We hit the road at 8 to climb our last major mountain til Katahdin -- Little Bigelow. Great views back to the ridge we climbed yesterday. Clean, dry, slightly chilly air. Great hiking weather. Got to the shelter we had planned to stay at the night before around 11 a.m. Could we make it 17 more miles to Pierce Pond? Didn't seem likely, but the terrain got remarkably easier.
Came to the 2000-mile mark, which was spray-painted in the middle of a road. Kind of surreal. We had lunch there and moved on, never going more than 3 1/2 miles without a break. Finally got to the water source around which we were thinking of camping. It wasn't great, and there were no tent sites. So we decided to do the extra 3.5 miles to Pierce Pond, adding up to a 22.2 mile day. Our biggest since Mass.? It's been a long time since we hit 20 miles.
Really nice pond, and we found a couple of tent sites right on the edge. Cooked dinner as the sun went down. Saw a moose (cow) across the way. Tomorrow we walk 3.5 miles to the Kennebec River, where we'll be ferried across. Then it's off to Caratunk. Lots of places are booked because it's Labor Day weekend. We'll see what happens.
The Bigelows kicked my thruhiker ass. My pack must have been way too heavy leaving town, cuz I that mountain was the hardest climb for me on the whole trail - and it definitely shouldn't have been.
ReplyDeleteI'll need to go back there and rehike that mountain someday.
Oooh, the Bigelows...