Days 136 through 138, back on the trail!

Day 136, August 17, Route 4 near Rangley Maine to Route 17.  Both nights  at Camp 43 in Rangley

Hiked today 13.1 today’s ascent 2700 feet total hiked 1531

I’m back on the trail again! Kim and I arrived at Camp 43 in Rangeley Maine yesterday evening. Today we got the Camp 43 Hostel to help us position our car at route 17 and then drop us off at route 4.  Kim and I hiked the 13 miles from Route 4 back to our car at Route 17.  It was actually a pretty challenging hike.

This picture is about 1 mile into the hike. As you can see, it’s pretty hazy, but you can see layers of mountains.

Although there was no rain, the views weren’t that great because of the heavy overcast and low clouds.

After being dropped off just before 9 AM we got back to our car right at 4:00 PM. The hike was challenging because of the altitude gain of about 2700 feet and also the rocks, roots and mud that are common to Maine. On the plus side, the Appalachian Trail in Maine is really pretty. Kim and I had a great hike together and I realized how much I missed hiking with her.

Day 137, August 18, Route 17 to Black Brook Campsite

Hiked today 13.4 today’s ascent 3544 total hiked 1544

Today’s hike will be a rough ones!  Not only is it through the rough terrain of Maine, but it includes over 5000 feet of a ascent ands over 4000 feet of descent. Shady thinks it will take 12 hours.

I started ahead of Shady at about 7 AM.

This is the top of Dunn Falls. The trail crosses right at the top. You can see the white mark on the other side of the river. Unfortunately, there’s not a good view for this falls.

I arrived at the Frye Notch Lean-to at around 5:30 PM.  I was exhausted!

I set up my tent, cooked a dehydrated meal, fetched water and was in my tent for the night before 7:30.

Todays hike was mostly a long hard slog up and down mountains through rough rocky muddy terrain.