Pond hopping

“Mother don’t worry… May the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten, sons are like birds flying upward over the mountain” – Iron & Wine

Didn’t have a cell signal all day, so you’ll be getting a double up when you receive this. As I’m in low elevations more and more, plus getting into very sparsely populated areas, I imagine this won’t be the last time I fail to get a post through. The 100 Mile Wilderness is coming up, so there maybe a few days when you don’t hear from me. Don’t panic. I’m pretty good at this by now. It’s actually kind of amazing this is the first time I couldn’t send an email for a day (beyond rainy days I didn’t take the phone out.) Go Verizon.

Something ridiculous happened this morning. I went to the privy, which was a two seater, (which is also ridiculous,) I did what I had to do and got cleaned up, but my toilet paper slid off the cardboard tube and into the hole. So I’m holding the empty tube laughing, wondering what else the trail will throw at me before I’m done. Last night I had decided to go past the town (there should be quotes around “town”) of Caratunk and push on to Monson. Well, now I’m going to Caratunk. Silver lining here is I get to eat food that hasn’t been freeze dried. I’m not going to stay the night, just get in, get tp, stuff my face, and hike out. The downside is I might be looking at a 22 miles the day after. In the meantime I have some AWOL pages if I need them, though I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.

Today was a relatively mellow day. It’s strange how routine walking through the wilderness all day has become. There were no big climbs or descents and I hard stop at Pierce Pond (155.2) so I took my time, taking long breaks at West and East Carry Pond, and still hit the lean-to before 5. I kind of don’t know what to do with myself when I make camp that early. I put my feet in the pond and listened to music for awhile, but there’s still a chance I’m going to sleep before sundown today. The reason for the limit on the day (not that 17.7 is a short day) is the Kennebec River. It’s wide with unpredictable currents and not to be forded. The official trail is a ferry provided by the ATC that runs from 9-2. I’m getting up early and hustling the 4 miles over there to catch the earliest trip across, so I can get to “town” early and get out, shaving miles off that big day on Monday, although that means rolling the dice on a good stealth spot again. Ah, plans, it seems I’m better off without them sometimes. The trail teaches you to take things as they come and not worry too much. Maybe I’ll just hang out at the bar in Caratunk all day and pitch my tent out back. That doesn’t sound like a bad option now that I think of it. I’m going to miss this freedom.