let our stuff dry out while lounging in the sun. Price was staying there for the night, but since it was still early in the day, we decided to get a few more miles in. The owner’s son kindly drove us back to the trail, and we cruised the last couple of miles to the Pleasant Pond Lean-to.

It took forever to get the tent set up, as the ground there was either thick mud or solid rock. Once we finally managed to get the tent pitched, Instigator opted to rest in the tent, and I headed out to the lake with a few drinks I had packed out. While floating in the crystal clear pond, some locals came by, asked if I was a hiker, and tossed me a White Claw! Maine sure knows how to bring the trail magic!  Once the sun started to set, I got out of the water and hustled back to our tent, actually cold for once, as the air temperature had dropped considerably while I was in the water. It was so nice to finally have a dry sunny day for once!  That said, I’m sad that it is supposed to pour once again tomorrow. I’m not sure whether it’s because we passed the solstice or if it's because we are so far north, but the days are getting noticeably shorter. Instigator is still not feeling great from her fall and from her feet, and I am worried about her. Hopefully, we can cruise into Monson without too much rain.

Day 143

After our easy day yesterday, we woke up a bit earlier to knock out some mileage before a storm was forecast to roll through. Leaving the Lean-to’s camping area was a bit tricky due to all of the mud and a group of Girl Scouts who had set up their tents along the walkway. We made it up Pleasant Pond Mountain in no time, and we were rewarded with gorgeous sweeping views of Maine and a sky that was quickly darkening earlier than expected. In an attempt not to get stuck out in the storm, we flew up and over Middle Mountain and jogged to try and get to Bald Mountain Lean-to with thunder and lightning booming around us. About a mile or so out, the storm caught up to us, and we were smacked with a wall of heavy rain and strong wind. We kept moving, though, and made it to the shelter, completely drenched. As the storm raged on, a band of ragged sobo hikers rolled in who had been caught in the storm on top of Moxie Bald Mountain, and then another nobo hiker jogged in. We all snacked as we dried off, and it turned out that the nobo, Wilder, was friends with Mountain Goat, a hiker I had hung out with back at the Notch Hostel in New Hampshire. While waiting out the storm, Widler shared his plan to be in Monson by early tomorrow morning and how he would take the old AT, a logging road that ran next to a river, into town instead of the current trail to avoid the numerous river crossings.

Once we finally caught a break between storms, the 3 of us left the shelter with Wilder jogging to get over Moxie Bald and Instigator and me speed walking. Fittingly, we took the “bad weather bypass” as we did not want to get struck by lightning this close to the finish line. The bypass was still fairly exposed, though, but it had gorgeous views of blueberry patches and Bald Mountain Pond down below. Once we got down, it was buggy, and the trail was washed out. We stopped briefly at Bald Mountain Pond for a snack and to ask sobos about the trail conditions into Monson. According to them, the river crossings were swollen, and the trail had been reduced to miles of mud. Armed with that information, we decided to follow Wilder’s route. We trudged along the trail for a couple more miles before splitting off to follow Bald Mountain Stream Road, and this wild network of logging roads it connected to. We stopped briefly to make dinner, which was cut short by voracious mosquitoes, but otherwise continued into the darkness. At some point, we passed what we guessed was Wilder’s tent, but kept going until around 10:30 pm. We hadn’t quite made it into Monson, but we had a nice, long day and had made some serious distance despite the weather.

Day 144

We woke up bright and early with the sun, as we had set up in a meadow with little cover. As a result, the tent was soaked with dew, but that was alright because it was a town day! We quickly packed up with the plan to have breakfast in Monson. Not long after we had hit the trail, Wilder whipped past us but agreed to have breakfast at a gas station in town. Instigator and I then enjoyed our nice cruisey 3 mile forest road walk into town, thankful that we had decided to take the old route, as it really was gorgeous. We passed massive meadows full of wildflowers along the bank of the Piscataquis River and checked out the little old township of Blanchard, complete with old hand-sawed wooden buildings. Just before we rolled into Monson, we were rewarded with another wonderful view of Lake Hebron as we walked along its bank. Around 7 am, we caught up to Wilder at the gas station and then split a case of White Claws along with some delicious breakfast sandwiches to celebrate making it to the last trail town. 

