One State Down, Thirteen to Go!

So long Maine, nice knowing you!

Day 31, Mile 298

As you can see by the above picture, I have successfully made it out of Maine and into New Hampshire, or the Promised Land as we have been calling it out here. I rolled into NH yesterday about 9 AM and headed into Gorham to take a zero day before hitting the White Mountains, which many consider the hardest part of the trail.

The last few weeks of Maine were really tough. After the nice sunny weather I had in the Bigelows, the rain came back in and kept everything pretty soggy. The first four major mountains outside of Stratton (my last stop) were all boxed in with clouds, so I didn’t get any views. The terrain got a lot steeper too, with 1500 foot climbs almost every day. I have begun to start thinking about my days in units of “Empire State Buildings”—oh, I’m climbing 4000 feet today, that’s four Empire State Buildings. All this is to say, there were a few really crummy, hard, long days — but then views like this one make up for all that!

Bemis Mountain

After days of rain we finally got some sun for Bemis Mountain, and it was awesome. That day had been a root/rock/mud-fest for the first 12 miles, and I was not in the best of spirits when Lightweight (a guy I was hiking with that day) and I popped up over a ridge and found a beautiful sunset waiting! It made the rest of the day worth it.

The last stretch of the trail in Maine goes over the Mahoosuc Range, what many consider the hardest, toughest, ruggedest stretch of trail on the entire AT. Time and time again, Northbounders have told me that once I am past the Mahoosucs I am golden, and now having done them I sure hope they’re right! The Mahoosucs were tough, really tough. Along with the steep and long climbs, in the middle of the range is the infamous Mahoosuc Notch, a mile of house-sized boulders that you climb over, under, around, and through.

A Typical Portion of Trail in the Mahoosuc Notch

Their difficulty really took it out of me, and I was exhausted at the end of every day, but they had some very rewarding parts as well, including long stretches of trail above treeline and views into New Hampshire. Climbing Old Speck was definitely the hardest thing I have done yet on the AT, and the whole way up I kept telling myself that I need to carry less weight! But I made it to the top and got an awesome view into New Hampshire and the White Mountains.

View from Old Speck

Speck Pond at Sunset

On my last night in Maine I got an addition to my trailname. I was talking to a northbounder about how I have had so many gear problems and that my nifty little alcohol stove (yes, it actually runs on alcohol!) was actually my third stove so far. He looked at me and said, “Three stoves in three hundred miles? At this rate you’ll have been through 20 by the time you make it to Georgia! You should be called Three Stove!” I thought it over and decided that it fit, so I’m now officially “Three Stove Tex.” It’s a good thing too, since I’ve met a lot of northbound Texans out here all called “Tex,” so I need something to distinguish myself!

I’m off to begin tackling the White Mountains tomorrow! Thanks to everyone who has read/commented/emailed/called, it’s really pulled me through. I miss everyone lots!

More than halfway through Maine!

Day 20, Mile 188

Hello everyone out there in blogland. I am here in Stratton, Maine taking a “nero day” (short for near zero mile day) before heading out again. The last week has been really excellent. The weather has gotten alot better than it was back in the 100-Mile Wilderness. It’s still raining practically every day, but mainly at night now instead of while I am walking, which makes all the difference!

The General Store in Monson

After the much needed rest in Monson, and after eating about as much food as I possibly could, I headed out again on the trail. Although isolated (well, at least in theory), the 100-Mile Wilderness is relatively flat compared to the rest of the AT in Maine. Once past Monson, the terrain began to get a lot steeper, and I have gone over three mountains in the past 73 miles. I didn’t get to spend too much time on the first two (Moxie Bald and Pleasant Pond Mountain) because of inclement weather, but I was able to appreciate the view and be awed by nature’s raw power.

Summit of Moxie Bald Mountain

After tackling Moxie Bald and Pleasant Pond, I passed through Caratunk, Maine where I said goodbye to the K-Bob Sisters. We had hiked together since Katahdin, but they were hurting too much and decided it was time to stop walking for a while. I was sad to see them go, I jokingly referred to them as my “trail moms.”

Caratunk was pretty cool because I go to cross the Kennebec River via canoe. The Kennebec is about the size of the Brazos and is the largest stream crossing along the entire AT. Instead of routing the trail to a place where there is a bridge, the Maine Appalachian Trail Club in the infinite wisdom runs the trail right into the river at Caratunk. This was somewhat intentional, because when first blazed back in the 1930s, there was a ferry across the river at Caratunk. For whatever reason, the ferry was discontinued for a while, until a hiker drowned back in the 80s while trying to ford across. Now they make a big deal about NOT FORDING THE KENNEBEC IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS! All this is to say, I got to ride in a canoe across the river with this crazy guy who wore a felt hat and gave up shoes for a while and ferries hikers across all summer. It was pretty neat.

