Day 122 - Saturday, August 7, 2021

We were early risers today, getting up at 3:30 am to start our 23+ mile slack pack. We decided to do the one day long slack pack in lieu of taking 2 days and camping over. We want to be on the trail by 5:30 am to ensure we hopefully get done by dark 😳. This coincidentally will be our longest hike to date. 

We finally saw a moose today- Turtle Power nearly hit it on our way to the trail. It wasn’t that close of a near miss but he did hit the brakes.  It was a small cow. They are huge animals. I couldn’t imagine hitting one with your car. We don’t drive another mile and a bear crosses in front of us 🤭. You are apt to see more wildlife at pre-dawn hours. Animals moving from their feeding areas to their bedding areas. 

Today we are slack packing our longest hike on the trail. We are continuing from ME 4 (1972.7 NoBo) to Caribou Valley Road (1996.6 NoBo) equaling 23.9 miles plus another 0.5 miles that we had to hike from the parking on Caribou Valley Road to the trailheads. 

We began hiking at 6:00 am…




Plaque commemorating the completion of the final section of the AT.



We were crossing the South Branch Carrabasset River and saw this wrecked boat…SS Minnow perhaps 😂.



Summit of Poplar Ridge.



Poplar Ridge Lean-to.












Summit of Saddleback Junior.







On the summit of the Horn.



Our next climb - Saddleback looking from the Horn. 





Ascending Saddleback.

 

View of near Sunset from Saddleback.




Ethel Pond.

We finished hiking at 7:30 pm - got done by dark 😉. This was a long day; glad to be back on level ground!


Till next time... Happy Hiking  🥾 

😋


“Acts of generosity in this wild and primitive setting…where basic amenities…are intentionally absent–are often received in a heightened sense of wonder and gratitude by hikers. These acts of generosity are referred to as “trail magic.”

                  (Appalachian Trail Conservancy)

Comments

  1. Joe ArcuriAugust 12, 2021 at 8:27 AM

    Wow, 23+ miles today!! 😲 The terrain looked pretty rugged too! Not a flat trail… Great job!!!

    ReplyDelete

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