Maine!

On the 21st I did a tad bit of blue blazing, hiking 6ish miles to cover 14.8 trail miles and stayed at the White Mountain hostel. On the 22nd I did 21.2 miles and stayed at the White Mountain hostel. On the 23rd I did 7.8 miles and camped at Page Pond. On the 24th I did 16.2 miles and camped at Bull Branch campsite. On the 25th I did 16.5 miles and camped at Dunn Falls.

I am once again in Maine!

At Lake of the Clouds my uncle met me and hiked up to the peak of Washington with me. It was fun hiking with him but a bit strange seeing someone from "real life" instead of just trail people. It also meant that I now have some sweet action shots! Don't let them fool you, it might look like I'm just walking but it's action!

That afternoon Zoom and Rosie came up with the idea of spending the next two nights at a local hostel and slack packing the 21 miles between roads. It worked out decently but 21 miles in the Whites kinda sucks even with just day packs on. This put us at under 300 miles left and the location where we stop hiking together. Rosie is off to a wedding for a week and Zoom needed a few zero days to let his knees heal. It was odd hiking out of town that next day solo. We had been hiking together as a group since Harpers Ferry (900ish miles ago).

Man, I had forgotten how hard the miles out of Gorham are. It's either that or my legs need a rest after pushing fairly hard through the Whites. The terrain has crushed my legs will to work the last couple of days. Those two 16's are probably the hardest days I've had on the trail. The first one even included Mahoosuc Notch which is a fantastically fun mile but quite challenging. The trail is at least mostly well marked with arrows.

The terrain might be hard but the views are absolutely amazing. I don't think I could ever get sick of hiking in this area. Every mountain top is beautiful and a challenge just to get up. Perfect combo.

Tomorrow I start my relaxed and lower mileage section of Maine. A friend is coming to hike some of the trail with me and so they don't die and so they hate only a little for convincing them to come, nice low mile days are ahead. My body could absolutely use the break. Hopefully this slow pace will allow Zoom and Rosie to catch up and we can summit Katahdin together. It seems fitting if we did so many miles together that we should at least put a little effort into summiting at the same time if it's feasible. It feels strange to be getting so close to the end.