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Rangely to Grafton Notch Maine

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    • Rangely to Grafton Notch Maine

      On Monday, July 25th, Kathy and I got into the car at 4AM to drive north to Maine.About 10 hours later we arrived at Grafton Notch campground, where we had a reservation for the night.It’s a small, nice, campground about 5 miles from Grafton Notch parking.The following morning we drove to the parking lot at Grafton Notch where our shuttle driver would pick us up at 8:20 and drive us to the route 4 trailhead near Rangeley, Maine.At about 10 Kathy, our dog Tora, andI started hiking southbound on the Appalachian Trail.Our destination for day 1 was Little Swift River Campsite, a little less than 5 miles from the start.It is on the edge of a lake with a small spring for drinking water.Since we don’t hike very fast our days were between 4.5 and 8.3 miles long.We planned our daily destination so that we’d be camping near a water source each night. We did change our itinerary 1 day to sleep on top of a mountain, with no water available. On day 2 we had a special surprise.At Sabathday Pond Lean-to we were able to swim in Long Pond, which has a sandy beach and access right from the trail.There were leaches in the water but they didn’t keep most hikers from a cooling swim.On succeeding days we camped at Bemis Mtn. Lean-to, the very top of Old Blue Mountain, Sawyer Notch, Surplus Pond, Frye Notch Lean-to, and finally Baldpate Lean-to.At this shelter a group of girls, from a camp in Maine, was camped near us.They had started 7 weeks earlier at the north end of the AT and would finish in Gorham, New Hampshire.Almost all the girls lavished our dog, Tora, with all kinds of attention and affection.As it turns out 2 of the girls are from our town, what are the chances of that?And besides that, one of their counselors remembered us from 2015 where we camped at Old Speck Pond with her group from that year.The final day we hiked a few miles down to Grafton Notch where our car was.The trail in this section is full of rocks and roots and each day brought more and more of a vertical component.Part of the reason we hiked this section sobo was to give our bodies the opportunity to get used to the ups and downs as best as possible.There were several places along our route where ladders were in place to make it up or down the rock faces.The weather was a welcome relief from the heat wave at home and most days saw a high temperature in the mid 80s.Most mornings were in the 50s but when we woke up on top of Old Blue Mntn. It was 42 degrees with a stiff wind.Delightful!The only rain we saw was a short shower that started minutes before we got to the lean-to at Frye Notch.Once at the car we cleaned up a little and drove up to the town of Rangeley to get a motel for a couple of days so we could shower, eat some hiker sized meals, and make arrangements for the next part of our hike.But that’s a whole other story that will have to wait for another day.

      Photos and part 2 later
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    • Part 2
      During our hike, as we felt our trail legs developing, we decided that we should hike the next part of the trail from route 4 to route 27 after a short stay in Rangeley. Arriving in town Wednesday afternoon first thing was to get a motel room, shower and put on clean clothes. Then we went out in search of a new filter element for our water filter, which had become completely clogged early in our hike. No stores had it so we settled on Aqua Mira. Also we arraigned for a shuttle for Friday morning at 7AM.Then we stopped at a restaurant with outdoor seating, so we could keep Tora with us. The first thing the waitress did was to bring our pup a bowl of water and then us the menu. We went kind of overboard and ordered more than we could eat J so we took the remaining pizza with us to have for dinner. On the walk back to the motel we stopped at the float plane dock so I could look at the airplanes where I discovered that there was a commercial operation that does sightseeing tours. Now I wanted a ride but they were closed, I’d have to come back. A few more steps and we were back at the motel were we lounged away the rest of the day until we went to sleep at dark. The next morning we did errands like making a trip to the laundromat and the grocery store in preparation for the second section of our hike. We also stopped at the library so Kathy could take care of some on-line issues she needed to do. Then it was back to the float plane dock where I was able to buy a seat on a sightseeing flight that was going out that afternoon. We went back to the motel where we started putting our packs in order between naps. Then it was off to get my ride. Being the heaviest of the passengers, the pilot put me in front right next to him. I knew Maine had a lot of large lakes but getting a bird’s eye view really reinforced that. What beauty we saw as mountains came right down to the shores of the lakes we flew over, incredible! At flights end we walked back into town and found another place to eat where Tora could join us, and again she got her own bowl of water. We were a little more restrained in our ordering this time but still pushed away from the table feeling full. A relaxing walk through town and we were back at our room where we finished preparations, watched some TV and relaxed before going to sleep. Things were about to make a 180 degree change. At 12:30 AM Kathy woke me up and with urgency in her voice told me we had to call off the hike and find a vet for Trait turns out that our dog had been battling diarrhea and throwing up. So 6 in the morning I called our shuttle driver to cancel and she was nice enough to give us the phone number of a vet she uses. It took numerous phone calls and a lot of driving but eventually we found a vet who could see us that day. Turns out Tora had some bad bacteria that upset her stomach and was given medication and a special food. That ended the idea of hiking that additional section but it will still be there waiting for us. So we changed our plans and headed for the coast where we explored Acadia National Park and the surrounding area. Being old sometimes has it’s benefits, as I was able to get a lifetime pass, good in any national park, or other federal recreation area, for only $10.The ride home was long and hot but we made it bearable by taking the ferry boat from New London, CT to Long Island, a nice 90 minute boat ride, and then stopped at a restaurant we enjoy. Until next time, that’s it.
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    • Great to hear you made the most of it. :thumbup:

      I think hiking is just like project management in real life, you make a plan and then adjust to reality during execution. And once you are out in the woods there are always lots of good alternatives.

      I bet if you were on the trail another week there might not be any pizza left over. ;)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Nice reading your reports from Maine. Smoking Sox and I are saving Maine for last, but I did start laying our some potential section hikes just to see how many trips we would need.

      Took my dog out for her first hike last weekend - she wanted to jump in a stagnant beaver pond...
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard
    • StalkingTortoise wrote:

      Nice reading your reports from Maine. Smoking Sox and I are saving Maine for last, but I did start laying our some potential section hikes just to see how many trips we would need.

      Took my dog out for her first hike last weekend - she wanted to jump in a stagnant beaver pond...
      All I can say is Maine is beautiful (of what I've seen so far) you'll love the scenery no matter when you do it.
      Now the rocks and roots and the ups and downs, that might be another thing :D
    • LIhikers wrote:

      StalkingTortoise wrote:

      Nice reading your reports from Maine. Smoking Sox and I are saving Maine for last, but I did start laying our some potential section hikes just to see how many trips we would need.

      Took my dog out for her first hike last weekend - she wanted to jump in a stagnant beaver pond...
      All I can say is Maine is beautiful (of what I've seen so far) you'll love the scenery no matter when you do it.Now the rocks and roots and the ups and downs, that might be another thing :D
      Yeah, I am planning for much lower miles, but from what I hear the scenery will make up for it.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General