Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to 2070.8 to Monson, ME 2079.8 (9 miles, 1,054.4 total miles)
I got up at 6 this morning, intending to have a slow start to my day since I only had 9 miles to go, and the first shuttle to Shaw’s was at noon.
The family next to me had gotten up and headed out while I was just starting to get going. I had the dehydrated oatmeal that Woods had given me for breakfast, which required boiling water to cook.
I figured since I was making hot breakfast, I might as well treat myself to a hot coffee with a breakfast essential.
After I’d cooked and was packing up, rain began to fall. I brought everything over to the shelter, including my tent with everything inside to pack, just in case it picked up.
I found a brand new tea light on a shelf in the shelter. I’d been seeing burnt candles all over the place lately, in shelters and in privies for some reason.
Because this one was brand new, something about it made me want to light it. I lit it, and asked the universe for healing, happiness, and a blessing for Frankie. Woo-woo, sure, but it felt like a good thing to do.
Not a minute later did a strong and lean hiker arrive. She had cropped hair under a baseball cap, and said hi quickly before heading to the privy.
When she came back, we got to talking, and ended up chatting for about half an hour while I ate breakfast. She’d hiked the AT three times already, done the PCT, CDT, AZT, ECT, and more.
Her name was Cashmere, and I found out she was a retired professor in her 50s. We had an immensely good talk, and she even had flip flopped in 2015 as her first thru hike, the same year I had attempted my first flip flop thru.
I asked her how to let go of people when they come and go on trails, what flip flopping was like, and several other questions. She was basically who I wanted to be when I grew up.
Cashmere even gave me her contact information for when I’m down south, since she is based in the Atlanta area. As she walked away, I felt a complete 180 in my mood. I was no longer the girl who cried herself to sleep last night, I was an inspired badass hiking chick looking at my future.
It stopped raining during our conversation, and the sun came out. I thought about how if it hadn’t rained, I’d have been over by my tent site, and probably wouldn’t have spoken to Cashmere more than a quick hello.
I hiked out of the shelter just after 8AM, intending to arrive at the road sometime between 11 and 12. I was feeling a bit tired after my two big days, and wanted to give myself some cushion in timing.
The day started with an easy 2.3 mile downhill to the east branch of the Piscataquis River, the second ford of the same river I’d gone across yesterday.
This one was much easier, and only went up to just over my knees. I took a few minutes to change back into my sock liners, socks, and shoes, then continued on, a few minutes after 9. It wasn’t the crossing that slowed me down, it was changing footwear.
The day was beautiful but warm, creeping up toward 80. Being at lower elevation again I was feeling the humidity, and noticing the myriad bugs around.
I had a quick, 500 foot climb up to a ridge, and put on a podcast after having spent the first hour of the day in my head. I wasn’t feeling the strongest, but still had a good pace to work with.
I passed quite a few day and section hikers going in both directions, and saw a couple SOBO thru hikers. I’d noticed the more of them I saw further north, the less cheerful they seemed, which I thought interesting. I wondered what they’d be like when I flipped down and saw them 1,000 miles into their hikes.
I crossed quite a few logging roads that were becoming more common, and arrived at Lake Hebron at 10AM, where I stopped to mix and drink a gatorade packet.
I had 4.5 miles to go, and switched over to music before my last little climb of the day up to Buck Hill, which was only a 640 foot climb, though it did have a view at the top.
Halfway up the climb I realized I was listening to an album that I regularly fell asleep to, so I put on a Blink-182 album instead to get my energy going again.
It seemed to work, and I was at the view just before 11. I’d stopped to filter water a few times, needing to replenish from the humidity, and saw I was tracking to get to the road around 11:40AM after another 2 miles.
I cruised over a little down and a little up, getting that almost-to-town hiking energy going. When I was close enough to the road I calculated how many songs on my playlist it should take to reach it, and started counting them down backwards as I hiked, DJ’ing a radio show in my mind.
I got to the road at 11:42, where I saw Squirrel and her companion. They’d already called Shaw’s to let them know hikers were at the parking lot, so I sat myself on a rock and watched a few minutes of Stranger Things.
While we were waiting, The Stranger and Second Wind showed up. I was very happy to see them both, and started talking with them about our last couple days.
Second Wind said he’d ran to catch the ferry the other day and got there at 1:45, which I thought was quite impressive. The Shaw’s Hostel shuttle pulled up while we were talking, and I was happy to see Woods hop out on his way back to trail.
He told me he’d gone past the shelter the day I saw him, and had ended up doing over 30 miles that day. I spent quite a few minutes talking with him before getting in the shuttle with the others to head to the hostel.
