askus3
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- Sep 8, 2003
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There will be a complete trip report with specific details, time schedules, routes used, special events to note and an accompanying photo album put together in a little more than a month. But for now, I just need to say this was the most beautiful, grueling, demanding, successful and satisfying trip I have been on. It was a series of seven dayhikes stretching from Wednesday, August 17 thru Thursday, August 25 on the AT and two half-day hikes off the AT. We climbed ten 4,000 footers in that central part of Maine stretching from Bigelow south to Saddleback. We also hiked 75 miles of the AT from near Flagstaff Lake thru to near Richardson Lake north of Andover, ME. Furthermore, we ascended an aggregate 33,000 feet of elevation gain during this trek. We saw moose, chipmunks, snakes and deer. We met many northbound thru-hikers, dayhikers, section hikers, loners and groups of up to 9 individuals. We hiked in fog, showers, a few hail pellets, incredibly strong gusts, dusk and bright sunshine. We climbed summits with numerous people at the summit enjoying the view and had summits all for ourselves basking in remoteness and beauty. We swam in remote ponds, canoed over placid lakes. We had two bases with cabins for our group of up to eight participants, but usually a core group of five. We drove over probably some of the worst roads you can go on with a normal car to get to AT access points. But there were no mishaps, we had one individual in our group who climbed #112-#114 of his New England 4,000 footers. Another who now has only the Smokies left to complete his life-time journey on the AT. And we all got away from the daily grind of our more regular mundane lifestyle, sharing a laugh, a kitchen chore, a ride on a car shuttle, a few steps, a hand on how to manipulate a way up a precarious trail, a lunch in the woods, the best way to rock hop over a babbling brook, a group effort finding a route where none was visible. This was truly a great trip. Also, although it was a group hike and a group effort, we all had our own hiking paces. So, what was nice was that I go to the woods for peace and serenity and I was able to spend hours alone hiking along with just my thoughts and solitude listening to chirping birds, dancing squirrels and the breeze at my back. Now, I must get back to work and squeeze time to write-up the specifics before it blurs in with all the many wonderful previous trips. I also must start to plan my White Mountain Trip XVI, 10/16-10/23 and a Utah National Park whirlwind extravaganza 10/4-10/10. So I keep on moving along in anticipation of my next adventure and journey to look forward to.
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