Day 179: Easy day into Monson

5 miles into town. Last town day till katahdin. Makin it count while waiting for our gas station cheeseburgers.

Probably ly won't see another post from us until after the summit. Hopefully be summiting around monday.

Day 178: Trudging through

We started the day with a relatively easy climb up moxie bald mountain. The sky was overcast but the horizon was clear. Once again I saw the shadow I am assuming is kathadin. The shadow grows!

The rest of the day was mostly flat and mostly by rivers. A nice change kinda. We actually had to "ford" two calf deep streams. The first times we had to get wet on the whole trip.

Honestly the hiking was kinda boring. I didn't even notice thst we ended up hiking almost 18 miles sgain. Thats a good thing I think. Hopefully it means the 100 mile wilderness will pass by quickly and we can summit without feeling haggard.

Day 177: Kennebec Crossing

We were only a few miles from the crossing this morning and we're the forst of the morning to take the canoe across the wide Kennebec. Dude had been doing this for 9 years. Wow. Easy summer job.

After the crossing we encountered the Orr family and kazooie and the other group of slackpacked that are on the same schedule. While they talked of hot tubs and hamburgers, Becca and I pushed away our almost unbearable envy with thoughts of how bad ass we are to be keeping up with these guys.

Then we climbed mountains and crossed rivers and navigated root covered paths until we made it 18.6 miles. Wow. We are tired.

Day 176: I guess they are actually ponds

The description held true today. Over a hill to a lake, walk around lake, over a hill to another lake. Though they are actually all called ponds.

We didn't even have to try too hard to make 15 miles. We even got to chill in the sun at a sandy beach for a bit, watching ducks and looking at swimming leeches. It feels strange covering that distance again. Leeches are strange too.

We hit the Kennebec ferry tomorrow morning.

Day 175: Mainely Lakes?

Ahh, another well placed pun.

In the whites we came across a couple we had been hiking with in early NY. Due to visa constraints, she couldn't finish the trail. I suggested they flip so she could see what was supposedly the best part of the trail. They took that advice and got through the whites! Perfect for them. They told us way back then that we would breeze through Maine because it was basically just winding through flat lake country. Well, up till now, I would have said they were completely full of shit. Maine has been crazy hard almost every mile. But that is about to change I hope.

We just did the Bigelows. A beautiful little range and one of the last multiple peak mountain chains we see on our guide. 2 4000 ft peaks and 2 minor peaks. Again, I'm pointing to what I think may be katahdin.

We descended the Bigelows to a huge lake and had several flat miles before settling in at flagstaff campsite. After today we planned bigger mile days, so I hope what we heard is true.

Day 174: Our whole life is about to change

After I dump this mac n cheese out of the zip lock it is repackaged in, I can throw away the bag. I won't be refilling it. When we get rid of this olive oil, I can throw away the pom juice container it's in. Our whole life is about to change.

This morning, we walked to a diner and had a huge delicious breakfast at the looney moose. Then we hit the post office for a flat rate box. Then we went to the grocery store and bought our food for the next 6 days to monson, amd the 7 days we hope it takes to get through the 100 mile wilderness.

Then, we tightly packed it all up and sent it on to monson.

After having a bit of trouble with finding a hitch, we decided to have a beer. Then another. Why not, we only plan to hike 5 miles into the Bigelows.

Then we stood outside a gas station for a bit. No hitches. Ok. Hot dog time.

Then we started walking. Finally, we got a hitch from a couple leaving the looney moose. They even went out of their way to bring us to the trailhead. So nice.

Now we are way up high just below the first Bigelow summit. On the way up a former thru hiker said she could see katahdin today. Its cool and crisp and clear, unlike the very muggy amd hazy days we have had lately, so the mountains on the horizon are semi sharp shadows. I'm pointing to the biggest farthest one I can see. I'm just guessing that this far away shadow is the end of this journey.

Day 173: 2000!!

Holy jamoly. We just hiked 2000 miles.

We camped above 4000ft last night. I had no idea rain was in the forecast but luckily we had the fly.on anyway. So a wet windy morning.

We descended 800 ft before going back to 4000 for a second peak. Then it was all down hill for the rest of the way to the highway.

On the way down we called REI because o found a wallet last night. We think it's a thru hiker just ahead of us but I can't tell because his ID has him sans beard . Anyway, he had an rei card and so the operator got my number and told him we had his wallet. That was Becca's idea.good job bloobs.

