Day 180
Start: Little Swift River Pond
End: Saddleback Junior
Miles Hiked: 14.1
Miles on AT: 1986.1
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I awoke this morning refreshed and renewed. The forest was so quiet that I had one of the best sleeps I’d had on trail in a while. I had a great start to the day and the trail was nice and flat. At the next pond, South Pond, I stopped at the top of the side trail leading to the pond, contemplating whether I wanted to walk the few hundred feet to the shore. Out of nowhere, a voice called out to me, “Come on down, it’s nice over here.”
I couldn’t quite see where the voice came from, but as I got closer to the boats resting on the shore, I saw a woman in a bright pink shirt, flitting around her tent, getting her things together. She was maybe in her 60s and, in addition to her shirt, wearing a bright pink skirt and a magenta hat. “Are you a thru hiker? You look like one. Well, if you are, I’ve got some trail magic for you!” She handed me a ziploc full of small items like candy, tea bags, and a bud of weed, and let me take my pick.
I couldn’t turn down trail magic, so, lured in by that treat, I sat and spent a few minutes listening to her story, which turned out to be more inspiring than I could have ever imagined. Her name was Shooting Star and her retirement goal was to hike the AT, but, instead of being a one-season thru hiker, she called herself a MYTH (multi-year thru hiker). Getting this far on the trail had taken 5 years because she not only spent 1 week out of every month on the trail but she also had a neurodegenerative disorder that limited the number of miles she could hike every day. To accommodate her needs, she created custom gear and modified her existing gear. She was a talker and an engaging one at that.
As much as I wanted to continue chatting, the morning was growing old. I took my trail magic tea bag (I was still a little congested from my cold so I figured it was the best choice for me), said my goodbyes and kept moving on. Right before I reached ME Route 4, I ran into another section hiker named Gray Ghost who had two of the coolest hiking sticks I’d seen on trail so far. One of them had an end that looked like it had been carved to represent flames, but it was all natural, no carving involved. Gray Ghost was section and day hiking his way through the AT and was heading SOBO today.
When I finally made it to Route 4, I took a break on a rock and started up another conversation with a young guy who was car camping his way around Maine. He had grown up in Massachusetts and never explored much of Maine, so he was taking this time to explore. He offered me some food since he was going to head back to town today, so I gladly took a package of a certain brand of rice that I had been looking for for a while. I was so social today!
After I crossed Route 4, I started to get a little nervous. I had a big climb coming up and, as usual, I was scared that it would be a tough one. But, the Saddlebacks were supposed to be gorgeous, so I sucked it up and told myself that it would be worth it. And it really was!
The climb turned out to be on the easier side and, when I got above treeline, I was absolutely blown away. It was so extremely beautiful up there, I couldn’t believe it. It took me a while to reach the summit because I was so busy taking pictures along the way. The fall Maine landscape stretched out in all directions and I was pretty sure I could see Canada. At the top of Saddleback Mountain, I sat and enjoyed the day for a good 30 minutes. Once again, it was a warm day and the sun was out, the light clouds passed by silently with minimal wind.
Just as I was getting ready to go, someone came up. Turns out, it was Mace, the hiker I’d met a couple of nights ago. I didn’t recognize him at first because it had been so dark when I’d seen him, and he definitely didn’t recognize me until after I told him my name. Still, we hiked on together, chatting about the trail and our lives, both grateful for the company. As the sun was setting, we reached Saddleback Junior and I decided to cowboy camp since it was probably going to be my last chance to do so. Mace joined in the party, so we each found a place on the rock to avoid damaging the alpine plants.
As I was filtering my water on the summit sign, a little white and gray face popped out of the rock and surprised me. It looked like a weasel! He was very active and flitted from one pile of rocks to another, very curious about his new roommates. Other than his occasional appearances, he didn’t bother us much.
Now that the sun was down, the wind had picked up and seemed to be in no hurry to slow down. It was going to be a coooollld night, but the view of the stars would be worth it. Bundled in my quilt with all of my clothes in my pack on, I stared up at the sky, wondering at the vastness of it all. Here I was, a little dot on top of a mountain while the rest of the universe swirled around me. Crazy. With those thoughts floating through my mind, I drifted off to sleep, feeling lucky to be a little spot on a mountain.
And that’s day 180.
A version of this post originally appeared on TheTrek.co.