Caratunk, Maine

Leaving Andover, I expected to slackpack with Team Mofo, but it was pouring, so I thought I might zero. Later, I realized that that town is no place to zero and hightailed it out in the afternoon. I only did 7.4 to the Sawyer Brook Campsite where I ran into a trail crew run by "The New Guy" (GAME '08). Apparently, while I was looking for a site, one of the guys told him I was some black girl named Cayenne with tattoos, and he was like I gotta go see if there are two of these chicks out here. He soon found out I was the one he met in '08 and we had a little reunion before I did my chores and went to bed.

The next day, the trail was crowded with French Canadians. I keep forgetting I'm so close to Canada. First, I met a large group of girls while I was going down Moody Mountain. Later in the day, I pushed on from the shelter 'cause it was crawling with a large group of French speaking boys. Someone pooped in the water source at that shelter too. Could not believe it. I had to walk way upstream to get water and it was difficult. Pooped in the stream! Unbelieveable! The upside of this day was that on all the pretty exposed parts there were blueberries or huckleberries. Yummy. Wow, I just said yummy and pooped in the same paragraph. No time for editing out here, ya'll.  I camped a little past Bemis this day.

I hit Rangeley on the next day and was super happy. I decided to get my own room because I realized that I hadn't been alone in a room and away from dirty hiker boys since Virginia. VIRGINIA! The upside of this day was that the trail decided to mellow out a bit. Now Maine has alot of bog bridges. Me and the bog bridge are not friends, but on this day we did a little meadering around ponds and I like that.

After a zero in Rangeley, I took off pretty late and only made it to Poplar Ridge Lean To. I developed a pretty bad head cold the night before and was walking while blowing a snot rocket every 5 minutes (my mother will love this comment). The day was filled with spectacular views  from Saddleback. 360 degree gorgeous views. There is a ton of work but a ton of pay off on clear days.

I took Nyquil that night and had trouble getting up. Didn't get moving until close to 9, but made it to Crocker Cirque Campsite. The day was cloudy and overcast and there was some treacherous downhill but other than that not so bad. I camped with a lovely couple who were flip flopping, Freethinker and Firehawk. They were kind enough to share their fire with me.

Hiking into Stratton was made a bit difficult by my persistant cold, but it wasn't the worst terrain. The descent was long though. I was happy to run into some familiar faces in the town, and it was difficult not to zero the next day when I heard the weather was going to get bad. The problem was that the weather was going to be even worse the next day...

...and it was! I hiked out late after resupplying at a general store for the first time on the trail because my maildrop was not there. The weather was fine for the majority of my hike, but when I tried to leave Horn's Pond Lean To, the crazy loud thunder started. The bigelows are not small mountains, so I decided to turn around after a half mile and head back to the shelter because I was afraid of going farther up in a storm. That night, I found great company in section hiker Alder and caretaker John who gave me mint Oreos.

I finished the Bigelows in rain. Lots of it. I hiked in pouring rain for 17.5 miles. It was my soggiest day yet. I do not remember what I saw. I just walked. It was cold and wet, and I'm glad my cold hasn't gotten worse. In fact, I think its going away. That night, I made it to West Carry Pond Lean To where I ran into Grasshopper who I was happy to see. There was another thru-hiker there that decided to pee into a Gatorade bottle right in front of me in the middle of the night but I will not mention that person's name. Grossy.

Today, I hiked to Caratunk. The miles were fairly easy and flat, and I finally got to take the ferry across the Kennebec which is a big thru-hiker deal. It was all that I hoped for. Grasshopper and I went across together after signing the waiver and dawning the life jackets. We were guided by Hillbilly and when we got across the guy that retired after doing it for twenty years was there and handed me an AT pin and said, "Today you are queen of the AT." I was like, "Honey, are you kidding me? That's every day!"