Rangeley, ME

Since leaving Stratton it has actually rained every afternoon. Its getting rather frustrating, not to mention very stinky, getting wet every day and it being too damp to dry things out overnight. The only time that anything is getting dry is on the occasional hot sunny afternoon, when everything also gets sweaty, salty and stinky!

We've come to Rangeley for the night to do some laundry and resupply for the next couple of days. We met a really nice couple out hiking with their three kids at Piazza Rock, and they offered us a ride into town. It was well appreciated, but as we had no idea where we intended to go when we got there we just stopped at the first hotel we saw. It's a little expensive, but definitely worth it now I'm lazing in bed in the late morning. I showered last night, have had a whole queen size bed with crisp clean sheets to myself all night. I'm not anxious to put my stinky clothes back on, but as the laundry is on the way back to the trail there is really not choice but to just pack up and start back that way. We'll wash as much as we can when we get there, then stop for resupply at the grocery on the edge of town and get straight back to the trail. I don't hold out much hope of staying dry, we had a big storm here last night and it's still drizzling now.

Brian has been feeling increasingly better each day since we left Stratton, but we now think that he probably had some kind of stomach bug, because I got sick the first day out from Stratton. I wasn't as bad as he had been, but had to call the second day's hiking short due to lack of energy and stomach cramps.

We had a wildlife sighting in our camp that day, I woke to Brian poking me through the tent door. It was 5:30am and he had been awoken by a breaking stick. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the stick breaker, a moose calf, carefully picking its way around the lines for the tarp. He was less than a hiking pole length away and didn't seem bothered by our presence at all. Next Brian saw momma moose who was on the far side of my tent only a couple of feet from my head. That's when he decided to quietly wake me. Both of us reached slowly for our cameras, but that's when the calf decided he'd had enough of the new grey lumpy things in the woods, and took off after momma, who also spooked a little and the two went running off together. I didn't actually get to see them until they cleared the back of my tent, but I'm glad Brian woke me for it.


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