Days 72-73 on the Trail - 800 Mile Mark

An incredible 800+ miles!!!

As of 09/02/11:
Miles in the last two days - approx. 25
Miles to date - 807.3


Dave is back in Monson for one night, and will take off for his last 55 miles Saturday morning.  He expects no cell service until he is at the top of Mt. Katahdin.  The area between Monson and Katahdin is 114.4 trail miles, known as the 100 Mile Wilderness (Dave has hiked 60 miles of it SoBo since staying at Shaw's).

Beginning of the 100 Mile Wilderness

The sign reads, "There are no places to obtain suppies or get help until Abol Bridge 100 miles north.  Do not attempt this section unless you have a minimum of 10 days supplies and are fully equipped.  This is the longest wilderness section of the entire AT and its difficulty should not be underestimated.  Good hiking."

Shaw's, the hostel where Dave camped out for 4 days pre- and post-Irene, was jam packed with other hikers stumbling in from their trials and tribulations with Irene and gearing up for their last leg in the 100 Mile Wilderness.  There are not enough bunks so many of them are sleeping in their tents in the yard.  When Dave and his gang of merry pranksters got back to Shaw's, the owners put them up in a rental house they own - very special treatment for whom I think are very special guys.  They greatly appreciated Shaw's saving rooms for them!

While hiking SoBo from where they were dropped off, they ran into the father-daughter team (Dad: Long Time and Daughter: Click who is carrying a monster camera) and the single woman A-Game who is hurrying to meet her boyfriend and starts a new job 9/6.  They were doing okay though the merry pranksters saw evidence of some of their stream crossings - "bridges" of found logs/branches rolled over the swollen streams.  They all thought how dangerous it would be if you lost your footing.  Another couple they passed included a tiny woman.  Her boyfriend had made a harness out of her jacket, tied a rope onto it and pulled her across a stream that was over her head.  Are these people suffering from hypothermia to make such decisions?  Oh well, all's well that ends well.

100 Mile Wilderness

I asked about Chainsaw.  Dave said he was staying right on his (Dave's) heels like a puppy dog.  He didn't say what caused the change of attitude.

So, Gentle Readers, this may be my last blog for several days.  Dave now hopes, if the weather holds out, to summit Katahdin on Sept. 8th (Chad's birthday!).  I leave Savannah on the 7th, will be in Topsfield MA on the 8th and Dave and I will figure out a meeting point in Maine on the 9th.  HOW EXCITING!