The Final Push

Following another major rainstorm, I took a zero at Shaw’s Hostel, hoping for the trail to dry out a bit. The 100 mile wilderness is the final section of trail before arriving at Baxter Park, the home of Mount Katahdin.

This is your warning-

Once headed in the wilderness, there is minimal opportunity to get outside assistance.

Day 89 – Zero, waiting out the rain 

Day 90 – Shaws to Long Pond Stream shelter (14 miles) 

Day 91 – Long Pond Stream shelter to Carl Newhall shelter (19 miles) 

Day 92 – Carl Newhall shelter to Cooper Brook shelter (21 miles) 

Typical Trail

There really is no such thing as typical Trail. It changes between rocky, muddy, inclined, yada yada yada.

Sometimes you need to rock hop…

Sometimes you’re going to get wet. This is NatGeo in one of the eight rivers we had to ford.  I was especially thankful we waited an extra day for the water to recede.

Always, you need to keep your head down and watch your step. As a result, you see a lot of things growing close to the ground. I’ve shown mushrooms before, but I don’t mind providing a few more photos; I find them so interesting.

(The rare green mushroom)

Trumpet fungus –

Yellow coral fungi-

I was told this is some type of lichen.

No idea –

Still More Mountains

The Appalachians are all about mountains, and while the elevations are lower in the 100 Mile Wilderness, they still provide great views when the weather clears.  These are views from the top of the Chairback and Whitecap Mountains.

Atypical Views

Every once in a while, you see something very different.  The trail takes you past the remnants of this 1984 plane crash.

I’m told that it was a father and son in the plane and they both survived. It’s been a long time since the crash, but still seems miraculous considering the scattered pieces of the plane.

Beauty and the Leech

Beautiful Cooper Brook shelter was my resting place for the night of day 92. The campsite sits in front of a large, beautiful waterfall.

At some point I put my feet in the water while rinsing out my socks. After a few minutes, I pulled my feet from the water and tried to shake the hemlock needles from them. When they didn’t slide off, a closer inspection identified the bane of Maine rivers – Leeches. Close inspection found about two dozen of these bad boys around my feet.  Doesn’t it give you the willies to even read about it?

Hate to end with this, but…

Thanks for listening.