Poet, one of the owners, was driving us. He was a very friendly man who had thru hiked in 2008. He ran the hostel with his partner, Hippie Chick. I’d heard great things about this place, and was excited to be making the stop.
At the hostel, we were given a thorough tour of the bunkhouses, shower and laundry building, common areas, and shown where the gear and resupply stores were.
We were the first to arrive for the day, so had our choice of bunks. I found a nice corner spot on the upper floor, and got right to work doing laundry and taking a shower. The town clothes were killer, and I found a very pretty green dress to wear.
I hung out with Second Wind for a while, and got a few other things done. He had a food box that had been sent to the hostel with more food than he needed, so he ended up giving me about two days worth of food, which was super appreciated.
While he was sorting out the food, I checked out the enormous map of the Appalachian Trail on the hallway wall next to the bunkhouse.
It included elevation profiles, trail towns, and shelter names. I spent quite a few minutes, tracing with my hands where I’d hiked, who I’d been with, and what I’d accomplished.
I looked at what I’d done in 2015, and what I still had to go this year. It ended up being very meaningful to me, and the memories felt so vivid.
It’s amazing to say to myself that I walked here from West Virginia, and even more amazing that the NOBOs have walked all the way from Georgia.
They seem happier here, excited for the 100 Mile Winderness and Katahdin. Those of us traveling north all now know exactly what day we will be summiting, and it feels so close we can taste it.
I decided I wanted to summit Monday, the 22nd. The idea of finishing the first half of my hike on 8/22/22 is very attractive to me. Not only that, the first planned day of my flip down south will be 8/28/22, which is the two year anniversary of Frankie’s passing.
In 2016, Pockets and I traveled the AT by car during the season, and took him and Tika asking for most of it. Frankie spent a lot of time down in Virginia with us, so it will feel very special for me.
Meanwhile, I knew there were a lot of logistics for the 100 Mile Wilderness and hiking Katahdin. I had sort of relied on the idea of whoever I’d be hiking with to plan all that.
I get easily overwhelmed with those details for some reason. Vacations are hard for me to plan, and I get over my head quickly. There is a lot to Katahdin and the 100 Mile that I hadn’t planned for at all yet.
Second Wind and I went down to a restaurant on the water in town, where we sat outside next to Hebron Lake. His partner was coming to meet him the night of the 19th, and she’d be hiking Katahdin with him the 20th.
Ashley had been talking about hiking Katahdin with me since the beginning of my journey, and Second Wind was able to talk me through the entire process of finding a campsite (almost everything is booked far in advance), how Ashley could get me from trail, and where to park in the morning, etc.
It was immensely helpful, and I texted with Ashley as I worked on everything. I was seriously grateful for Second Wind helping make things less overwhelming for me. He’d hiked Katahdin multiple times and lives in Maine, so he was the perfect person to talk to.
I settled on a plan of taking 6 days to get through the 110 miles that would get me to Katahdin Stream Campground, where I could be picked up. The next day would be 5 miles up Katahdin to the northern terminus of the AT.
That gave me one extra day to work with. I was quite sure I didn’t want to zero at Shaw’s after what had happened, but it was after 5PM by then, and I was feeling quite tired mentally, emotionally, and physically.
The resupply was going to be tricky. At roughly two pounds of food per day, a six or seven day food carry was going to be probably too much.
I’d been planning to get a food drop from Shaw’s halfway through the 100MW, which is what a lot of people do. It involves paying for a large bucket that you can put a few days of food in and get from a logging road on the way.
The bucket is expensive, and I’d been planning on splitting the expense with my hiking partners, but now had to decide if I wanted to pay for it myself. I didn’t really want to, but thought it was the smarter choice.
I wanted to resupply that evening, but wasn’t in the right headspace to make sure I got the appropriate food and handled the drop logistics.
It all felt like a lot, and I admitted to myself I needed the next day to rest and finish getting ready for the final push. That had been the plan all along, and I needed to do what was best for me, regardless of what other people were doing. I didn’t want to arrive at Katahdin burnt out, because I still had a lot of miles to cover after that.
Back at the hostel, I spent an hour or two talking with Second Wind, about anything and everything. It was nice to have someone to talk to after a couple days of being alone with myself. I was sorry he was hiking out the next day, but glad I’d gotten to hang with him.
I finished the second episode of the last season of Stranger Things before bed. The hostel had definitely filled up throughout the day. The Stranger and Squirrel were both hiking out tomorrow, and I didn’t know too many of the other hikers here, but thought I might make some new friends.
Either way, I was really happy that one of my best friends of 12 years was going to be hiking Katahdin with me. In the grand scheme of things, that is a huge gift, and makes me feel a lot better about finishing the rest of Maine by myself.