June 27 Framington, ME to Abol Bridge Campground, to Monson, ME to Leeman Brook, Shelter 3 miles

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Up early and breakfast in the restaurant and on the road by 6:45. We made Abol Campground by 11 and were surprised to hear it would not cost anything to leave our SUV parked there until we can walk back to get it. In the car and off to Monson. We stopped at the Fire Dept to ask about the parking area at the trail crossing. While there I managed to score two pieces of radio gear for $1 from their fund raiser sale. CC was not impressed with the buy. The car was parked by 1:30 and we were walking by 2.

We were supposed to ford a stream within the first 1/10 mile. Arriving there, some kind soul had bridged the gap with a 4x4. I made it over without any issues. CC had a tougher time as the water was swift enough to make getting her trekking pole to stay put hard. This only slowed us a few minutes and off up the trail. The sun came out for about an hour making our return to the trail warm and wonderful. Last week this area was covered with over nine inches of rain. The Appalachian Stream is here in places. The mud was not too bad and the walking was not as quick as I like it to be. Still we made good time to the shelter, arriving there by 4PM. The next shelter was only seven more miles. The sky had clouded up and a south bound hiker had came into the shelter giving us a picture of the trail ahead. We decided not to over do day one back on the trail and called it a day. We saw only one moose while driving from Abol to Monson. It is 7PM and no rain yet. The weather forecast is showers off and on until Wednesday. We only have to endure eight days until we can get dry again. No problem to get wet for a few days now that we are our own support crew. It is nice to have options when you finish a section. Tomorrow we will do 12.7 miles on our first full day back on the trail.

It felt good to be back walking this afternoon. The sun was out, the birds were singing and the forest smelled clean and fresh. Even with eight days worth of supplies in the pack, it didn't feel all that bad. The mosquitoes are a small pain here, but the tent is up for a bug free night of sleep.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

For Photos and Video: http://odandccslongwalk.shutterfly.com/

OD and CC have been marking their path with a GPS using SPOT Satellite Messenger and can be tracked at the following link. It keeps track of their last 7 days: http://tinyurl.com/o2g53z

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Comments

[Julie]

Happy Hiking
Go you guys!!!