Today was a rather long day, we planned 22.5 miles to rainbow lake damn, which puts us 13.5 miles from Abol bridge and the end of the Hundred Mile Wilderness.
I make the first two miles up to the lean to where beast camped rathe quickly, so I was there around 7:30, luckily Beast was just emerging from her tent, so we talked a little while she ate breakfast and then I got going again. That lean to had a spring which had amazing water. I filled both of my bottles even though there were other water sources near, it was so cold and clean!
I hiked down to the next lake, there was a small view, I assumed there would be a better one but it never happened.
The mosquitoes weren’t as bad as the day before but still very bad.
The AT followed near the lake for a while, then along a River that I assume was flowing into the lake.
The river section was nice, mostly flat, fewer mosquitoes and lots of views of the river. I saw a bald eagle flying along the river probably looking for fish. I also saw a blue heron standing on a small island in the river.
Eventually that lead to lake Nahmakanta, there was a campsite there and I grabbed lunch. The trail followed the lake a little and lead to a sandy beach where I took a swim before heading up the mountain of the same name. The climb wasn’t bad, but even after cooling off in the lake I was very quickly drenched in sweat. At the top there was a nice view of the lake and cell signal. I sent a couple messages and then a lady up there told me there was a better view on the way down and it also had signal. It was not better and did not have signal.
For the last 8 miles the trail followed a series of streams and ponds, knowing I had more than enough time to make it to camp, I slowed down a bit and took more breaks. I found a nice spot in a stream with a large swimming hole for another drip, I stopped and took more pictures.
I arrived in camp just in town for dinner (6:30ish), there were some friendly people there who I talked to a little. The campsite here has a view of Katahdin, but sadly it was in a cloud. Beast arrived probably 30 minutes after I did, her feet were sore from her new shoes, I can’t imagine that’s going to go well hiking up Katahdin.
I’ve decided to skip Katahdin, partly because Baxter park has a whole messy system around letting hikers in, so it would either be a matter of trying to get a limited spot at the last site, or do a very long day up and down the mountain. I’ve also climbed it before and every day I add is probably going to cost me money if my car has been towed. I’m a little sad a out missing it, but I’m glad I got to hike the Hundred mile wilderness. Just 13.5 Miles to go, then I need to figure out how to get back to Portsmouth, NH.