Careful Stepping

This morning (September 8), we all had another great breakfast at the Maine Roadhouse, and then those of us who did the slack pack yesterday over the Bigelows had to get back to the northern end of that range so we could continue proceeding north. Actually, not all seven of us who had slack packed the Bigelows yesterday were headed out again. Because it was Sunday, Not Yet had decided to take a zero and watch football instead.

Hootie & Not Yet

But the other six of us were getting back on trail, and this time, we wouldn’t be coming back to the hostel afterward, so after breakfast, we packed up and settled our bills and all that stuff. We didn't get on the road until probably about 8:30, and we had a little over an hour’s drive to get to the trailhead.

We arrived just before 10 o'clock, and my goal for the day was to cover 16 miles to Pierce Pond. In total, it's a 56-mile leg from the northern edge of the Bigelows to Monson, Maine, and the geography isn't terribly compelling. It's largely just a trip through the woods to get from Stratton to Monson. This part of the trail really flattens out, too, which means you can do some decent mileage in a day. The biggest obstacles are water, mud, and roots. Those can create some challenging hiking conditions.

Salamander

I'd never been to Pierce Pond before, but I know that Pine Island Camp used to do maintenance around there. I don't know if they still do, but I was interested in seeing the pond for the first time. This part of the trail in Maine is really low in elevation. Very wooded, lots of lakes, lots of small streams to cross, and a decent amount of mud. So it’s definitely a different hiking dynamic.

We’ve all been hoping to see a moose at some point, because we were walking by a lot of lakes, but so far, no such luck. So the only highlight-slash-lowlight of the hike over to Pierce Pond was that I was going through a particularly muddy and root-y stretch, and I thought I was being careful, but the next thing I knew, I was kneeling in the mud with both hands in the mud, and I’d somehow managed to punch myself in the face with my trekking pole on the way down. So I went from hiking along to wondering what the heck just happened. I think I'm going to have to be a little more careful when I'm navigating these areas that tend to have more roots and mud. That pretty much describes the rest of the trail between here and Katahdin.

I pulled into the Pierce Pond campsite just before 6 o'clock, and these days, the sun is starting to go down around that time. Lost and Found, Mouse, and Munich Mule were already there, along with Carolina Sunshine and some other folks I knew who were section hiking — a nice couple named Sundial and FIIK, which stands for “F—k if I know.” Not long after I arrived, Salamander came into camp, followed pretty soon by Groovy and Half Boot.

So the campsite’s pretty full, but I managed to find a decent spot. Just before I got here, I stopped to refill my water bottles and was able to brush off a lot of the dried mud. And after setting up camp here, I went down to the pond for a little extra cleanup. Not great, but better. It’s getting cold, so I’m happy to be in my tent for the night!