START LOCATION: ME-4/Rangeley, ME
FINISH LOCATION: Poplar Ridge Lean-to
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 10.7
TRIP MILEAGE: 1,969.8
MILES TO GO: 209.3
A nice late sleep-in this morning... 7:30AM. Michael J. and I asked the motel owner if he offered guest laundry. He didn't, but said he let's the hikers use it. This was great... Saved us $5 bucks and some valuable time. We threw in a laundry load and headed to Moosely Bagels. We enjoyed some great coffee, a big breakfast and some hilarious catty banter by the waitstaff and cooks. Unbeknownst to them... We could hear every word from the open kitchen window as we sat on the patio. I handled the laundry as MJ headed to the IGA for his resupply. While he was gone I had a chat with the Dogfather. I've been thinking my summit date of Monday 9/20 of Katahdin might be a bit late. He's working on getting our Katahdin Stream Campground reservation adjusted accordingly... Right now I'm targeting Friday, 9/17.
At 11:45, we reluctantly checked out of the Town and Lake Motel. I headed to the post office to ship a couple needless items home and made a stop at the Alpine Shop for some more water treatment. Then... On to the Pine Tree Frosty for more ice cream.. What else? There we saw Able coming in from Rt-4. We chatted with him for a while then MJ and I made our way to the edge of town in the direction of the trail. We stuck out our thumbs and within a couple minutes a nice New Jersey resident and Rangeley homeowner, Harry pulled his truck over and let us share a ride with him and his pup. Harry is planning a thru-hike for 2011 and asked us lots of questions in anticipation. We shared our info so he could ask us more questions and get a feel for the adventure. We're hoping we have him hooked and looking forward to hear of his prep and class of '11 start. Thanks again for the lift!
We hit the trail at 1:30PM. It was later than we'd hoped but we dragged butt getting out of town with the high 80's heat, sun and humidity. The climb took us past Piazza Rock Lean-to, a bunch more small ponds and eventually a 2,400' climb up Saddleback Mountain. The climb was pretty good for a big one... The temps got milder as we ascended and the afternoon sun waned. We met a couple thru-hikers on the summit and hiked on and off with them as we traversed the Saddleback Range of The namesake summit and The Horn. The views of Rangeley Lake and it's surrounding ponds were spectacular even through the humid haze.
The afternoon was turning to evening and MJ and the two other hikers decided to lay up at a recently constructed campsite just shy of Saddleback Junior Peak around 6:15. I kept going the next 3 miles under a brilliant red sunset to Poplar Ridge Lean-to. When I arrived at dusky 7:30, I found 17 college kids swarming the lean-to. It only sleeps six. So, I'm tenting in a makeshift campsite near the lean-to. They were loud but quieted down when it mattered.
It's a bit late to be blogging, but camp setup and food prep slows way down when night falls. Plus, I'm a bit on edge after I just witnessed yet another first on the trail... A skunk strolled casually within 3 feet of my tent as I laid here blogging. He couldn't have cared less about me and kept right on going. I'm hoping he's and Energizer skunk... And keeps going and going.
-natedog
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