Rangeley, ME 1973.9 to Poplar Ridge Lean-to 1984.6 (10.7 miles, 959.2 total miles)
It was a late start of a morning, as I figured it would be. I got up at 7AM, and got a few things done while I waited for the others to wake up around 8.
I took a shower, and finished packing as we all ran around getting last minute things accomplished. Everyone piled into Ashley’s Subaru, including Jordan and Ava, on our way back to Rangeley.
We stopped at Dunkin’ and ordered a whole mess of food. Sunshine and Ava cuddled in the backseat next to Catchup and I. After listening to music and watching more Stranger Things on my phone, we arrived back at the Route 4 parking lot close to 12PM.
There were gray clouds gathering overhead when we arrived, though it had been hot and sunny before then. I was sad to say goodbye to Ashley, Jordan, and Ava, but incredibly grateful for the amazing time we’d had with them.
We crossed the road and stopped at the water source just after. We met a young woman thru hiking named Parachute gathering water as well. We’d leapfrog her multiple times throughout the day.
As we were getting ready to hike out, rain began to fall. I covered my pack and head with my rain jacket, and we hiked through rain for about a mile or so.
It was coming down pretty good for a bit, but my pack and shoes stayed dry. The rain tapered off before we reached Piazza Rock Lean-to, the 1.8 mile destination we were supposed to hike to the other evening.
Piazza Rock Lean-to features the distinction of having a two-seater privy with a cribbage board in the middle. Unfortunately, I was the only one who needed the privy right then. What a shame.
The sun had come back out, and there was an easy incline up to Moose and Deer Stream another 1.8 farther. We stopped there to filter water and have a few snacks before Saddleback.
The trail was extremely rocky and rooty, which definitely slowed me down. My calves were in pain again as well as my knees. I wasn’t bouncing back as quick as I had before.
Catchup said he noticed around 1,000 miles in that his body started to just always be in pain, and he theorized I was hitting that point as well.
It certainly seemed feasible, especially since the technical climbs that used to feel so fun and easy to me had become much more difficult because my knees ached as I climbed up and down. Even squatting to pee was painful all the time now.
A mile past the stream, I hit treeline and continued walking up huge slabs of exposed stone that made my calves feel uncomfortably tight.
Views had opened up behind me, though, and I got another good look at Rangeley Lakes. I thought I might have recognized the pond with the moose tracks we’d flown over on Friday, and tried to decipher where Ashley’s cabin was.
I followed cairns and blazes – the trail was much better marked in Maine than New Hampshire – and made my way up one more mile to the summit.
After Saddleback, there were two more mountains to climb: The Horn, and Saddleback Jr. The trail stayed above treeline till after Saddleback Jr.
I saw Catchup maybe half a mile ahead, descending from Saddleback, and we waved to each other. It was one of those days that I needed a slower pace and was happy to let him do his thing.
At the bottom of Saddleback, I realized I was feeling quite tired. It was nearly 4PM and I still had 4.5 to go. I sat near a rock and ate some meat and cheese with crackers.
Ashley had given us a few packets of Liquid IV, a really good electrolyte powder supplement, and I mixed mine up to drink. I really wanted caffeine, but it was buried in my pack and it was rather late in the day for it, anyway.
Sunshine stopped on her way bye to say hello, but didn’t stay, wanting to get working on hiking The Horn. It looked intimidating from where I was sitting, and after another 10 minutes, I started up again.
The Liquid IV seemed to have done the trick, because the mile up Horn went quickly. I admired some more views with Sunshine, and continued on after stopping just long enough to filter the rest of my water.
It was another 3.5 miles to camp, and I had just over half a liter of water left. There was a brook coming up, that I would later find out was a couple stagnant mud puddles, but I wanted to just get to the shelter and not stop. It was getting later than I typically liked to hike.
The descent down The Horn was technical, and required a lot of climbing and knee creaking. Finally I got to the bottom of that, and had a little flat section before an extremely steep, but only .4, climb up Saddleback Jr.
I found the name of the mountain very endearing, and sweated hard as I exerted myself up the incline. A fast, steep incline that I can get over with quickly is never a bad thing to me, and it was the final hump before camp.
After another short, steep, and technical .3 descent, I was on easy incline down to the shelter. At the end, the rocks and roots even went away for the last half mile or so.
I got to camp at 6:30, and found Catchup and Long Story in conversation. Catchup and I got set up, with Sunshine arriving not long after me.
We all had dinner, and hung out by the shelter till it started to rain, then downpour, after 8PM. The sun was now setting at 8, which was a half hour less daylight than I’d been used to for most of my hike.
In the refuge of my tent, I realized my one and only hiking shirt was hanging up on a tree outside. Going to retrieve it would make it any dryer, so I left it where it was. I’d deal with it in the morning.