Beaver Dam!

Engineering is just plain impressive, especially when you are terraforming with your teeth. Maybe we need to figure out how to adapt beavers to Mars?

White Sandy Beaches

Litchfield Beach, South Carolina won't be the only white, sandy beach that we visit this summer. The AT through Maine offers some great swimming along the ponds. From the air, and I guess from the right height in Google Earth, you can see just how much water there is throughout the truly vast forests in northern Maine. The day before this hike, we took a swim with half a dozen loons. Unfortunately, we have to skip this nice sandy beach on East Carry Pond to continue to the next lean-to and get our tent pitched. Later that night, we heard the loons on West Carry Pond calling to each other in otherworldly clarion songs.

Then, we heard the thunderstorm beating down on our tent for several hours. We were dry, and continued southbound the next morning.

Official AT canoe trip

Of all the rivers, streams, and muddy puddles that seem as wide as rivers, only one truly requires a boat - the Kennebec River south of Caratunk. Farsight utilizes his rowing expertise to power us across the current.

A bit of rain for our start in Maine...

For those following the blog, you realize by now that a section hike (particularly my section hike) can jump from one area of the AT to another and switch directions like the wind. Unlike a traditional thru hike which begins at one end of the trail and ends at the other. However, most thru hikes don't even follow this purist approach for a variety of reasons. At some point in a 2200 mile journey on foot, you end up slack packing south back into Hot Springs, or leaving a section of trail for later so you can catch up with your crew after you took 6 days off to go to your cousin's wedding. The only official acknowledgement goes to those designated as a '2,000 Miler'. This is someone who as a matter of honor confirms that they have walked the entire trail. The long distance hiker motto is, "Hike your own hike."

With that brief explanation,  Farsight and I are now in Maine southbound for the Massachusetts border after passing through New Hampshire and Vermont along the way. That's our hike!

Farsight in Saint Anthony 's Wilderness

Despite the wilderness name, Rausch Gap was a bustling town of over 1000 people in the 1800's and still an active village only 100 years ago. As we spend hours walking through forest passing only northbound hikers, it's hard to believe that generations of people once lived on the rock and dirt paths we follow through what we naturally assume is the deep woods. Then we encounter an old cemetery, a crumbling stone wall, or a rusting iron machine part abandoned long ago as not worth the effort to move.
Now, the only way to get to many of these places is on the Appalachian Trail. It's a good way to encounter a bit of forgotten history.

2015 Hiking Season begins!

Out with Farsight, who is now much stronger and taller than when this adventure began. Southbound from Pine Grove, Pennsylvania.

Back to Maine

With weather all along the Mid-Atlantic AT, High Gear and I decided to head to Maine for the long weekend. Just past peak fall color down east so the forest is magnificent.