East Branch Lean-to 2126.5 to Sand Beach 2144.3 (17.8 miles, 1,118.9 total miles)
I got up just after 5 when the sky started to lighten, and began packing up. Honeybadger and Wicked had forgotten their shoes at the road, so meanwhile they bought new pairs from the gear shop at the hostel.
Since Pharm and Longshot were going back home to Michigan, they offered me their resupply food. I was able to get enough to take me through to Katahdin, so I wouldn’t have to stop at Abol Bridge and resupply.
I stuffed paper towels in my still very wet shoes to try to dry them off, and repaired my tent bag with gorilla tape where it had ripped all down the side while I was taking out my tent the night before. Several of my things were now held together with tape.
I was feeling very stressed about the miles I’d skipped and the logistics of getting back to trail to complete them. I decided my best course of action was to hike back from the road, adding 9 miles to my day.
That would put me quite behind schedule for Katahdin Stream on Sunday, and I really wasn’t sure if it made sense to take that chance.
I talked with Hambone and he suggested I yo-yo the section if that’s what would put my mind at rest about my hike. Sunshine said I had a two hour drive to think about it.
Longshot was staying behind for the ride, so we had a bit more room on the way back. We stopped at McDonald’s, where I proceeded to inhale at least 2,000 calories of breakfast.
I was a little worried because I’d started losing weight and wanted to stay strong enough to hike. My hiker hunger had really ramped up, especially with the bigger mileage days I’d been doing.
Everyone else decided to hike 13 miles to a beach after the road we were getting dropped off at. The miles I’d missed weighed on my mind, until I realized I could make up the miles then hike the 13 to meet everyone at the beach.
It sounded like a great motivator to get me there, and it would be a respectable day. I’d done the math with them and found out it was 67 miles total to where I was meeting Ashley, after adding the bonus miles I’d be doing by backtracking.
That equaled roughly three 22’s, and the trail was about to get a lot easier after I made up the miles. I could do it, and it would be so much better than trying to get back out there later. There was not a single worse place on trail to try to access by car and make up miles.
I had one mountain to go up on the way backwards to the shelter, which meant I’d traverse it twice, but it was a very small mountain.
We saw one older couple doing the road walk reroute on our way to Johnson Pond Road. They had a paper map, which was why they were able to navigate it.
At the road, I gave Pharm a hug, and thanked him profusely for the dozenth time for all he’d done for us. I checked to see which way was south, and headed off right away, not wanting to get cold feet on my plan.
It was strange hiking south, and I could almost feel the actual change in direction on the trail, though the trail often meanders east and west regularly.
It was 9:45AM, when I started hiking, which was a very late start for the mileage I was attempting to do. However, I’d become very confident in my hiking strength and speed lately, and knew I could do it by sunset at the latest.
Up the mountain, the first mile of the day took 40 minutes, which was about right for me when my first mile was a climb. I tried not to let it deter me, knowing I’d make up the time.
It was humid from all the water on trail, and quite cloudy. I got a view of the Whitecaps, though I saw most of the peaks were socked in.
The trail turned into a stream, and my relatively dry feet were soon wet again as the sides of my feet slipped into water when I was trying to rock hop and traverse the trail rivers that popped up from time to time.
I descended Little Boardman Mountain, finally able to listen to music while I hiked for the first time in days, having fully charged at Shaw’s. I needed it to get through the mental challenge of purposefully hiking the same 5 miles twice.
While I was walking, I remembered the fact that I hadn’t made the hike from the shelter to the river, another .2 I’d missed. It had totally slipped my mind with everything that happened, and when I realized I definitely had to think about that.
I started seeing hikers going north when I was a couple miles out from the river. I saw Nude Beach first, and asked him what the river was like. He said waist deep 20 feet downstream from the fording rope.
A couple section hikers confirmed that as well. In the back of my mind, I was just beginning to consider crossing, to make up the miles, get to the privy on the other side, and honestly to see if I could.
I got to the river just after 11AM. I knew I didn’t really have the time to spend, but I saw a couple on the other side about to cross. I sat on a rock and watched them ford downstream, fighting the current.
Their names were Nox and Linguini, and Nox had thru hiked last year. Now they were section hiking, and very friendly. By then I’d taken my shoes off and switched into crocs.
I was already at the river, in such a very remote location. When would I ever get the chance again? I could hike to the shelter and have a clean conscious, though it did mean I’d have to ford twice.
Nox suggested I just leave my bag behind, so I stowed everything away except some toilet paper I put in my bra for safekeeping. I took my trekking poles, and bushwhacked down river, hating myself a little for being such a perfectionist all the time, but also excited for the adventure.
I planted my poles in the water, unable to see a thing, and slowly made my way across. The current got very strong toward the beginning, and I had to angle my body upstream to not get pushed over. After a few minutes, I made it to the other side.
