Thursday, August 4th

South Arm Road (1947.5 mi) to Sabbath Day Pond Lean-To (1964.5 mi)

Hiking Miles: 17

Total Ascent: 5,290.0 ft

Total Descent: 4,362.9 ft

Total Grade: 568.7 ft/mi

Steps: 40,458

GERRY RAFFERTY – Baker Street

Gator/Sunrise: This morning’s breakfast was the third and final one that I helped prepare for the hiker guests. I was so glad that I shared in that experience with Hopper; so much so that I promised myself I would prepare breakfast each morning after I returned home.

There was a new crowd this morning at the breakfast table and the atmosphere felt different to me. One person tried initiating a conversation of political nature and was immediately reminded by others to keep the discussion free of political opinion. Also, the hiker who kept magically appearing and remarkably keeping pace with us showed up to eat. Before everyone was finished with their meal, he had the nerve to squirrel away a half dozen pancakes in his pack. Normally, leftovers are fair game, but not until everyone had a chance to eat and clean up.

I settled our bill (cash only) with Honey. I was blown away at how she remembered our items (3 overnight stays, 3 breakfast and dinners and a slack pack shuttle) then calculating all the math in her head. The bill amounted to $178 which honestly was a huge break in cost, perhaps because I helped Hopper, or that Croc and I were somewhat forgiving of Don’s extremely poor judgment. We later rationalized it was because she just plain liked us! Then we exchanged our good-byes with Hopper and promised to send her a summit pic. She wished us luck and assured us that we would finish in two weeks, then Honey dropped us off at the South Arm Road trailhead. Another roadway, another steep climb!

Today was about crushing more miles. The grade was relentless starting with two high climbs right away (Old Blue and Bemis Mountains), then on the downhill, there were a number of very narrow trails. On one corner, a sharp protruding branch caught my left forearm and tore out a chunk of flesh. For five seconds I saw a large circle of white flesh. Then the abrasion proceeded to bleed. It certainly smarted, and even two years later I have a bad-ass scar there as a remembrance of the trail.

Later in the day when the sun was setting, we had one more steep down hill (where you inch your way over rocks and roots) and one steep uphill before reaching the Sabbath Day Pond Lean To. Having my 70’s music playing once again helped me press through the day because I was fatigued. Rain was in the forecast for this evening and we hoped to find space in the shelter.

Before heading to the shelter though, we couldn’t help but stop and stare at the view of Sabbath Day Pond with the sun setting in the background. It would have been the perfect spot to take a cool dip if it hadn’t been so late in the day and we were concerned about the rain. I also thought how clean it looked as a water source for when we set out tomorrow morning.

We passed Bumble Beast who was setting up her tent on a platform. She said she was uncomfortable staying in the Lean To where three young male hikers were staying. I sensed she was relieved to see two familiar faces, but she still elected to stay put. I felt bad because of the the high probability of heavy rain rolling into the area. Her hiking partner, Rollo, also was tenting, however he was located up ahead and closer to the Lean To.

The 3 guys in the shelter were SOBO’s, and all hiking together. They weren’t very social, but we were tired and perfectly fine keeping to ourselves. We quickly laid out our sleeping gear, ate dinner and called it a night just before the skies opened up.

Croc: Once again, it was bittersweet leaving the comfort of a hostel and having to toss on our full packs again after taking a zero and a slack-pack. However, we were all fueled up from breakfast and ready to bust out these last two weeks with our schedule all prepped. But wouldn’t you know, the old guy who had been miraculously keeping pace with us showed up again! We hadn’t seen him since Lakes of the Clouds Hut, but he must have caught up following our nero and zero. And as Gator mentioned, he also brought up politics and snatched away leftover pancakes at breakfast, so he wasn’t my favorite, but it provided us a topic of conversation on the trail.

At this point on the trail, especially in Southern Maine, the beautiful, yet monotonous, up and down the mountains were becoming status quo. There really wasn’t any break in the mountain ranges except for maybe the 5-mile stretch after Mt. Moriah. At least in the south, we were gifted with a random 10-mile stretch of “flat” here and there. Honestly, I wouldn’t even mind a 5 mile ridge walk like the Smokies. But in Southern Maine (and New Hampshire for that matter), it was just known that you’d shortly be going up if you just went down and vice-versa. However, we were only three or so days away from hitting our last 4,000-footers until Katahdin.

I don’t recall much of anything else on the trail today other than constantly looking out for goshawks that have been attacking hikers in the Maine area. I don’t think this was the exact section of trail where a hiker got clawed by a hawk or if the hiker did something to provoke the hawk, but I was cautious about where I was stepping off trail. Especially since there seemed to be a lot more random birds flying around in the area and a lot fewer deer.

I also did receive a voicemail in-between intermittent cell service saying that I got the new job at Target, which was nice to hear. Fortunately, they were also willing to let me start the new position a week after we planned to finish, which would give me some time to relax.

After a long day of hiking, we finally hit Sabbath Day Pond Lean-To, which was a beautiful location. Little did I know that most of Maine would end up being like this. We did see Rollo and Bumble Beast camping a little way down the shelter path, and I believe Rollo was going for a dip in the pond. I found it a little odd that they were camping when it was supposed to storm tonight, but it gave us more space in the shelter, so I was good with it. There was no big dinner from Honey tonight, but the ramen and tuna tasted just as good. I believe we ate it in the dark since the sun was already setting and a few SOBOs were already asleep in the shelter. After dinner, Gator and I quickly settled down and headed off to sleep. Mentally, I crossed another day off the countdown.