2021 Appalachian Trail Thru-hike

Jul

2021

Day 99

It is 5:30pm and we are about to get into our tent for the night at Katahdin Stream Campground in Baxter State Park after having navigated through all the red tape required for getting our permit for summiting tomorrow. We hope to be on trail by 5am and on top of Katahdin by no later than 11am and back in time for a 5pm shuttle back to Millinocket where we left the car. That’s the plan, hope it works… ~Further

Jul

2021

Day 96

Rainbow Springs Campsite to Abol Bridge 11.1 miles Our last day in The 100 Mile Wilderness was another great day with possibly the best weather we have had our entire trip. The hiking was easier (by Maine standards anyway) and we got some awesome views of Katahdin. We got to Abol really early expecting to meet our friends who were planning to pick us up but they were not there and we had no way to reach them because of the lack of cell service. Eventually we got ahold of them using the camp’s satellite phone and they eventually showed up and drove us to Moosehead Lake for a couple of days off from the trail. ~Further

Jun

2021

Day 95

Namakhanta West Beach to Rainbow Spring Campsite?? Miles We watched the sunrise from our tent on the beach this morning and had our usual breakfast of oatmeal before heading out for the day. The highlight of today was our first moose sighting since we have been in the 100 Mile Wilderness. The hiking was a little easier but the bugs and the rain made up for that to make it another challenging day in this section. We finished hiking early today and hid in our tent to avoid one last rain shower. ~Further

Jun

2021

Day 93

East Branch Lean-to to Antlers Campsite 16.1 miles Another awesome day in the wilderness. Got up early and hit the trail by 6am with our earliest start yet. The bug nets got alot of use today except for about an hour when it poured rain in the middle of the day. When we reached the road where our car was parked we were treated to our first trail magic in Maine with cold beer, sodas and ice cream. After resupplying at our car we hiked a little further to Antlers Campsite which is easily the nicest place we have camped this entire trip. ~Further We met a hiker headed south, a SOBO, today with trail name “Greg in Wild”. He was the first PCT thru hiker that Cheryl Strayed met during her PCT hike that she wrote about in her book “Wild”. He has since also hiked the CDT and is now going for the triple crown with this AT hike - Yonder

Jun

2021

Day 92

Pretty good day in the wilderness with great views, cool weather and our best tent site so far where we were able to watch the sunset from bed. One bad thing though is that we are almost completely out of food and I spilled most of our dinner into the mud when a big gust of wind came through. Tomorrow we will resupply in the afternoon but will be really hungry by the time we do. Newhall Leanto to East-Branch Lean-To 10.8 miles ~Further

Jun

2021

Day 91

Another tough day in Maine but bit easier than yesterday. It has been fun meeting all the new SOBO thru hikers who are just starting out as this is the time of year most of the southbounders usually start. Today’s highlights include a river crossing, a steep rock scramble and getting our tent setup just in time for the rain (we weren’t so lucky last night though). Lowlights include the bugs that have finally found us on this trip. We have carried bug head nets for almost a 1000 miles and today was the first time we actually needed them. West Chairback Gap Pond to Carl Newhall Lean-To 12.6 miles ~Further

Jun

2021

Day 91

After hiking almost 1000 miles since day one of this trip we were starting to feel pretty good about our abilities. Maine now has us questioning everything as it has continued to kick our asses a second day in a row. Today started out with one of the steeper climbs of the trip but what really did us in was the second part of the day descending miles of steep rock and root covered terrain. We had to move so slowly over this stuff that we didn’t get into the campsite until after dark. There were many times in Virginia that we were able to hike at a three mile per hour pace but here in Maine we are crawling at about one mile per hour. Wilson Valley Lean-To to West Chairback Pond 13.9 miles

Jun

2021

Day 89

Yesterday we were shuttled to Shaw’s Hiker Hostel from the middle of the 100 Mile Wilderness where we were able to leave our car parked by the trail on a logging road. Because we were able to leave our car there we only have to carry about 5 or 6 days of food despite the warning sign that is posted at the start of the wilderness. Today we were finally back on trail after 5 days off and it was awesome. The trail in Maine is absolutely beautiful and I can tell already that this is going to be our favorite section. It is also much harder hiking than we have been doing lately but it is so much more worth it than some of the tougher parts of down south that were usually just annoying. That said, I did have my first fall of the trip today as my welcome to Maine. ~Further

Jun

2021

Day 81

Whiskey Hollow Shelter to Sam Moore Shelter 15.4 miles For the second day in a row we hiked through what felt like a jungle. All those hikers we laughed at early on in the hike who were carrying machetes would be laughing at us now (except that none of them likely made it this far). Things got more interesting once we entered the “roller coaster” which is a series of ups and downs for approximately 14 miles. These climbs and descents are not too bad on their own but one after another they add up and we were both exhausted by the end of the day. ~Further

Jun

2021

Day 77

VA 56 to Maupin Field Shelter 9 miles Left car at Rockfish Gap and shuttled back to where we left off by Mithril The Guide. Decided to tent near a shelter specifically because it had a bear pole since most our rope got stuck in a tree the last time we hung our bear bag. Most of the day was spent hiking through fog but it finally cleared up at the end of the day.