After breakfast, we checked into the famous Shaw’s Hiker Hostel and completed our usual slew of town chores. Not too long after breakfast, we met Toe, Cal, and a few other Sobo hikers who had met our friends ahead of us. We also received word that day that our friends had successfully summited Katahdin and had finished the trail! After we finished up with most of our chores, we went to explore the town and shop for supplies, realizing bittersweetly that this would be our last resupply. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any shoes that fit me, as mine already had large gashes. I did the best I could to patch them up, and we called it good on our preparation for the 100 Mile Wilderness. While we were out at dinner with new friends, I received a text from Alchemist that he and Pickles would be rolling into Shaw's late that evening as well! Once I finished eating, I hurried over to the gas station to grab them a pizza and some drinks so that they would have something to enjoy when they arrived. We then spent the rest of the evening hanging out with them by a campfire, catching up since we had not seen them since Virginia, listening to Wilder play guitar.

Day 145

We slept in a bit as we had a nice cozy room and we had finished all of our chores the night before, so we didn’t bother leaving our room until it was time for Shaw’s famous blueberry pancake breakfast. When we emerged and headed downstairs, the first floor had been completely transformed with tables and chairs shoved into every available spot, and a place setting set out for everyone. We were then served family-style, large quantities of orange juice, blueberry pancakes, eggs, potatoes, and bacon. Because we arrived a bit late, we were not able to sit with anyone we knew, but it didn’t matter as everyone there was friendly. Due to a long stretch of forecasted bad weather in the coming weeks, we decided to hit the trail again instead of taking a zero. So after breakfast, we said goodbye to our friends, took the first shuttle out, and hit the 100 Mile Wilderness promptly at 9:20 am. This wasn’t exactly ideal, but between the 9 am checkout time and the impending weather, we figured that we needed to get a move on. 

Between the mountain of food we had just consumed, and our hefty 7-day resupply (which was really stretching our food to be honest), we were loaded down and moving slowly down the trail. Instigator’s feet were killing her right off the bat, and I was feeling it in my knees. Due to the terrain and weather, I think we are both pretty over it at this point, and we had really wanted to zero at Shaw’s. This section of the trail was pretty cruisy overall, but between several poorly marked sections of the trail and numerous river fords, it still felt like we were crawling. One of the main highlights of the hike was the gorgeous Little Wilson Falls we passed by (but of course, we then had to ford the swollen river downstream). Eventually, we came across an old abandoned forest road and set up camp for the night. We were a little bit behind our goal of 25miles, but not by much. 

Day 146

Due to the nice weather and a good camping site, we maintained a pretty decent pace for most of the morning, despite having to ford multiple rivers. Before too long, though, we hit the Chairback Mountains, the rain blew in, and Instigator’s feet had started to kill her again due to plantar fasciitis. Because we didn’t want to get caught out on the peaks in a thunderstorm, we decided to follow the Third Mountain Trail down to Chairback Mountain Road, with the plan to follow that until it crossed the AT. The blue blaze was much better maintained than the AT, which was interesting considering that we were in the 100-mile “Wilderness.” Since the trail was so smooth, we made decent mileage. We also came across a curious sight, the Gorman Chairback Lodge & Cabins, an AMC lodge way out here.

