Aug 31 - Maine

DAY #143
START LOCATION: Bemis Mountain Lean-to
FINISH LOCATION: ME-4/Rangeley, ME
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 17.7
TRIP MILEAGE: 1,959.1
MILES TO GO: 220.0

No moon alarm clock in the shelter this morning at 5AM. I just woke up. It was still nighttime. The moon was cranking, but it was pitch-black otherwise. I packed up as quietly as I could and hit the trail at 6:30AM... Just a few minutes behind Casper and NLC. Our mutual goal... Rangeley, ME.

The trail down Bemis Mtn was glacially smoothed rock covered in dew and moss. Imagine a sheet of ice on an incline. It was fearsome how slippery it was. I fell hard on my butt once and invented sweet new dance moves a few other times. It was very slow going in those few miles down to Bemis Road. It was exciting to cross Bemis Rd. I'd been there before. I pushed across the Bemis Stream and had a steep climb up to ME-17... Otherwise known as Height of Land. It's a scenic turnout on the highway and of course the AT with a spectacular view of southern Mooselookmeguntic Lake. I sat here for a while, enjoyed the view and even chatted with Smokestack on the phone. He and Panda are stoked to be heading out on a big road trip to Utah. We chatted about some of the trail peeped and caught up on some stories. Good stuff.

I had 13 miles to get to Rangeley. I wanted to get there at a decent hour so I could get my resupply done and maybe a few other things. The terrain was much nicer in terms of slope but it was still a rooty, rocky, muddy Maine trail. I made good time regardless. This stretch of trail was peppered with all kinds of ponds... Long Pond, Moxie Pond, Sabbath Day Pond, Little Swift River Pond, South Pond. It was a nice change of scenery to be experiencing as I hiked. I cruised into Sabbath Day Pond Leanto around 11AM. I needed water. This was a picturesque little pond that was free of camps or other structures. It's only water source was the pond itself. It's not
Often I drink stagnant pond water, but I did today. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

I moved on after a nice lunch and register read. It was now stiflingly hot and humid. But, the canopy is so thick here it was tolerable. I ran into one thru hiker on this entire stretch... Trinket... A fellow from Florida. Other than that, I saw no one in this half marathon stretch.

I pushed hard and got to ME-4 at 3:50. I was spent, so I took a breather and then stuck my thumb out a few minutes later. Within 20 minutes I caught a hitch. It was Barry, a local high school teacher on his way to see his son play soccer. A nice guy and a lifelong Rangeley local. I asked him to drop me at the IGA grocer just 3/4 mi from town. I get resupply taken care of and half of my chores are done. I was on my way to Rangeley by 5PM. It was such a cool stroll through town. I'd been here around the same time last year for a long weekend with my dad, sister and brother-in-law. I was trying to figure out what had changed. It was relatively quiet in town. Summers about over and leaf peeping is still early yet, so there were few tourists... It was also a Tuesday.

I saw Michael J. getting dropped off from his hitch and we hit the Red Onion for dinner. There we saw NLC and Casper and had a beer with them. They were staying at a hostel nearby. We opted for the Town and Lake Motel, right on the shore of Rangeley Lake. The guy gave Michael J. and I a hiker rate and we immediately took our turns showering. Then it was on to the Pine Tree Frosty for some ice cream and then Sarges Pub and Grub for beers and the awful Red Sox game. The locals were entertaining. We also met two femme-hikers that were really cool. One or them was named Clarity and had been hiking with Red Lobster for over 600 miles. Red Lobster is my dad's old co-worker's daughter. Lots of connections made on this trail... Especially when you take 39 days off.

The bed will be nice tonight after a long tough stretch out of New Hampshire and into Maine. It doesn't let up either, with what one of my hiking friends calls the "32 miles from hell." in any case... Hurricane Earl is coming just to make things interesting.

-natedog