Can I Live at the Maine Roadhouse?

Author’s Note: I finished my thru-hike in October 2023. I don’t get points off for late homework anymore, so better late than never. I kept notes from my hike and I’m just getting around to taking notes to paragraphs. Enjoy, the journey is almost over!

Day 190: 3,220 ft ascent, 10.4 miles

The trail was finally feeling easier. You know the White Mountains in New Hampshire are going to be tough. Erik and I had been warned Southern Maine didn’t provide much reprieve. We had finally made it past the worst of the elevation and started making better mileage again the past few days and it felt good.

After breakfast, our food bags were empty. Well I should say they were empty once Erik raided mine for my extra snacks. I had arranged a shuttle from the Maine Roadhouse later in the day. We planned to stay with them for a few nights, taking advantage of our last Slackpacking opportunity on the trail. We were still in the mindset of doing what we could to enjoy the time we had left on trail. For us, that meant spending a few nights in a bed.

I love the color yellow in nature. These leaves were putting on a show for us!

We passed the three guys we had been hopscotching recently early in the morning. We said hello as we passed and at a water stop later told them of our plans for the next few days. They were trying to push to Katahdin, so it sounded like we may finally get left behind.

An interesting piece of AT history I wasn’t anticipating.

The morning started with an easy, slow climb. At the top of the climb we reached the 2,000 mile marker. Wow. 2,000 miles. Even in the moment it didn’t seem like I had really walked that far. So close to the end but still plenty of miles to go.

It surprised me in Maine how thick the woods were when we got into these pine forests.

Fall colors in Maine 😍

2,000 miles hiked, what a milestone.

We made it to our shuttle pickup right on time. Jenn picked us up and chatted as we drove the 30 minutes back to the hostel. She told us how the wet summer had made the stream we had just passed impassable for many southbound hikers and early northbounders. We had been fortunate to be able to rock hop across every stream in Maine so far.

The view of the valley before a steep descent to the river.

An easy river crossing for us, not as much for those earlier in the season from what we were told.

When we arrived at the hostel, Erik and I immediately felt at home. They had all of the amenities a hiker could need, and everything felt very clean. Just walking in this quickly became our favorite hostel, and better than any hotels we had stayed at. We did some laundry, got some groceries, and relaxed for the evening watching Netflix documentaries.

Erik was not impressed with the clothes I picked out for him to wear while we were doing laundry.

Day 191: 2,480 ft ascent, 8.3 miles

Erik and I knew we had a short, easy day of hiking. One climb up, then one climb back down. All without a pack. My knees needed the break.

We were climbing a few mountains called the Crockers. The other Jenn (two Jenn’s own the hostel) shuttled us back to where we left off the day before. It was a perfect weather day, clear skies and mid- 70°. Erik and I stopped at an overlook at the top and sat to appreciate the view. It was nice to take a break more for the view than the rest.

As we made our way back down we started discussing our options for the next few days. The Bigelow Mountain range was next along the trail. We could slackpack, but it would cost us $200 for the shuttle with the hostel plus another hostel night. The trail wasn’t that far from the hostel, but a dispute between the local town and tribe had made the tribe decide to close their roads that cut through from town to the trail. A 30 minute drive one-way became an hour and a half.

The other issue we had was the remnants of a hurricane battering towards us. Yes, somehow for the second time we would be hit by a hurricane in New England. The next day promised to be cloudy, with most of the rain starting the next night and lasting all throughout the next day. Our good fortune with rain over the past few weeks was ending.

I still hated hiking in the rain, and the idea of spending a day in a tent was not nearly as appealing as spending more time at the hostel. We decided we would slackpack the next day, and then take the next day off during the storm before taking off again. I had planned for one more day off before we finished when I had scheduled out when I thought we might finish back at Grafton Notch. Might as well take our off day during a rain day. It ended up turning into an expensive stay for us (we also couldn’t resist paying for the incredible fresh breakfasts made every morning) but if we were going to spend money we were happy to do it there.

When we got back to the hostel, we went back to the grocery store for more food now that we knew we would be there a few more days. We probably shouldn’t have gone right when we got back before lunch. We ended up buying 4 boxes of popcicles with 6 in each box because we wanted to try different flavors. I spent the evening running between our room and the freezer.

Day 192: 5,130 ft ascent, 16.6 miles

After a filling breakfast, Erik and I were off for our second day in a row Slackpacking. We were supposed to get our first view of Katahdin from the summit. The morning clouds weren’t very promising we would get that view. We decided it was a good dreary morning to catch up on our favorite podcasts as we climbed. Erik listens to Joe Rogan, I had just found out my favorite Ohio State football podcast host had switched companies and I was three weeks behind his new podcast starting. First world backpacking problems.

We had been hiking for maybe an hour. Erik was speeding up the climb as usual, although he had just stopped to let me catch up so I was only about 20 steps behind him. I felt like I was climbing in a stairwell. The pine forest around me was really thick, with the trail as the only thing you could see besides the trees (well other than maybe some moose poop that was hard to avoid at times).

All of a sudden, I heard something big crashing through the trees parallel to the trail but coming quickly in my direction. All I could think was “bear or moose, bear or moose?” Erik had spooked whatever it was as he walked past and it was trying to get away. He heard it too and turned around, taking a few frantic steps toward me.

It was a black bear. As it got parallel to me it realized I was there and ran further into the trees, crashing its own trail through the underbrush. It was less than 10 feet from me when I saw its backside running away from me. I wasn’t afraid of black bears at this point. I was afraid of moose because we hadn’t seen any and I still really didn’t know what one does when faced with a moose. Although everything turned out okay, the uncertainty of the situation in the moment got my heart pounding. Erik made it back down the trail to meet me and we hiked the rest of the climb over the next few miles together.

As expected, the summit was unimpressive. It was spitting rain and windy when the trail was exposed at the top. We didn’t linger, making our way down the trail as quickly as possible to get out of the wind. The drizzle didn’t last long as we finished out the day and got picked up right before nightfall.

Day 193: Zero at the Maine Roadhouse

One last Zero day. I spent a long time talking to another thru hiker whose trail name was Zero. She had started northbound after me and took plenty of days off enjoying the experience. After a medical incident that forced her off trail for about a month around the halfway part of the trail, she had flipped north to hike the remaining trail southbound. It was fun swapping stories with her and hearing about people we had met at different times.

Erik picked out his own loaner clothes this time while we did laundry again. Just so happened a trip to the grocery store was offered before our laundry was done. I don’t think Erik expected to end up out in public in a mumu but here we were. It made me smile.

Erik was still looking for a job when we returned. He spent the day finding a few more jobs he could apply to. I signed the offer letter from my company to return back after my trip. I planned to start back on October 30th so I could get health insurance for November. I had been paying for COBRA healthcare coverage at $550/ month during my hike. Although it would be a short week and a half between the time we finished and the time I started working again, it was my punishment to myself for taking so long on the trail. I knew the adventure had to end at some point, might as well rip off the bandaid.

We planned on 4 days to get to Monson, the next major resupply town and our last stop. I had really enjoyed our time at the Maine Roadhouse and didn’t want to leave. It was a good thing Katahdin was calling or I may have wanted to stay even longer. Erik and I both want to get back there to visit again someday.