Since we were ahead of schedule, we decided to stop in out of curiosity, and man, were we glad we did! Unlike the huts in the Whites, this was an actual, fully decked-out luxury lodge with all of the modern amenities. Amazingly, they also had an open kitchen, and they allowed us to order hefty sack lunches complete with sandwiches, cookies, chips, fruit, and some granola. They also had beer and cider, so I took the opportunity to have a cold one! After our unexpectedly hefty lunches, we motored on and quickly regained the trail at the West Branch Pleasant River crossing. On the other side of the river, we passed through the gorgeous old-growth stand of white pines called the Hermitage, and then trudged on uphill. When we got to the Gulf Hagas Rim Trail, we decided to pass it up because we were worried about setting up before the weather caught us. Eventually, we reached the Carl Newhall Lean-to, where we had planned to spend the night due to the impending thunderstorm. Unfortunately, the 3 people inside were already asleep and their belongings were scattered everywhere, effectively taking up the place despite it only being 6:30 pm… Since we didn’t want to cause any drama, we just decided to focus on pitching the tent well, which turned out to be quite the challenge because the surrounding area was sloped and full of divots. Eventually, with a bit of trowel work, we flattened an area out and tucked in for the night.

Day 147

We did end up getting a soaking overnight, but thankfully, it blew through fairly quickly, and our carefully pitched tent kept us dry. Since we were expecting another strong storm, we woke earlier than usual again to get up and over the Whitecaps before the storm hit. We thought we were going to succeed since we were really booking it, but the cold wind, rain, hail, and thunder slammed into us as we were climbing up the exposed bald on White Cap Mountain. Since we had nowhere else to go, we hurriedly trudged forward to the Logan Brook Lean-to. At one point, I remember seeing some paint hilariously saying something along the lines of “Katahdin View” which was funny at the time because we could only see 5-10ft in front of us at best. Soaked to the bone and shivering, we stumbled into the shelter and decided to get warm and dry since the temperature had plummeted. In the shelter, we met a flip-flopper named Swan Dive who, knowing the weather, hadn’t even attempted to leave the shelter that morning. Instigator and I took a nap and woke up much later, but still, the storm raged on. Assuming the trail had flooded, we decided to call it around 4 pm and stayed put. We chatted with Swan Dive, who ended up staying put as well, and, unprompted, he offered us food since he had a resupply coming the next day. We graciously accepted it, fully aware that we would now have to stretch our food for the remaining 57 miles of unpredictable weather and terrain. We had planned to do the 100 miles in 5 days, but here we are, 3 days in with only 43 miles behind us, so we were in a bit of a pickle. Since we had ended our day early, we went to bed around 6 pm with the plan to get up and hike in the middle of the night to try and cover some “lost” ground. 

Day 148

When we woke up at 4 am, the weather was still horrible, and hail was once again falling… We made the call to sit tight and wait it out, but we anxiously stayed awake. Blissfully, it finally broke, so we headed out around 5:30 am. Since it was dark, we couldn’t see much, but we still made good time to the East Branch Lean-to, where we stopped for a quick snack since the inhabitants were already awake. The two people staying there relayed a hilarious story to us about how a couple had been staying in the shelter with them to ride out the storm. But when everyone had gone to sleep early, the wife of the couple had woken up the older gentleman there to tell him that he snored too loudly for the shelter. Since he didn’t get up and leave, she made her husband set up their tent in the storm, and they both moved into their soggy tent. It’s wild how even this far north, we still encounter entitled hikers who think they have a special right to a shelter! 

After breakfast, we motored on to Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to, where we stopped for an early lunch around 10 am after crushing just over 12 miles of flooded, muddy trail.  A local couple was hanging out in the shelter, fly fishing at the nearby waterfall, so we hung out for a bit. It had been bright and sunny when we went into the shelter, but a stroke of lightning blasted a nearby tree seemingly out of the clear blue sky. I poked my head out and noticed a large storm had snuck up behind us, but it appeared to be moving quickly, so we sat tight and let it pass over. While hanging out with the fishing couple, the husband informed us that he used to drink a fifth of bourbon a day, but had recently cleaned up his diet by now only drinking Moxie. I had never heard of the soft drink, so he readily offered a can to me. Hurray for trail magic! It was an odd drink, tasting like an off-flavored sarsaparilla mixed with watered-down Dr. Pepper, but the sugar hit the spot. While we were waiting, I had a bit of cell reception, so I pulled up more forecast info since the weather had been so volatile and we wanted to know what to expect. The next 2 days looked to be pretty decent, but after that, it was calling for heavy thunderstorms for the next week! Since we didn’t want to get stuck in limbo, waiting for a weather window to summit Katahdin, we decided on something crazy to beat the weather. On CalTopo, there was a logging road that paralleled the trail, then connected up with a gravel winter road called Jo Mary Road. Jo Mary then connected to Wadleigh Pond Road (another winter road), which rejoined the AT. Due to the trail being flooded, the bug pressure, our dwindling food supplies, and the impending weather, we decided to send it along the relatively unknown roads.

