Thursday, August 30, 2012

Under 1000 miles to go!

... which seems like a lot, but compared to the 4368.4 mile total ...

Wednesday, August 22, 2012:

... let's just say I'm happy to have made it this far.  And as far as my northern leg, I'm now just 144 trail miles from reaching the northern terminus of the AT at Baker Peak, Mt. Katahdin. (The rest of the 1000 miles remaining is between Daleville, VA and Caledonia State Park, PA, which I plan to do in the fall, once I'm finished up north.)

Today's 7.3 miles of trail started at the Kennebec River.  The water was in its low phase this morning (dam releases upstream cause it to fluctuate suddenly between high and low phases).  Shown at left is the spot a couple hundred yards upstream from the ferry site where risk takers and adventurers ford the river.  As long as the water stays this low, it would be no big problem - the problem is that the water can rise quickly without warning.

Between the Kennebec River and the summit of Pleasant Pond Mountain, the northern end of the day's hike, the trail was mostly easy except for the last mile, in which the 1100 foot steep ascent of the mountain happens.  That felt like a return to the tougher days farther south - some pretty steep pieces where I had to use my hands and even occasionally needed to slide on my butt on descending.

The summit of Pleasant Pond Mountain is only at 2500 feet, but there are some views from open bedrock areas.  At left is the view across the well-populated pond (lots of cottages) to the prominent dual peaks of the Bigelows.

Weather was great - wonderful late summer Maine weather with cool mornings and daytime temperatures in the 70's.  We've finally left that tropical rainy pattern far behind - more good weather is forecast for the coming days, so I'm loving life!

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Here's the map of today's hike and a link to more photos:

AT Day 212 - Pleasant Pond Mountain at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Maine

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