Day 101: Stealth By Harrison’s

Start: Flagstaff Campsite (AT mi 2022.8). Stop: Stealth Site near Harrison’s (AT mi 2038.2). Today’s miles: 15.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 1013.5 miles

I’ve hiked over 1000 miles! It’s so thrilling to know I’ve accomplished that, but clearly it wasn’t on my mind this morning, because I forgot to make a twig 1k sign to take a picture of. Whoops. I’m almost to the halfway point in my journey.. I’ll end up crossing that some time after I return to trail from my side trip with my mom. The whole trail is 2,193 miles, so the halfway mark is 1096.5 miles.. 83.5 miles from where I’m currently sitting.

I thought it was going to rain overnight. When I woke up to a dry tent at 6:35, I went ahead and got a move on.. remembering the last time I was surprised it didn’t rain and took my sweet time getting ready-only to get poured on. Sometime after 8pm, two more groups of hikers came through. One pair camped just above me, the others camped down on the beach itself. I’m glad I got my fill of the water before those folks showed up.

I started hiking by 7:30, happy it wasn’t raining and the terrain was calm around the pond. The elevation had the two little blips to do first thing this morning, but I honestly hardly even noticed them. By the time I thought I might need a pause to catch my breath it was already going back downhill. Shortly before 8am, the sky fell. I was happy I already had my rain cover on my pack. I pulled out my umbrella and tucked away one of my trekking poles. No need for both on such easy ground.

It continued to rain most of the morning. Sometime just before 12, I decided I wanted to eat lunch and kept my eyes peeled on somewhere suitable. The rain took a break, and therefore, so did I. To my complete happiness, I did so on a small beach. I took my socks and shoes off, soaked my feet for a few minutes, then at my lunch sitting on a piece of drift wood. While eating, I saw the wind bringing the rain across the water towards me, so I popped up, rolled my pack over so it was protected by the cover, and snagged my umbrella. I ate the rest of my food sitting under it without a care in the world.

I waited for the rain to slow before getting up and repacking. I felt so good on this terrain that I decided to hike from here in my sandals.. just to try it out for a bit. It worked well for about 2 hours, then the trail started to have some rocks to step over and on, so I traded my sandals back for my socks and shoes. The wet trail made my feet slide too much in the sandals and I didnt want to risk a fall into mud.

The rest of the day went by quickly. I was irritated with myself because with less than a mile to go to the shelter I was aiming for, I had to take my pack off and go dig a hole. I guess I’m still living up to the trail name, PBS. Even still, with the shoe swaps and long lunch, plus the hole digging, I still made it to camp by 3pm. There’s a man that has a hunting camp close by and he sells breakfast to hikers, you just have to come make a reservation the evening before so he can make sure to have enough food. He also apparently rents out cabins to hikers when he has availability. I knew it was a long shot, but I toted my pack with me to his place, just in case.

It was close by, maybe 0.3 miles total. And the trail to get to him had gorgeous lake views one way, stream views continuously, and then a waterfall, too. It was stunning. I got there and Tim, the owner let me reserve a spot for breakfast, but told me his cabins were sadly full. He offered me some lemonade and I happily obliged. Sitting on his porch, rocking, and watching hummingbirds come to his feeders on his deck with the creek passing by down below was the highlight of my day. His dog, Charlie was a cute and loving addition, too!

His nephew’s wife brought me a white claw to drink (she laughed and said, “this is me offering trail magic” lol) and we chatted awhile. Her and her family are visiting Uncle Tim like they do every summer. She’s an ER nurse so we had tons to talk about. It was getting close to 4:30 and I made the comment that I needed to go try to find me a spot for my tent at the shelter, and she and Tim told me of a great stealth spot just on the other side of the bridge.. the way I’d have to walk back to the camp in the morning for breakfast either way. I graciously thanked them and headed off to snag it before anyone else did.

The spot is perfect. It’s nestled in the woods next to the creek, and just at the fork of the AT and the bridge to get back to Harrison’s camp in the morning. My plan is to pack up, leave my pack sitting at the fork behind a tree, and pick it back up on my way out. What perfection!

I set my tent up, then I went to the waterfall area and washed off in the rock pools just before the water went over the edge. Then changed clothes and hung wet ones to dry. I ate my dinner and prepped my camp for my return. Then, completely unlike me, I got my headlamp and phone and walked back to the hunting camp.

Everyone was sitting around watching the hummingbirds. They are magnificent little creatures. They remind me of fairies. While sitting around and talking, they told me of a side trail by my camp to walk to the big pond to watch the sunset. So that’s where I am now.. sitting on the shore watching the sun go down, basking in its warmth. I’ve had a wonderful last few days, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Tomorrow, I have to be at breakfast by 7am, and then just under 4 miles from here is a where the Appalachian trail crosses the Kennebec River, the only river the AT doesn’t have a bridge to cross and can often be too unsafe to fjord. To remedy this, the AT pays someone to shuttle hikers across the river by canoe, and the canoe has a white blaze on it.. so it’s the official route of the trail. The canoe person doesn’t started until 9am.. so I can take my time eating breakfast before heading that way.

That’s all I have for you today. Hopefully I’ll have some decent service soon. I had none today to attempt to upload yesterday’s blog. I’m getting into more remote areas of Maine, so the daily posting may be a thing of the past for a little while. Lol don’t be too sad 😉 love y’all! Goodnight! I’ll just be over here dreaming about “patriotic pancakes.”