The logging road was pretty rough, torn up, had zero shade, and still had heavy bug pressure. However, it quickly dumped us onto Jo Mary Road, which was a dream. We were able to crush miles incredibly quickly, just like we were back down south. Along the way, we saw tons of wildlife as well, including an adorable American Pine Marten! Instigator remembered that she had packed out a tallboy IPA, so at some point she cracked it open. As the sun was starting to fade, another fisherman passed by us in his truck and offered us a pack of sausages, drinks, and a few other snacks. We hiked well into the night until we eventually arrived at Rainbow Stream Lean-to, where we addressed our feet, which had been destroyed from hiking in wet socks. Even though this route was a bit of a short-cut alternate, I’m still absolutely amazed at how many miles we crushed today. I’ll have to measure it when I get off the trail, but it had to be at least in the high 30s if not the low 40s. It’s crazy to think that we will be on top of Katahdin in less than 2 days. 

Day 149

Despite our incredibly long day and late night yesterday, we still woke up fairly early out of habit and excitement. We would exit the 100 Mile Wilderness today and get our first view of Mt. Katahdin! We had a fairly light breakfast, since we were just about out of food, before setting off across the questionable log bridge that spanned Rainbow Stream. From there, we encountered a few flooded sections of trail, and then caught the gorgeous sunrise reflecting off the Rainbow Deadwaters. The trail continued through muddy/buggy sections, but with wonderful views of Rainbow Lake for several miles before we climbed up to Rainbow Ledges. I had gone on ahead of Instigator a bit since we were both listening to podcasts and the weather was wonderful, so I was quite shocked when I came up around a bend and was greeted by the incredible view of Mt. Katahdin. Wanting to share the moment with Instigator, I found a shady spot to escape the sun and sat down to take in the views. In the distance, I could clearly see White Cap Mountain and a few of the other peaks where we had come from. It was at about this moment that it hit me that the journey was coming to an end. The last few weeks since the start of Massachusetts had honestly been hell due to the weather. I hadn’t really had time to reflect much on what we were doing, and I had lost track of things a bit. In fact, most of these journal entries since that point in time were written in shorthand notes, which I’ve gone back and expanded on. So when I sat down here in this spot, it hit me like a load of bricks, and I had a bittersweet cry. Happy for how incredible the journey had been, for the wonderful people I had met and fallen in love with, and for the unique experiences and challenges I had endured. At the same time, it was incredibly sad that it was all coming to a close. Instigator and I will almost certainly spend long periods apart while we figure out how to build a life together, I very likely will never see or hear from some of my trail friends ever again, and I will never be able to capture the incredible feeling of thru-hiking for the first time. 

As I was collecting myself, Instigator appeared. I gave her a big smile, gestured at Katahdin, and we continued, eager to finish early for the day. We decided to hike the last 6 miles together, only stopping in at Hurd Brook Lean-to to check the log and to savor our last shelter snack break. While we were sitting, we met a former thru-hiker who was there handing out trail-magic donuts and who spoke briefly with us about how strange it was for him to return to the trail for the first time. After our chat, we easily made it to Abol Bridge, where we learned from the Baxter State Park ranger that the Birches Campsite was already full as people had been waiting out the weather the past few days. Instigator and I ended up splitting a campsite at Abol Pines with a few other hikers. Then I celebrated by building my first and only fire on the whole trail in our fire pit where I treated everyone to roasted hot dogs from the campground store. After dinner, we set up our tent for the last time and went to bed early in preparation for our longer than planned final day on the Appalachian Trail.