Thursday, July 16, 2015

Maine 14/14

Georgia - North Carolina - Tennessee - Virginia - West Virginia - Maryland - Pennsylvania - New Jersey - New York - Connecticut - Massachusetts - Vermont - New Hampshire - Maine
As This is one of my only chances to put a blog up for a while I'll try to do a long one...this will be hard without bringing up the subject of food...
We're at the Farmhouse Inn in Rangeley, ME., halfway between the Equator and the North Pole.
This will probably be our last stay in a town for the rest of the trail.
The need for laundry, and the fact that we could use the kitchen helped us make the decision to stay.
We've been encountering a lot of southbounders lately, and have had quite a few mixed feelings about them. As with any group, you like  some -and then you come across the ones that think that they know better than someone who has walked 1700 miles more than them.
I didn't realize that we were the same when we started, it feels like it was an age ago. We thought at Harper's Ferry that we had learned everything that there was to learn... We were very wrong.
Our backpacking skills are still improving, our social views of the trail are still evolving, and our outlook is steadily becoming more optimistic.
I feel bad for some of the Southbounders, because they take a lot of abuse from some of the Northbounders, and start with the hardest part of the trail.
Maine has been the most beautiful state of them all so far, with all its lakes and sub alpine forests.
We're almost to the Hundred Mile "Wilderness", and as most of the Northbounders tell us, isn't as much wilderness as the name implies. And, as the Southbounders tell us, is like going three days were you don't see anyone...
Not that I don't believe the Southbounders, it's just that I've know the Northbounders quite a bit longer, and trust their word more.
Our tent got its pole replaced, and repaired, and now more problems are coming up with it that can be put off for a while.
And while also our shoes' tread is hanging on the last of the trail by a wing and a prayer, as all of the shoe stores in town failed to have anything useful for our purposes, we have to simply make these last the last 220 miles.
As a side note, if you're ever in Maine in summer, look for Wool coats on sale!
Shout out!
Hi Anthony and Diana!
Good job Yellow Beard and Little Goat!
And also Stoat and Poppins!
Please leave a comment below containing a question about the trail, as I am not a good writer and can't think about anything to write about.

3 comments:

  1. Two more weeks and you'll be done! Then, on to the next big adventure.

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  2. Which part of the trail has been the most difficult? Which the steepest? Which part did you like the east?

    Grandma Kathie

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  3. You guys are doing great! Yellow Beard and Little Goat talked about the SOBOs too! You are so close to the end...and you've come so far. It's truly amazing to accomplish what you've done!

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