Tag Archives: Maine

I passed by four ponds during the day, hearing a loon calling from two of them. During the morning, my left foot began to hurt for no apparent reason. When this has happened in the past, all I needed to do was to loosen my shoe laces. This didn’t work today. The pain intensified as the day wore on.

From the Horn, the AT descended for 5 miles to ME 27. Some of the descent was steep, but my legs held up thanks to carrying my light day pack. I reached the highway in high spirits and found trail magic. I downed a cold soda and made a PBJ sandwich. Chris picked me up and soon I was in my motel room taking a shower. I passed the test of the Bigelows.

In Stratton, I got a room with two bunks, plus I arranged for tomorrow’s slack pack. After buying a half-gallon of chocolate milk at the grocery store, I ate food bag leftovers for lunch. Then I had a shower and did laundry (see photo of me in stylish loaner duds).

At Orbeton Stream, I headed uphill to Lone Mountain, after which the trail bounced up and down for several miles. Much of the hike ran through small, dense spruce rather like a green tunnel (see photo).

After crossing Sandy River, I headed uphill, but not too steeply, past the Plaza Rock Lean-to. The path got a bit more steep past Ethyl and Eddy Ponds. The climb steepened considerably toward Saddleback Mountain. Near the top, I left the trees behind and often walked on massive bedrock (see photo). The hike above tree line continued for 4 miles to the Horn.

A pond with a sandy beach proved to be the high point of the day. Five of us hikers enjoyed a dip in the cool water! The trail continued to meander up and down to the Little River Pond campsite, where I ate lunch and got water. After lunch I passed by South Pond (see photo).