7/28/06 Friday: Little Bigelow Lean-To to Rivers and Trails Hostel, US201 Caratunk (21.3mi)

\PICTURES:
1. Early morning view of Flagstaff Lake just 2 miles N of Little Bigelow Lean-to
2. I emerged from the woods on this road (Long Falls Dam Road) and was greeted by this mile marker... Put a smile on my face...:)...
3&4 Some very pleasant walking on this day made possible by the hard work of volunteers from the MOAC (Maine Outdoor Adventure Club)... I stopped to chat a bit with these two members and thanked them for all their hard work...
5&6. Thats Pierce Pond taken from the beach and again from the Pierce Pond Lean-to... A lovely setting...
7. Just north of Pierce Pond were some lovely water falls
8&9. The trails in Maine are noted for their primitive bridgework...Two fine examples are these just north of Pierce Pond...
10&11. A view across the Kennebec river to the ferry (canoe) on the other side just as the skies openned up... Years ago hikers were required to ford this river... After a few drownings the ATC decided to hire a ferry service to take the backpackers across... On this day the water was at least chest deep in some places, deeper in others...
12. Later that evening after cleaning up while having dinner...
13. A picture of the bunkhouse at River and Trails Hostel, pretty basic but for $14 a nice place to dry off for the night...













Well I got up and on my way early wanting to catch the last ferry crossing the Kennebec River. The ferry service, actually a canoe with a guy and a paddle...LOL... ended its afternoon service at 1600 sharp... NO EXCEPTIONS... I had a series of small mountains to cover along with a lot of rather level terrain and was confident I could make it in time... The day went by quickly with me keeping a 2.5-3.0 mph pace... No breaks were aloud, so I packed six power bars that would get me through the day in my hip pouch. Along the way I met a volunteer trail crew from MOAC (Maine Outdoor Adventure Club) of two and stopped to chat for a bit.. After taking their pics for my blog and thanking them for all their hard work they do, I pushed on. They suggested taking a moment at the Pierce Pond Lean-To and enjoying one of the prettiest settings on the whole AT... I passed the West Carry Pond Lean-to which was quite nice and some lovely terrain with wetlands and ponds scattered throughout before reaching the Pierce Pond Lean-to around 1300. I had less than 5 miles to go and decided to take a much needed 30min break looking out at the pond.... Very nice... At 1500 I finally arrived at the south side of the Kennebec River and after walking under cloudy skies all day, it finally decided to rain... It started coming down really really really hard... Within 20 minutes my shoes had filled with water, I was completely soaked, but thanks to my pack cover all my stuff was dry...:)... I waved the orange flag and at first the guide hesitated coming to get me, hoping the rain would slow for a spell.. But after about 15 minutes it actually was raining harder.... By this time we were both soaked and he started on his way across the river... I could see him struggle near the north side in the strong curren, but he made it across without incident... We decided to give the weather a few more minutes to see if it would slow a bit, it didnt..., before we dumped the couple of gallons in the canoe out and set off for the other side... He forgot the extra paddle so I couldnt help him navigate to the other shore. He struggled again on the north side and we landed about 50yds down river from the launch site... I helped him get his canoe back up the bank and began my 1 mile walk to the hostel up US201... In this weather no one was going to stop to give me a ride so I trudged along until the van from the hostel happened along, picked me up, and took me to the hostel... I checked in and got a hot shower washed and dried my clothes and got some nice junk food to eat to tide me over until dinner...:)... There were 2 other hikers there one heading north the other south... The northbound hiker was a retiree in his sixtees, in prime physical health from West Virginia... I was quite impressed with his abilities and we hit it off right away... All three of us were shuttled to dinner by the hostel owner at a restaurant about 1/2 mile up the road where we had a nice meal. The other northbound hiker and I returned for the AYCE breakfast buffet and really got our moneys worth...:)... The hostel had no electricity or running water so we retired to our bunks around 2030 for a good nights sleep hoping for improved weather tomorrow...