Nox and Linguini had offered to watch and make sure I got across safe. Nox clapped for me and waved, and I yelled my thanks across the river. I was soaked from the waist down, but I’d done it.
I hiked in my crocs to the shelter, able to splash in all the puddles and mud without caring. I found the privy just past it going south, and it even had hand sanitizer inside that someone had left, since I realized I’d forgotten mine across the river.
I saw Cap’n Crunch hiking just ahead as I went back to the river, and it looked like he was about to use the rope to cross. I told him it was safer and easier down river, and he could follow me that way.
We made it across together, though I very nearly was almost knocked over twice. I told Crunch the story of my last 24 hours, and offered him one of the three slices of pizza Einstein had given me to pack out.
Crunch continued on, not having changed shoes, while I got situated. I hiked after him, glad to be done with the first part of my day. I put on a podcast, so it would hopefully feel like a different hike than the one I’d just done.
I passed Nox, Linguini, and the section hikers on my way back to the road. Up and over Little Boardman Mountain one more time, down to the road.
With the extra time I’d spent crossing the river, I arrived at the road at 2PM on the dot. The feeling of getting back to the road I’d started at and having all those miles behind me was unbelievably great.
Everything from there for the rest of the day was going to be a super easy flat section, with slight downhill to the lake we were going. It was 13 miles, but I thought if I pushed it, I could get there in four hours.
I saw Crunch at the water source just past the road, and stopped to filter and eat a couple snacks. He was planning on going to the same spot for the night, so we set off together.
We passed another fording area, though I found a rock hop to the side that only got my foot mildly wet. We hiked 2.5 miles together for an hour, a little less mileage than expected because we’d stopped for water.
The trail was wet, with rocks to walk on or bog boards sometimes. Other times I was just trying to walk on the side of the trail to avoid the water.
After an hour, Crunch stopped to snack and drink water, and I continued on. I could do those things while hiking, and I was really aiming to get to camp no later than 6:30PM, wanting to enjoy the beach.
I passed several water sources flowing across the trail, and reached Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to just off trail shortly after leaving Crunch. I stopped to see the watering hole there, and saw Nude Beach having his lunch break, though it was after 3 by then.
I talked with him for a few then pushed on, 10 miles to go. The trail followed Cooper Brook to my right for quite a while, with several cascading sections.
I saw a couple SOBOs and section hikers while I was moving, back up to 3MPH. Two of the section hikers asked if I was the person making up miles, which I said I was.
They told me I had two more fords ahead, and that there was going to be a fish fry at the campsite right before the beach.
It was only 3.6 to the campsite by then, and I booked it, though I was feeling quite tired physically. I was carrying a full food bag again, and 17 miles into the day, with 5 to go.
The two fords were 1.4 before the campsite, and they definitely required changing back into crocs. One of them was waist deep, with no guiding rope.
As I was changing back into my socks, I saw no less than ten mosquitoes on one of my feet. I put on some more picaradin lotion that Longshot and Pharm had given me, which worked beautifully.
The 1.4 to the campsite went very well, hitting the runner’s high portion of my hike. I zoomed to the campsite, unsure if the fry would still be going on.
I got there at 6PM, perfectly tracking to reach the beach 1.7 further at 6:30 if I’d kept going, just as I’d planned.
I found the fry was going on, hosted by a truly wonderful man named Jeff. He had caught 16 bass in the lake the campsite was on just that day, filleted them, and was dipping them in batter and frying them, one plate at a time.
He gave me an ice cold root beer, and I started chowing on some of the most delicious and fresh fish I’d ever had. Crunch arrived not long after me, Cowboy was there already, and a couple other hikers I didn’t know were, too.
I spent almost an hour there, and Jeff offered to boat our packs across the lake to the beach. I readily accepted, because it was a very cool thing to be offered, and also I was tired from my long day.
It was a quick 35 minute walk around the lake without my pack to the beach, and it was absolutely lovely. Einstein, Honeybadger, Wicked, and Sunshine were there, plus Crunch, who’d hitched a ride with Jeff.
Everyone was cowboy camping on the sand, which I hadn’t done in seven years, and certainly never on a beach. I got set up, and took a quick dip in the lake, which was not too cold for a swim at 7:30PM.
I ate my last piece of pizza and some Reese’s cups, then laid down on the beach. We watched the stars come out, and it was the best night sky I’d ever seen in my life.
We could see the Milky Way, and I watched four shooting stars fly across the sky. As we were drifting off, I saw what looked like a meteor rise over the trees and burn out after several seconds. It was bright white, and I’d never seen anything like that before.
It was hard to fall asleep with such a spectacular show of stars above us. I was immensely proud of myself, for doing a very hard thing today, both mentally and physically. Now I could hike on and not have anything missed, just as I’d intended.
I finally understood what was so great about the 100 Mile Wilderness. I was in one of the most beautiful places I’d ever slept, seeing all the stars overhead, and it finally wasn’t raining. I was grateful for all I had in that moment.