Waking up at The Cabin is like being back at Grandma’s house. The smell of Blueberry Pancakes, Sausage, Eggs and the best potatoes ever created. What a heavenly place to be. The hikers were all seated and ready to devour whatever was coming! And we did. The rules is: no leftovers. Everything must be eaten! Kitchen Sink will have nothing to worry about as this group of hikers are hungry!

After breakfast, Honey squared everyone up on how much was owed. Breakfast and dinner costs $20 total, and a bed is another $15. I’m not sure but I’m not thinking Honey is doing this for the money! She sat in her chair and with a calculator in hand, she knew how much we all owed. Then we all left for the trail. What a wonderful experience and opportunity to stay with this woman.

Blue and I headed up Old Blue Mountain. She was a worthy climb and we had a morning cardio session. I’ve decided I’d rather start a bit flatter but the AT doesn’t care what I desire. Blue took off, I tried to keep up and Nails was in the rear. Nails and I talked the best we could between gasps of air. He’s from South Carolina and lives with his wife. They have a 27 yo son who is on his way to being quite the Chef. Sounds like his son does much practicing with Mom and Dad. He comes over, pulls out an assortment of knives and goes to town. Sometimes he even has a torch to glaze and crisp his creations. Now that’s a good son!

Once atop Old Blue, we had some snacks and found a couple of rocks to sit on. The mostly wooded summit of Old Blue Mountain has two rocky clearings, which help provide some views, helped by the very short trees. The best views are to the east, into the valley of Ellis Pond, complete with a satellite transmitting station. It wasn’t the most spectacular peak but it was Old Blue and that was good enough.

After our snacks, Nails took off and we didn’t see him again until late afternoon. He’s a faster hiker but then most people on the trail are. That’s just fine with Blue and I because we are in no big hurry and enjoy stopping and enjoying the view points, and eating blueberries. We are smack dab in blueberry season here in Maine. It’s hard to hike when you are tempted with every step to eat these sweet little morsels of antioxidants. No wonder we are so healthy!

Beni’s Mountains were our next flyovers. The first of Bemis s pretty much lackluster. A sign amid the trees marks the summit, although the sign is somewhat misplaced. A short spur trail 100 feet south finds the actual summit. Both are viewless. We didn’t bother being there were trees hindering any view.

The ups and downs took us to Bemis Second Mountain which was much more spectacular. The Second Peak of Bemis Mountain is partially open with lots of slab rock and alpine coniferous growth. There are several fine views between the trees of the Saddleback Range to the northeast, the Jackson-Tumbledown range to the southeast, and Bemis Mountain and Elephant Mountain to the south. Tangled Lakes were in view and they were huge. As we hiked, we got closer and closer to these lakes.

Blue and I headed towards Route 17 as this was where our packs would be dropped off. We are on Day Three of slackpacking but that will end tonight. I met a group of gals hiking from My. Katahdin to Gorham. They plan to be out for six weeks and we’re having a blast. They are mostly from Massachusetts and New Hampshire and hooked in with a hiking adventure camp from Colorado. They all had Trail Names and were excited about hearing mine. We talked for quite sometime as Blue beat feet to camp.

The final couple of miles were extreme downhill with a muddy uphill. I had a final river crossing which was my nemesis. I had been so careful to keep my shoes clean from the various mud bogs and muddy pits of gunk but now, a river crossing my last mile! I couldn’t find a good solution so in I went, new shoes and all. After the River, was a good 1000’ ascent to camp. It was the typical, rocks, roots and a lot of mud.

I arrived shortly after Blue and Nails. We found our packs waiting at the bench. No one wants to take a pack when they are already caring their own heavy pack. We decided to camp near the road for the night. It was one of the most picturesque places I’ve ever seen. The sunset was out of this world beautiful. I don’t think I’ve seen anything so breathtaking than this.