We're hiking! We summited Mt. Katahdin 3 days ago with our friends Hendrik and Roger. We had gorgeous weather for the 5.3 mile up and down hike that gained 4162 ft in that span. It was fun to see 4 hikers finish their thru there (one couple had champagne). We also meet a mom and dad of a hiker who finished who surprised him when he came off the trail. At the ranger station we found out how heavy our packs were. For the 100 mile wilderness we had 10 days worth of food and fuel. That translated to a 45 lbs pack for Reboot and a 35 lbs pack for ohMEGA. That's heavy, but the vast majority of the weight was food.
After our friends left for home, we began our 13 mile trek to Hurd brook shelter. We stopped by some nice waterfalls in Baxter park before leaving the boundaries. At Abol bridge we meet the section's ridgerunner who helped us shed some weight. Here we also bought hotdogs and sugar water. From there we went 3.3 mi to the shelter.
You might be wondering how it felt to hike up and down the mountain and then go so far with heavy packs? It hurts. We were pretty sore and banged up. OhMEGA's knee was bothering her pretty badly, and we decided instead of pushing on for 97 miles into wilderness, that we would drop off her and supplies, leaving Reboot just enough food to get through the section. The plan was for her to get a ride from Abol Bridge and wait for him in Monson. While hiking back, we decided to try to eat through some of our food reserves for two days, and reassess her knee then. After eating like fat kings and resting up for two days, that is where we are now. We think we should be good to go, and hopefully our packs will be significantly lighter. The only downside to staying at Hurd brook shelter is the number of mosquitos that have depleted our blood supply by 5%. Seriously these suckers are huge and vicious.
We still plan to make it to Monson in 8 days, averaging 12 miles a day with lighter packs. See you on the other side of the 100 mile wild!
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Good luck guys!
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