So then some guys passed us on the way down and offered us a ride into town. Perfect.

Then we passed the 2000 mile mark!! It's crazy. It's so weird. It feels like the last 1000 was way way harder and longer than the first. I don't know. We do know that despite the beauty of this trail, the strain is getting to us mentally and physically. We are ready to finish this thing.

For now we are chillin in a cheap motel eating cheap microwaveable foods. We resupply here and are also going to buy our food for the 100 mile.wilderness amd send it ahead to monson maine, where there is essentially nothing but a post.office. hopefully this is a good idea.

189 miles to go

Day 172: A beautiful disaster

Beautiful day of hiking.

Day 171: Saddleback

It was an interesting morning. See, this campsite has a privy with side by side seats, and a cribbage board between em. I'll let you guess if Becca and I decided to take our relationship to the next level.

Next, we threw off our backpacks and did some real blue blazing. We went to the Caves. Which was essentially a moohasuc notch that went vertical. The blazes tunneled.in and out and up a huge boulder jumble. Pretty cool.

Then it was a Steep climb to a pond. We saw a moose cow standing in the water on the far side with the sun shining on her from the other side of the mountain. Pictures don't do ot.justice but we took some anyway. It ran off and then so did we.

More climbing. Then in Tight evergreens a small bird darting down the path nearly hit me. Panicked and hit some trees and 180d out.

Then more climbing.

We made it to the top of saddleback mtn. The had a steep down and steep up to the horn. Then a steep down and a steep up to saddleback junior. Crazy profile for today. Finally, we descended all afternoon till we pitched camp a bit up from a river in a small ravine.

So tired.

Day 170: A beautiful approach to saddleback

A gorgeous hike today through the swampy maine forest. The trail goes up and over high points then settles into highland bogs draining big lakes. This seems to be the theme of upper maine. We haven't gotten past the hard stuff exactly, but at least its.only.mixed.in as opposed to the constant struggle. Yesterday tool us 11 hours to go 13 miles. Today we got 16 miles in 10 hours. This is our biggest mileage day in weeks.

We are camped at the base up saddleback mountain. I will be surprised if we can repeat today's mileage as the profile makes this mountain seem like a beast. At least we will tackle it in the cool of the morning.

Day 169: On the road again

Up early and up mountains.

Not.much else to say. Just more.difficult hiking. Days and days and days of it. Next stop will be Stratton. Hopefully we make it there in the planned 4 days. But if not, we carried 5 days of food.

Day 168: You sneaky pine ellis

So our package comes today. I called.pine ellis to see what time ups comes. The goal being we could go into town a little before they are expected and maybe wave down the truck before they deliver the goods to the grubby hands of the people that run the pine ellis lodge. See, they charge 5 bucks just to pick up the package there. I think this is super lame.

pine ellis told.us they usually arrive a bit after 3pm, so we went at 245. In town I looked up the package tracking and it said delivered at 212. I think they told us an hour later on purpose. You sneaky pine ellis.

So we headed over there and boy did we choose the right place to sleep. It was gross there. The cabin is wonderful. So wonderful that we decided not to hike out tonight but go ahead and stay for another night of yummy foods.

Day 167: UPS Sucks

We ordered Becca's Bag on friday for 2 day delivery. We figured that it should come on monday. But this morning I checked the tracking and estimated time of delivery was set to Tuesday by end of day. Wtf. So we were stuck in andover for at least one more day.

Yukon brought us into town and dropped us off at the general store where we had big delicious breakfasts. Then we got our food packages at the post office and repacked everything. With nothing else to do, we decided to call up the cabin, a local hostel we heard was way better than pine ellis lodging.

The cabin was fantastic. The people that run it, Honey and Bear, are super nice. We stayed in our own musty pop up camper in the front yard. To kill time we watched movies and then went up stairs for homemade.dinner. per person 15 for stay, 10 for.dinner, amd 5 for breakfast. Totally worth all you can eat homemade food.

Day 165: Reset Button

All things feel better.

Hotel was much needed amd wonderful rest.

Today was gorgeous and though we had a bit of a time hitching we made it to trail by 10.

Steep but not rock climbing up to bald pates.

Short nasty down.

Rest of day was smoothly flowing old school trail and we feel so much better. We only did 10 today but that's fine because in 10 more we get to andover and have Becca's Pack to pick up on monday. So we are forced to go slower.