Today's goal was to get across the Kennebec, the widest unbridged river crossing on the Appalachian Trail. Fortunately, there is a ferry service (basically a man with a canoe). I've been concerned about this section for some time. Why? I have horrible timing. What if something happens and the ferry isn't running? To make matters worse, I recently learned that this can indeed happen. I was here five weeks earlier hiking the section just north of here when I learned the ferry service was closed. At the time I heard for 3 days, I later learned it was closed for 5 days. That day I wanted a preview of the river so when I was done with that day's section, I walked down to the river. Here's what I found in late June.
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Lynn crewed me today, so that I would be able to get this section done in one day. I would have preferred to do this section north, but decided it would be best to get the river behind me just in case the service wasn't running. We have had a lot of rain recently, so it was definitely a possibility. Fortunately, everything went as planned. Lynn walked with me down to the river where Dave, the ferry operator was waiting.
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After signing the waiver, he paddled me across. He said that it was the first time the ferry service ever had to stop running from its regular schedule in the month of June. There was so much water from rain and late snowmelt that water was being released from the dam at a rate of 30,000 cubic feet per second. I was glad that the river had calmed down considerably. I reached the west bank of the river, waved to Lynn on the other side, and headed off. The river was behind me, but I still had 17.6 miles to go.
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Up some log steps
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This wasn't much of a bridge, but in Maine you take any bridge you can get. It is designed for the hiker to walk on the bottom log while the two top logs are for handrails.
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There was a sign for a waterfall, so I took a little side trip down a blue-blazed trail. The side trip cost me about 10 minutes but was worth it.
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But then I had to get back to the A.T. over the same rugged ground. Uggh!
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More waterfalls. I got a good view of this one and only had to take a short side trail.
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Pierce Pond
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The trail went right along the edge of the river.
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Volunteers rebuilding a privy
"Could I take your picture?" I asked one of them.
"You better. It's not often we are all working at the same time," one of them replied.
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I guess I got distracted by the work being done. I never did see Pierce Pond Lean-to. A couple miles later I met a thru hiker named Meltdown.
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"How's your food holding out?" I asked.
"I wouldn't refuse anything," Meltdown said.
"How about an Odwalla bar?"
"Sounds good."
"Can I lighten your load a little by carrying out any trash you may have?"
"Sure," he replied handing me a small bag of trash.
"Ounces count when you are a thru hiker. So did you give yourself your trailname or did you get pegged with it?"
"I got pegged with it. One evening I had my rainpants on and sat to close to the campfire. A little while later I had no rainpants and had the trailname Meltdown."
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More of that beautiful, 'smooth' Maine trail. But I have to admit, after doing a lot of bushwhacking the past month, having a trail was nice.
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I was thankful for this bog bridging through this swamp.
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Almost halfway for the day
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Thru-hiker named Sleepwalker.
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I had a really nice walk along the edge of East Carry Pond.
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Someone found an easier way to get here
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The A.T. briefly followed a logging road.
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More bog bridging
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I made my way to West Carry Pond. I saw a sign stating it was 50 yards to Arnolds Point. I was up for another short trip. Ha! I don't know what they were referring to. The trail was a lot longer than 50 yards. I dropped my pack and decided to keep going anyway. The blueberries were ripe, and I couldn't resist snacking on a few.
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The trail kept going but was more of a herd path by now. That must be Arnold's Point there.
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The herd path ended, but I was now determined to finish this little project. At times this little strip of land got as narrow as 10 feet. After about a hundred yards of bushwhacking I was at the very tip of Arnold's Point. There was a really nice breeze that cooled me down on this humid, August day.
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I made my way back to the A.T. and got a view of Roundtop Mountain, the only mountain I had to climb today.
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The walk around the southern edge of West Carry Pond was nice, but the trail didn't stay right on the edge like on East Carry Pond. I could see West Carry Pond Lean-to from the trail but didn't stop since the side trip to Arnold's Point had put me behind schedule to meet Lynn.
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In all, I met about a dozen nobos today. I congratulated them on passing the 2000 mile mark on Long Falls Dam Road. After going up and over Rountop Mountain, I made why way down to the 2000 mile mark. FYI - I was here 2 years ago when I did the section just south of here. I was pretty well beat at this point, and Lynn snapped a picture of me.
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This was the approximate 2000 mile marker for all the nobo thru hikers. Ironically, I'm very close to having completed 2000 miles in my trek of the A.T. Today's miles brings me to a total of 1990 miles. Also, as of today, I have less than 200 miles of the A.T. to go. Thirty miles in Maine and 155 miles in N.C. and GA. for a total of 185 miles.
