Rangeley, ME 1973.9 (zero miles, 948.5 total miles)
I got to spend some time cuddling with Ava for the second morning in a row, which was truly special to me. I used to live with Ashley and Ava a couple years ago, and it’s the closest I ever came to having my own dog.
Somehow I’d become quite a morning person recently, and was awake for an hour or two before everyone else, also for the second morning in a row.
I entertained myself till Catchup, Sunshine, and Ashley all got up. We started working on the chores we’d neglected to complete the day before, including packing resupply food, washing dishes, and charging our devices.
We made the decision to do laundry at the laundromat in town, after all, since we had hiked a couple days since washing our clothes, and it would be another five till we could do so again.
I took a refreshing shower, and Catchup made breakfast again, which I very much appreciated. Around noon, we drove to the Village Scrubboard and started a wash cycle.
While Catchup worked on his writing, Ashley went to get coffee, and I read a magazine, a NOBO hiker found Sunshine outside and started chatting with her.
His name was Percy, and he had been traveling with Two Braids when I met them both for just a couple minutes in VT the day I returned to trail following the 4th of July side trip.
Two Braids had just hiked out that morning, but Percy wasn’t feeling so hot, so he was taking one more zero in town. He had met Sunshine a while back and they were excited to catch up with each other.
We all walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch, Classic Provisions, where I ate a huge grain bowl and finished the magazine I’d been reading. We all sat at a picnic table and talked with Percy for a while.
After returning to the laundromat and retrieving our clothing, we attempted to walk over to the dock where we’d take the seaplane tour. I apparently had a dyslexic moment, and switched the address digits around.
I realized my error, and we hurried off by car a few miles up the road to the actual Acadian Seaplanes address. We were all feeling a little rushed, but went inside and met Frank, the pilot, who couldn’t have been more chill. In fact, Frank didn’t even know he had a 2:30 on the books until he looked us up.
After an impromptu photoshoot with the plane, we piled in, delighted to find that we had the whole plane to ourselves. Sunshine sat up front with Frank, Ashley and Catchup shared the middle row, and I had the backseat to myself.
What followed was a magical plane tour of the lake region, over Rangeley and Mooselookmeguntic Lakes, several other ponds, lakes, and rivers.
Frank showed us the surrounding mountains, brought us to places moose were known to frequent (though we didn’t spot any right then), and touched down smoothly back on Rangeley Lake.
The scenery had been magnificent, with trees in various shades of green vibrantly glowing below us, moose mud paths in one of the ponds, and plenty of lake houses, including flying over the cabin we’d been staying in with Ashley the past two nights.
Back at the dock, I asked Frank about what was involved in getting a pilot’s license. I was very interested in the type of seasonal work that would allow me to travel with minimal expenses, and he’d mentioned seaplane pilots were always in high demand.
Ever since I’d gotten my trail name, I’d idly considered pursuing a pilot license. People asked me a lot when they found out my name if I had one, and I was finding the idea more attractive after the ride we’d just taken.
Frank was very open and informative with us, and I learned a lot as he took several minutes to chat with us before taking the next group up. When we got back to the cabin, we saw his plane fly overhead, recognizing the flight path this time.
After a final bag pack, I ate leftover pork butt pizza and fries for lunch, and everyone else had a similar mission. Ashley and Catchup took final dips in the lake, but it was a little too chilly in the water for me to justify taking one myself.
Around 6PM, we found another restaurant to try for dinner, planning on hitting the trail after and camping just outside town.
While waiting for our food, Ashley casually asked us if we wanted to go back to her house in Oakland for the night, and attend the Kennebec Brew Fest with her the next day, tacking one more zero onto our stay.
Sunshine and Catchup seemed very enthusiastic about this idea, and I wasn’t going to say no to spending more time with Ashley and my trail family.
After dinner, we picked up Ava at the lake house, and drove the hour and twenty minutes to Oakland. It felt like a long drive because it was late by then, around 10:30 by the time we arrived. I watched Stranger Things on my phone while we drove, finally getting into the fourth season.
We said hi to Jordan, Ashley’s fiancé, and got settled in for the night. It was an unexpected treat to have an extra day to spend with everyone, and probably good for our bodies to have a little more rest. I’d learned as a thru hiker to say yes to all the experiences I could have.