The canoe trip was across the Kennebec river, and it's the official AT route across. The river is not much wider than many we have forded, but it is dammed just upstream of the point where the AT crosses. Water is released on demand for power generation, and the river can rise several feet in just a few minutes. Hence the canoe ferry crossing.
The crossing was the start of our longest day so far. It wasn't really intentional, but the shelter we had considered staying at, on Pierce POnd, turned out to be very cold and windy. So much so that even though we had planned to stop for lunch and swim/play for the afternoon, I just didn't want to stop for longer than it took to eat a quick lunch. We had a plan B to stop along one of the other laksides on a small beach that wa slisted on the maps and guidebooks. Well that turned out to be about 6' x 6' of sand, and nowhere to stop. Plan C was likewise abandonned when it turned out to be badly mosquito infested, boggy, and very muddy. Eventually we ended up at the next shelter. Not the best of camping, but it was late and we were tired. It sufficed.
After the cold and wind came the heat. We were lucky enough to be skirting Flagstaff Lake on this hot afternoon. Warm, sunny, clear blue sky and shallow, clear lake. Swimmimg time. We took a nice lazy swim, washed out our clothes and laid them to dry. Luxury.
We passed to 2000 mile mark (for NOBOs) today, that means we have hiked 176 miles and have only 2000 to go! Shortly before reaching the mark we bumped into a man section hiking. He had been hiking the AT in small sections since 1966 and would be finished when he reached the 2000 marker in the road. I hope it doesn't take me that long!
The next day we crossed our first 4000 + foot mountains in the Bigelows range and nearly got blown away. It rained a little last night just as we set up camp, and again in the night, and we woke to breezy conditions. By the time we began our ascent of Avery peak it was starting to rain and the wind was very blustery. The summit was totally enveloped in cloud and the wind was gusting across strong enough to knock me off my feet. I crawled my way across when I couldn't stand or walk. Needless to say we didn't get any summit pictures. It was becoming too dangerous to stay on the summit, so we headed for the campsite at Avery Col. After erecting the tarp though we realized how the weather was still deteriorating and it could be dangerous to attempt to camp there, so we packed up again and pushed on to the next shelter. Its still only three sides, but somewhat more substantial than the tent in the nasty storm.
Finally, the next morning we reached the road to Stratton. Sue from the Stratton motel was just turning around in the trailhead parking lot after dropping some hikers off. That was an easy ride into town.
View more photos in my Picasa album
No comments:
Post a Comment