Katahdin or Bust - Part III - Maine

[the_mechanic]

The drama continues! This is the final in a three-part series. In Maine I hit the lowest and highest points of my thru hike.

http://jamesfbush.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/katahdin-or-bust-part-iii-maine/

For those who've hiked Maine on the A.T. or are planning to, I'd love to hear your experiences.

[AfghanVet]

I can't recall where I've read about you and the guys you were hiking with, maybe it was on Alpaca Adventure's blog. Either way reading it as I wait for my appointment, I don't envy you with the stomach problems. That's bad enough in the comforts of home let alone out on the trail.

[4shot]

For those who've hiked Maine on the A.T. or are planning to, I'd love to hear your experiences.

to quote or paraphrase Dickens Maine "was the best of times and the worst of times". I was really excited to get to Maine...looking forward to crisp early fall weather. maybe I got there in very late August. But it turned wet. and cold for the most part. Really great day or two in the Bigelows. Water was scarce that year so I night I left the trail and walked downhill to a beautiful lake that I could see. Holed up in Carratunk for 3 days waiting out a hurricane (Earl was it?) and spent a great 3 days at Northern Outdoors whitewater rafting, drinking beer and singing karaoke at night. Fell in love with a lovely thruhiker named ****** who sang "Brandy" there but it was never consummated because she and I were both married and not to each other. To this day, I sort of regret it because I worry that her heart was broken but then again, you have to let go of the past, right? Sloshed through that state in a state of confusion and weariness. going downhill in some of those places in the rain left me scared out of my mind at times. really had no idea that sane people actually hiked in places like that. Mostly kept banker's hours up there...would start my hike at 8 and quit at 5 no matter how may miles it was (there weren't many 20 + milers up there to be sure). The magic was though getting to Monson and hooking up with all the old and new friends that you had met way back in Ga. or Va. or NJ. and just easing up the trail the last 100 miles or so. Knowing that you had made it. That's my take on it. YMMV.

[the_mechanic]

That's an awesome take. It brings me right back to a lot of days in Maine. We had a lot of rain early on and I took some serious bruising. The best of times and the worst of times-- no better way to say it!

[the_mechanic]

It must have been on AlpacaAdventures. From what I hear a lot of NoBos and SoBos got sick around that section of Maine.