Friday, August 5th

Sabbath Day Pond Lean-To (1964.5b mi) to Redington Stream Campsite (1982.0)

Hiking Miles: 17.5

Total Ascent: 4,459.6 ft

Total Descent: 3,647.0 ft

Total Grade: 462.3 ft/ft

Steps: 40,627

NEIL YOUNG – Heart Of Gold

Gator/Sunrise: The three SOBO’s woke early and packed their gear, as I pretended to be asleep waiting for their departure. Oddly, they began stretching which I suppose is a good thing before hiking tough miles, however that was one activity I skipped. My legs seemed to warm up and adjust nicely shortly after starting my daily hiking routine.

I found one of my plastic baggies containing food packs on the ground where I had eaten dinner last night. It was dark at the time and I obviously didn’t catch it when I was cleaning up. I typically am very good about following my nighttime cleanup process, however I was very tired and mistakes do happen in haste. Thank goodness the smell didn’t attract unwanted bears to the site.

I stopped at Sabbath Day Pond on my way out and scooped & filtered water. I filled both my Smart Water bottle and reserve pouch for filtering later in the day.

I crossed a few large streams during the morning before Croc caught up with me. The trail had benign ups and downs until we reached Saddleback Mountain about 15 miles in. Saddleback was a 4K footer, soon to be followed by a 250 foot dip below the tree line and then another 4K footer called the Horn. The good thing about having 4K foot peaks back to back is you essentially have one hefty climb to hike. Then you get credit for the subsequent ones by completing a slight downhill and uphill climb between peaks.

Saddleback Mountain was well worth the exertion because the views at the top did not disappoint. All that sweat, hard work and perhaps a little cursing before reaching the top is all forgotten when you experience the incredible 360-degree views of mountain tops, ridge lines and lakes. We had cell service at the top, and Croc was successful with booking a 3-night stay at the Hostel of Maine. There was a slight snag with reserving all 3, but the person on the call said she would work something out. Just knowing we would be staying at one of Maine’s finest hostels sent a rejuvenating charge to my spirit. I suddenly I felt at ease after a long day of hiking.

1.7 miles later we crested the Horn where there were more gorgeous views. Honestly, they were essentially the same views except for the great shot of Saddleback Mountain where we came from. We met and spoke with a young female NOBO hiker named Two Braids (yes – she sported two braids). She was from New York and full of energy. We met up with her again where the AT met the side trail leading to the Redington Stream Campsite (where we were headed). She was setting up her tent on a stealth site right at that juncture.

We settled on large flat spot not to far in, then went in search of water at the Redington Stream (a healthy walk). We cooked dinner, then called it a night early. Once again, I was exhausted and not feeling well, however I was looking forward to an early start in the morning up to Saddleback Junior and hopefully catching a clear and beautiful sunrise. Tomorrow would be a relatively short day and the start of a 3-night stay at the Hostel of Maine (with 2 slack packs in between).

Croc: As you probably saw/heard in the video, I had a very peaceful evening in the shelter. Not only did I avoid the rain, which Bumble Beast mentioned was a mistake since the water weighed down her tent, but I also listened to loons all night on the lake. When I finally got up, I also had the whole shelter to myself since everyone was already up and gone. I later heard from Gator that the SOBOs left even before him, which is honestly amazing. Maybe they were trying to avoid the daytime heat and wanted to get a head start on the day. Regardless, I enjoyed my instant breakfast, oatmeal, peanut butter, protein powder, and coffee “shake” combination while taking in the lake views.

Funny enough, Gator mentioned refilling his waters in today’s blog and I vividly remember filling up my waters too. Most of the time it’s a long hike for a hiker to find water unless your shelter provides a water source, but I remember this morning being like “wow, it’s so convenient having a lake legit right in front of the shelter.” However, the privy was a ways away, so I ended up walking extra mileage anyway.

As I hiked, I started passing more and more river crossings. I recall a few days before, at the Cabin, there was a SOBO couple that was doing a slack-pack of an area Gator and I just completed. They mentioned if they should bring their water shoes, or crocs, for river fording. I was caught off guard and laughed like “how often are there big enough rivers without bridges that you need to put on separate shoes for?” I mean, we’ve had a few during our trek so far but they were mostly ankle-deep areas that had a way around or rocks to hop on. But hearing two SOBOs proactively mentioning river crossings made me realize that we had plenty of wet mileage ahead of us and today was the day that it started. Although, it wasn’t too bad (yet) since these early river crossings just the ankle deep streams we had seen before.

I eventually caught up with Gator and prepped to finish our day over the Saddlebacks. I think we both hoped to hit longer mileage, but looking back, 17 miles is incredible in Southern Maine and we also knocked out a few 4,000 footers as well. Plus, the Saddlebacks were no joke at the end of the day. Luckily, the Saddlebacks had spectacular views and felt a little more like a ridge walk with a true path rather than a rock scramble. It also had an optical illusion of looking longer and higher than it actually was, especially re-watching Gator’s video. I remember seeing Gator at the south peak while I was at the north peak and thinking he was at least a mile away, but then he quickly caught up since it was only actually a fraction of a mile. When I FaceTimed Christina from the mountain and mentioned that Gator was on the previous mountain I just climbed, she said the same exact thing and thought it looked miles away too.

Also, while I waited for Gator, I wasn’t completely useless and decided to skip the daytime nap. Instead, I called ahead to the Hostel of Maine to see if they had any availability for the next few days. This wasn’t originally part of the plan, but seeing that Gator’s birthday was coming up and we were both struggling with the terrain, it seemed smart to lock up another couple of slack-packs where we could. The Hostel of Maine also had some amazing reviews on FarOut, so I was surprised I didn’t reach out to them previously. Maybe it was because we just spent three days at the Cabin and didn’t want to spend three more days at another hostel. But it turned out to be an amazing pick-me-up knowing that we just completed another day, had a three-day hostel stay coming up, and then only a few more days to the “victory” lap 100-mile wilderness.

We ended the day with a short hike down the other side of the Saddlebacks to the Redington Stream Campsite. Here we met Two Braids again sitting by the junction between the AT and the campsite. We quickly found some spots to camp at (it was free again!) and made our way nearly a quarter of a mile to the water source. It was far, but we were also on top of a mountain, so at least there was a water source. Gator and I made some dinner and headed off to bed. We had a quick conversation about what time we planned to get up (as we always do), but I specifically remember this time because I told Gator I would get up before 7:00 AM the next day and definitely did not. What made it funnier was that someone we would later meet actually overheard this conversation from another campsite and brought it up in conversation saying, “I heard him say he’d get up at 7:00 AM, but he didn’t even leave until 8:30 AM!”