Friday, August 15, 2025. Up at 6:30. Chilly and clear. Probably in the low 50s.
On trail (mile 2002.8) at 7:45. Carrying an extra 2 liters of water as there may be no water for the next 8 miles. The youngsters are more concerned about weight, but Ed and I being the wise old men want to stay hydrated!
Steep rocky climb, but not as hard as the last few days. Part of that is I’m starting to get my trail legs.
We met up with Mary-Beth from last night and hiked on and off today. We had some great conversations about hiking. She had lots of questions about long distance hiking.
Stopped at South Crocker summit overlook for a water break and lunch. Very glad I carried the extra 2 liters of water. Great view of Sugarloaf mountain ski runs.
Summited North Crocker at 10:45 with Mary-Beth. Topped off my water bottles from the 2 liters I carried up here. We have 5 miles DOWN to meet our shuttle. About the same difficulty as South Crocker.
Arrived at Rt 27 (mile 2010.1) at 2:25. The town chief of police, who is also an avid hiker, was doing trail magic. Ed and I helped ourselves to a nice cold PBR! We chatted with the chief for about 20 minutes while we waited for our shuttle. Ed got a great description of the next 16 miles through the Bigelows and talked about Maine in general. Really nice guy.
Our shuttle driver from Hostel of Maine, Mike, took us to the hostel. Very nice upscale hostel. They are open year round and do a lot of ski businesses. Hence the upscale part.
Showered, got laundry done, and chilled out. Sat in the great room and talked to other folks for several hours.
Jumper is a 27 year old getting ready to head to Kings College in London to do her masters in theoretical physics. She is finishing up a 200 mile section hike SOBO from Katahdin.
Toni is a trial lawyer from North Carolina platinum blaze section hiking with some friends. She retired last year. She did her graduate work at the London School of Economics.
Ladybug is a mother of 2 section hiking Maine, but has to make an emergency trip home but will be back on the 27th to submit Katahdin.
Limo Bean is thru thinking NOBO.
It’s amazing the people you meet and sync with on the trail. Wide cross section of people. We all decided to go to the barbecue place just up the road for dinner. Excellent food and large quantities. I split a platter with Toni.
Ed and I are slack packing 16 miles SOBO across the Bigelows tomorrow. Long dry day, but we are only carrying about 16 pounds including 4 liters of water (8.8 lbs), minimal food for the day, first aid, headlamp, and a few misc items. There are no exit points once we start until we get back to Rt 27 near the hostel. I’m guessing 10 hours. Any longer and we will be night hiking.
Got our packs setup for tomorrow, finished charging electronics, and chatted with other hikers until 10:00.
Very nice day with lots of great AT social interactions.
After much thought, we decided to NOT do the 16.8 miles tomorrow slackpack. We are worried that we can’t make that distance with 5200 feet elevation gain in the amount of daylight we will have. So we are back to our original plan and doing 10.5 miles tomorrow. We resupplied for the next 4 days here at the hostel. We will repack our bags in the morning and catch the 7:30am shuttle to the trail.
Technical Notes:
- Pop tarts x 2 360
- Fatty sausage 300
- PBR 150
- Coke Zero 0
- Donut Cider 150
- Etc….lots of calories in town
- Water liters 3.5
- Miles 7.4
- Time 6:30
- Elevation gain 2024
- Calories consumed lots
- Calories burned 2500
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