East B Hill Road 1937.4 to South Arm Road 1947.5 (10.1 miles, 922.1 total miles)
Catchup and I got up shortly before 7AM breakfast, which included blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, home fries, and more. It was another delicious homemade meal that was designed to be the perfect hiking fuel.
Everyone took various shuttles out to the different roads that we’d all left off at. Sunshine, Catchup, and I all got a ride at 8:30 from another hiker named Token who happened to have a car at the moment, back to East B Hill Road.
While we were getting situated to leave, New Shoes and Professor hiked up from the other side of the road, a few miles into their day.
They were heading to South Arm Road today as well to get a ride to Human Nature Hostel, where their group was going to stay for the night and take a zero. We would be staying at the campsite just before the road.
We hiked out together, with a nice gradual uphill ahead of over 4.7 miles to Wyman Mountain. As soon as I started hiking, however, I could feel that my calves were extremely tight and sore.
I pulled over and stretched them out, and let everyone pass me. It hurt to stretch my calves, but it seemed to have helped as I hiked on.
I took my time, needing a recovery day from the last five days of exertion. I hiked near Sunshine to the summit, listening to a couple podcasts as I went along.
I stashed my trekking poles in my pack on the climb, too tired to even hike with them. It was counterintuitive, but the extra arm strength required seemed beyond me just then.
There were a couple views near the summit that Sunshine and I stopped at briefly. A couple other thru hikers passed by, and I leapfrogged them on the next 1.3 miles downhill to the shelter.
At Hall Mountain Lean-to, I saw Catchup with Professor’s group, and Legz and Daddy Long Legs arrived as well. I only stayed long enough to drink a packet of Propel and Crystal Light with the rest of my half liter of water.
Instead of staying for lunch, I headed down the mountain to Sawyer Brook, 1.4 farther. I was getting my energy back, and I made quick work of it, listening to The Weeknd’s most recent album.
At the brook, I filtered and drank almost a liter of water right away. It was a hot and humid day, especially at lower elevations. After spending so much hiking time around 4,000 feet for almost two weeks, it was quite a change in humidity.
Sunshine arrived not long after me, having also only spent a few minutes at the shelter, wanting to get water as well. I ate a lunch of mostly snacks, and chatted with Sunshine, Neo, and Catchup once they got there, too.
We had one more mountain to climb and descend, Moody Mountain, which looked like a steep climb of 1,300 feet over 1.3 miles.
I was feeling much stronger, though, and I took my trekking poles out to get up the mountain. It was steep, but had a lot of rock steps to climb up, which I actually hike faster up than the other mountains that require more calves than quads.
There were lots of wooden ladders and a few pieces of rebar going up the mountain as well, and after 50 minutes I reached the top and found a nice view.
I saw Neo as I was passing by, and only Catchup was ahead of me by then. I zoomed down the mountain, singing very loudly as I went, feeling the miles and the music.
I’d definitely gotten my second wind back after taking my time up Wyman Mountain, and I really had a blast hiking up and over Moody at the end of the day.
I saw Catchup right at the bottom of the mountain, where I’d arrived right after him. It was only 2:15, and I was psyched for a short 10 mile recovery day.
Because most people took a zero in Andover, but we were going to Rangeley, we needed a few shorter days to recoup our energy. The stretch from the Wildcats to Mahoosuc definitely felt like the most challenging miles of the trail to me.
After setting up camp, Catchup’s friend, Waypoint, who worked nearby came to pick us and Sunshine up to go to a swimming hole five minutes down the road, which was a very nice treat.
Devil’s Den was a spectacular spot, and I did some cliff jumping with a family of locals who were jumping as well. I’d never really done that before, and it was very exhilarating.
Sunshine, Catchup, and I had family dinner together at camp. I made an alfredo pasta side with a packet of pulled pork to switch things up, which was actually quite good.
It was wonderful to turn in early and have a chill afternoon and evening swimming and at camp. The terrain had definitely gotten easier, and Maine was just a treat to be hiking through. I was glad we were taking our time through such a beautiful state.