Impressions of Maine – The Trek

Well, I’m about 75 miles into Maine at the moment and staying in Camp 43 Hostel just outside of Rangeley. Lovely place hosted by Ken and Jill. Worth a stay if you’re hiking in the area. I also wanted to mention the Cabin in East Andover where I spent 4 nights slack packing some trail sections. I needed a break from my heavy pack after hiking through the Mahoosucs, which I’ll mention later. Honey is the owner of the Cabin, and she offers a delicious and filling dinner and breakfast. The breakfast is actually prepared by Diane, a hired cook from Georgia. Needless to say, her biscuits and sausage gravy are delicious, and my wife Michele would have loved the breakfasts there. Honey is something of a hiking legend having grown up spending summers in the White Mountains. She knew Earl Shaffer, the first to thru hike the AT. I looked forward to Honey’s stories every night at dinner while I stayed there.

The Mahoosuc Range

The Mahoosuc Range is the first set of mountains one encounters when entering Maine. I won’t make any comparisons to the Whites but let’s say that the Mahoosuc offered some of the most steep and challenging hiking that I’ve experienced so far on the AT. On top of the ruggedness, there are alpine bogs on many of the summit ridges. These are transited by so called bog bridges, many of which are broken, rotted, or have sunk below the surface. I successfully navigated these bogs, except one in which my right boot sunk above my ankle allowing bog mud to submerge my foot. Others fared worse than me such as the hiker I met with the trail name “Bog Ba**s”. You can imagine the story behind the origin of his name. The Mahoosucs feature Mahoosuc Notch, the so called toughest mile on the trail. The notch is a jumble of boulders one has to navigate without a fixed path, climbing under and over the rock hoping you don’t end up at the top of a 15 foot vertical drop. Hikers like to describe the experience as fun, which I agree with to an extent. But it got a little old about 2/3 of the way through the notch. Once one finishes the notch, there is an immediate climb up Mahoosuc Arm, one of the steepest climbs of the entire AT. On this hiking day, I covered only 5 miles, but it took me all day!

An alpine bog with bog bridges

A fellow hiker navigating the boulders of Mahoosuc Notch

Sunset over Speck Pond where I camped after a tough hiking day in the Mahoosucs

Nature Update

Exciting update. I saw a moose that crossed the path in front of me. It was a cow and she did not seem perturbed by my presence. I knew the moose were out there because I’ve been seeing their scat on the trail since entering Vermont. Beyond the moose, there is always the birdsong, the music of the AT. I’ve also enjoyed the many Spruce Grouse I’ve been seeing in northern New England.

Can you see the moose hiding among the spruce trees?

How about the Spruce Grouse?

Although I still have over 200 miles to hike before Katahdin, I am starting to feel the end of this northern segment approaching. The southern section is a different story that I’ll tackle later. I feel like I’ll have to keep myself from getting too excited at Katahdin even though I’ll be boiling inside.

West Baldpate Mtn with a full 360 degree view from the summit. One of my favorite views on the trail so far

The weather has taken a turn for the better with sticky humid air replaced by pleasant dry air and the forecast for the next few days is excellent. Ahead, I have Saddleback Mtn with its alpine ridge, the Crockers, and the Bigelow Range. Soon I will have hiked 1,000 miles! Onward towards Katahdin.

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