Monson, ME

North America
September 26th 2008

Published: September 26th 2008

Sept 21:
It has been a while since we checked in but foot travel is going well. We completed the Maine section of the IAT as we had hoped we would. Many of the miles were done on the road but we kept the days short to ease into the rhythm of hiking everyday.
Midway through our trek to Baxter SP we met two other hikers eating at a diner in Patten, ME. One of the hikers, Cotton Joe, had actually been in New Foundland all summer doing trail work for the IAT. He let us in on a new section of the trail that offered an alternative way to enter Baxter and bypass the costly park camping. As all our plans go, this seemed a bit risky but we went for it anyway. With a ballpoint pen he traced the route on our map, which included old logging roads and sections of untamed forest.
The road walk from Patten to the new land holding was not too bad. We stopped by the Wilderness Variety Store and were treated to a free lunch which included the most delicious homemade french fries. With stomachs full we continued down the road to our exit into the woods.
For the most part the new route was pretty good and we found ourselves on and off the trail at many different times. We did however hit a snag going over Deasy Mountain. The new, proposed trail left the gravel road with great promise. There were signs of foot traffic and brightly colored ribbons in the trees. As we continued to ascend the mountain, the path and markings grew weaker and weaker. Eventually we were moving slowly from ribbon to ribbon until we could not find another marking. We searched for an hour and a half by taking turns walking to the edge of earshot but could not find anymore ribbons. We are not sure if the route was never finished or if it was scrapped for a different route but we were at a standstill.
Finally impatience got the better of us and because turning back is never an option, we started bush whacking. From our finely drawn map, we determined that if we could cross the mountain and descend the west side, we could ford the river and end up back on a logging road that was part of the alleged route. With this plan we plowed due west through the woods and down the mountain until we reached an unexpected bog. Nothing to worry about for we had crossed far worse on that damn canoing trip we took. So we slogged through the bog and finally reached the river, which we were easily able to ford. Then about one hundred yards west of the river was the road we were looking for but we were not in the clear. Because we had not known exactly where we were on the mountain before we made this detour, we were not sure if we needed to travel north or south on the road. We guessed correctly and headed north to reach a road intersection where we found, much to our surprise, a trail badge. The day was saved and it allowed us to camp just outside the Baxter boundary on Katahdin Lake.
Making it through that roadblock allowed us to stay on schedule and go over Mt Katahdin the next day. We took the backdoor route up the mountain by going up the Helon trail and across the Knife Edge trail to reach the summit. Though the park rangers were a little skeptical of our "aggressive" route, it worked great and we were out of the park in less than one day. The weather was a class I day and we could not have asked for better conditions.
Once we crossed the summit we officially started our hike on the Appalachian Trail.
Though we traveled this footpath last year, the trail has an entirely different feel. There have been swarms of weekenders and countless straggling northbound hikers still trying to finish. This is a dramatic shift from the lightly traveled waterways, trails and roads we had been using. In fact, the trail is almost busy right now which is ironic because we just finished the famous "one hundred miles of wilderness". At one of the road crossings, a couple who had through hiked the trail a few years ago, had set up a little trail magic for the hikers. Muleskinner and Woodrose had already been feeding hikers for four days prior so by the time we arrived all the food and boxed wine was gone but we did have some coffee. Next year they plan to hike the PCT as well so we look forward to running into them again. So the wilderness area is nothing too special but it is a section of the trail we are happy to have completed. We have been making great time and each day our feet and legs feel a little bit stronger. The cold weather is starting to roll in which encourages us to keep moving faster. Tonight we are in Monson for a resupply before heading back to the trail tomorrow morning. Andy and I each ate a large pizza tonight so our hiker appetites are slowly returning.
Now that we have begun the trail, our next task is to get over the barren, volatile peaks of New Hampshire's White Mountains. By mid October these mountains can be quite treacherous with high temperatures not exceeding twenty degrees. We still have a couple hundred miles to go before we reach this chilly landscape so we must hike on.

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