After canoeing across the Kennebec, I continued heading up into the mountains, but not before stopping for Tim Harrison’s famous 12 Pancake Lumberjack Breakfast. Tim has some land up near the trail on Pierce Pond and rents out log cabins to vacationers. Since his place is so close to the trail, he also serves up his famous breakfast to hungry hikers who camp at the Pierce Pond Shelter. Since “breakfast is just really important to me right now” (that’s for my Friends 2.4 and 2.4) I actually switched around my schedule for a few days just so that I could have the breakfast. The breakfast was huge and amazing. Tim is pretty crazy however, and he lectured me about the coming New World Order and how the Census Bureau is in league with the Socialists, Fascists, universities, Obama, and Bush to ruin this country by installing GPS chips in our brains to help counteract the coming Swine Flu Pandemic and the Amero (whatever that is). It was pretty hilarious. I just nodded my head, and tossed in the occasional “Oh yeah, them!” and avoided talking about my mom, the Democratic state representative.

The Lumberjack breakfast

View over Pierce Pond

Pierce Pond had significance beyond the Lumberjack Breakfast because it was pretty much my last flat day until Vermont. From there on out, the trail is like an EKG-readout, up 3000 feet, down 2000, up 4000, down 1000, over and over and over again until I am past the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

The night before I headed into the Bigelow Range, I was happy to meet up with Pilgrim, Crow, and Lawdog, three fellas from Tennessee I met back in Monson. It’s nice to have some “southern company” out here in the wilds of New England. Crow has a Franciscan prayer book so we have been reading through some of the liturgy each night and taking communion on Sundays, which has been really great.

The last three days coming into Stratton have been spent tackling the Bigelows, which have been by far the most substantial peaks since Katahdin herself. The trail goes over four major peaks in the range, which we tackled yesterday. The terrain was pretty steep and rugged, but the views were absolutely amazing, and taking communion on top of Little Bigelow yesterday morning was definitely a highlight from the week. Perhaps the best part of all was reaching the summit of Avery Peak, the highest point in the range, where we found a watermelon waiting for us to devour. A family of dayhikers lugged the melon up to the summit and offered us their substantial leftovers. It was true “trail magic.” Here are some of the best pictures from the Bigelows:

Me overlooking Avery Peak from Little Bigelow

View from Old Man’s Head in the Bigelow Range (Katahdin is somewhere way off in the distance

Sunlight through the clouds, overlooking the valley

Sunrise over the Bigelows

Well, this post has been really really long, but hopefully it’s been worth the read. Leave comments! Also, if you want to send me a snailmail letter (preferably accompanied by baked goods!), please send it to the following address:

Robert “Tex” Kent
c/o Pine Ellis Hiking Lodge
20 Pine St., PO Box 12
Andover, ME 04216

Also, if you aren’t following me on Twitter yet, you really should! I have been posting there pretty frequently. Check it out on the right side of this page or go to my Twitter page here.

Video from Barren Mountain

I shot a cool video from the top of Barren Mountain. Take a look at it here:

Mt. Katahdin and the 100-Mile Wilderness (good band name, huh?)

I am here in Monson, ME enjoying my first day off the trail after my first 11 days if my adventure! In case you haven’t been following my Twitter (see the panel to the left —>) I’ve been dominating the trail.

I woke up bright an early on the first of July to summit Mt. Katahdin, the northern terminus of the trail. Maine has had record setting rain for the month of June, so the trail up was more like a small river most of the way. It was also really foggy, so I couldn’t see too much on the way up. But after four hours of climbing I made it to the summit. The clouds cleared away for a few moments too and I was able to snap a few pictures. It felt really great to stand at the top of the mountain and know that it wad the start of my adventure!

The next day, my dad and I started hiking south. We met a lot of cool people that day, including Mike and Tim who are real mountain men. They can start a fire in the rain, which turned out to be very handy since it rained for eight out of the past eleven days.

On my third day I headed into the infamous 100-Mile Wilderness, the longest stretch of trail between towns. There are signs at each end warning hikers that there is no chance for resupply or rescue in the wild, and you should BE PREPARED. It was pretty intimidating, but I wasn’t about to let some silly sign stop me.

And so after saying goodby to Pops, I headed into the wild. I have to say that it turned out to be more muddy than wild. All the rain just turned the trail into 100 miles of sloppy muddy wet roots and rocks. At the end of each day, I would have mud caked up to my knees, my shoes soaked to the core, looking pretty much like a dog left out in a storm.

It rained and rained and rained, and our spirits were pretty beaten down. We kept coming to spots where the guide book would say, “On a clear day, the view from Whitecap Mountain is one of the best in Maine,” but we only saw fog and mist. Despite the warning signs, there are actually a number of places to get off the trail if you want, and alot of folks quit after a few days.

The sun finally did come out and it was great. The area we travelled through was beautiful, lots of ponds and lakes, mystical almost. And when we finally summitted a mountain on a sunny day, it made all the rain worth it. The views were just awesome, and that much better because it had been so rainy for the days before. As Mike says, “no rain, no rainbow.”

Life on the trail is nice. All you really think about is walking, eating, staying dry. The people I’ve met have been super cool. I’m sitting on the patio of our pub/hostel here in Monson with Pilgrim and Crow, looking at the lake and enjoying a beer. I’ve been rolling with a crew of about ten people or so, mostly recent grads or retirees. Everyone calls me “Tex,” which suits me fine, I always wanted a nickname like that.

I head out again tomorrow, I’m very excited to head down the trail. Only 2,050 miles to go! Keep checking the Twitter, I’ll try post pictures and stuff pretty frequently there. Miss you guys lots, keep commenting and emailing!