June 5, 2007 | Miles: 9.4
Start: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to
End: Rt. 4, Rangeley
Danielle:
It poured overnight, but we awoke to what looked like clearing skies, which was nice. As we were packing up to leave, a grey jay came in to check us out. Ryan took a few peanuts from our GORP and held them out in his hand; the bird swooped right in, scooped them up, and then kind of cocked his head as if looking for more… We also saw a hummingbird fly by! And down by the pond, a snowshoe hare hopped by. Later we scared up a hairy woodpecker; also saw a hermit thrush and a black-throated blue warbler. Still no moose, but again, lots of droppings and hoofprints. The terrain was relatively mellow today, although with the additional rain last night, it was the wettest day yet! And of course, I managed to slip off almost every root or rock that I used to get through the water on the trail. Finally in frustration, I stomped in a puddle and felt a bit better! I think the trail would have been better described today as a combination stream/bog/pond with a few small patches of dry ground thrown in… I don’t think we’ve ever been on a wetter trail. At the final stream crossing, with really no good way across, we simply stomped right through, which was a nice change to attempting to keep dry by hopping around the water! All in all, a good, if wet and rough, three days of hiking. And better yet, the skies cleared and we had blue skies for the last few hours!
Ryan:
It rained pretty hard last night making everything wetter. The Trail today was underwater. Pretty much everywhere. It’s our third and final day and I’m feeling pretty good. My body has felt great, and I’ve yet to mention my new pack. I just purchased a Six Moons Designs, Starlite. It’s awesome, get one. It maxes out at carrying 35 pounds, which is about as heavy as I want to go. My base weight is just under 15 pounds, so add food and water, and I’m in good shape. It carries great and these three days were a great test. It hasn’t quite reached legendary status like my sleeping bag, Western Mountaineering Ultralite, but it’s pretty sweet. Oh yeah, we hiked today. My body felt really good. No pain in the knees at all. I think I was moving a little better than Danielle at the end of the hike, which is rare. Then again, she was carrying about 10 pounds of water in each boot after falling into pretty much every stream today. And, by stream, I mean trail. The trail was pretty much all water. There were a number of bog bridges, but we literally could have used about 7 miles of them. Water everywhere. It was a bit ridiculous, but that’s late spring in Maine. Hopefully, our boots will dry in time for next weekend. At least the sun came out today. It was nice to not be getting wet from above, even if we were being saturated from below. All in all, it was a great trip, and out first foray onto the AT in Maine. We’re slowly piecing it together, and it’s always nice to be in the woods.
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