Rock-Kneed
This morning (September 5), I was up again before light, which isn't my favorite thing to do, at the Spalding Mountain lean-to. I got all my stuff ready, and my plan for today was to make it down to Route 27, which is where the Maine Roadhouse is.
Now, the Maine Roadhouse is one of the most desirable hiker hostels to visit along the AT. It’s got such a great reputation. I was very excited to get there, but first, I had to cover 13.5 pretty tough miles. Thus the early start, though by the time I left the lean-to, Carolina Sunshine was already long gone. The first order of business was hiking up Spalding Mountain, which is straight up, but as I was saying yesterday, that’s not that big of a deal at this point. And I got very lucky with great weather today. It was just beautiful.
So the third highest peak in Maine is Sugarloaf Mountain, but the AT does not go over it. So some hikers will take a side trail to go up to the peak, and sometimes, the ski patrol hut up there will be open. If it is, hikers can stay in it and recharge their electronics, because there’s power there and all. But it's a bit of a gamble as to whether or not it'll be open. And some people choose to hike down the ski slopes, go into Sugarloaf Village, and then do a road walk that meets up with the AT. But I chose just to enjoy the view of Sugarloaf's peak and keep going on the trail.
And today actually turned out to be a pretty difficult day. The climbs were smaller and fewer, but the trail descends down into Stratton, Maine, and there were a lot of descents, so my knees really took a beating. It was sort of a similar dynamic to coming off of Old Speck into Grafton Notch. By the time I made it down to Route 27, I was in big pain. Most of the pain is on the tops of my knees. And apparently, that’s where the tendon is that attaches your quadricep to your knee. And there’s a condition called “runner's knee” that tends to affect people who are older runners, so I guess that sort of defines me.
Anyway, I reached the trailhead at the road at about 4 o’clock or a little bit before, which was my goal, so I was happy about that. At the bottom, I ran into a guy who appeared to be living out of his car — and he was — who goes by the name The Watchman. He's very generous, and he always has Trail Magic of some kind to offer. He's always willing to cook hikers some food. He's actually got a bit of a sad story. He was riding his motorcycle in Florida, and he got hit by a drunk driver. He broke his spine in the accident, and he had to have a lot of rehab, but the person who hit him didn't have proper insurance, so The Watchman now has $900,000 in medical debt.
So he's just cruising around in his car, living out of it, providing Trail Magic here and there, and picking up odd jobs where he can. We had a nice long chat while I waited for the main Roadhouse shuttle to show up. I gave him 20 bucks, and he gave me a tangerine and a Moxie soda.
Before too long, Salamander showed up at the trailhead, which was fortuitous timing, because she was going to the Maine Roadhouse, too. So we got picked up together. The Maine Roadhouse is run by two ladies named Jen, called “The Jens,” and the Jen who was driving the shuttle was kind enough to stop by a grocery store on the way to the hostel so Salamander and I could get grab some snacks and a few things for dinner. I'll go back to the store tomorrow to do a full resupply to get me to Monson.
It's really starting to feel like the end, because from the Maine Roadhouse to Shaw's Hiker Hostel, it’s about 72 miles, which I’m budgeting five days to do. That’s four nights. And then from Shaw's Hiker Hostel, you go into the 100 Mile Wilderness, and the 100 Mile Wilderness ends at the base of Katahdin in Baxter State Park. So really, there are only two legs left to go in my thru-hike. Earlier today, I walked past the 2,000 mile marker on the trail. So, less than 200 miles to go. Just two legs. It’s really starting to feel like I’m going to make it to the end.
As soon as you get to the Maine Roadhouse, you understand why it's such a popular place. It's just marvelous. It’s got this great bunk room, and every bunk has curtains, so they're very private. And each one has its own fan and light and power outlet, which is just so convenient.
It's also got a good number of bathrooms, a nice large kitchen, and a great common area, and the Jens are just incredibly nice people. It’s a wonderful, welcoming place. I'm taking a zero tomorrow, and I plan on savoring every minute of it. I know it's one of the last good rests I’ll have before the final push to the end. I’m looking forward to it.
Apparently, they’re expecting kind of a massive wave of hikers to be coming in tomorrow, though tonight's been pretty quiet. It’ll be interesting to see this place when it’s super busy, and we'll see who shows up that I know.
