I love sleeping in a real bed, with lots of pillows, a comforter and no wake-up call. It is the best thing ever. Blue and I decided to take a Nero backwards. I remember Stealth and Sparks always did that. They would get into town and stay way past checkout time. Then meander back to the trail in the afternoon. I’m taking a page from their playbook! The Germans are all about rest, relaxation and summers off!

Blue and I had to come to terms on our hiking plan. We both jumped the gun and bought airline tickets last month for August 21st. It seemed reasonable to believe we would be on top of Katadrin near my birthday. But in The Whites, we were having a hard time keeping up with our milage goals. These mountains kicked our butts! It seems that most of our hiking partners are in the same boat. We are all so tired, miles and the intense elevation are taking a toll on us. So Blue and I had to jump ahead, bypassing Sugarloaf, Crawfords and Bigelow Mountains. As Blue put it, I’m done with mountains for awhile. My plan is to come back and do this section with my husband George next year. It’s a beautiful area and he can support me by slackpacking or we can hike it together. New England is definitely a place I’d come back to in a heartbeat. This place is beautiful and I can only imagine what it would look like in the Fall.

Now that you are all caught up, Blue and I milled around Rangeley this morning. We had breakfast and dropped off our clothes to be laundered. That was a treat! And ran into Mary Poppins and Peace. Both were staying at a Hostel down the road that is off-grid meaning no power, no cellular and no wi-fi. Hence the reason they were in town. It’s always a surprise when you run into your hiking friends off-trail. Mary Poppins plans to take a Zero and slowdown her miles. She also is pretty darn tired from all our climbing this past month. I’m not sure if or when we’ll see her again, but we will definitely stay in touch. And I’ll make sure everyone knows when she reaches Katadrin.

I found a ride to the trail with TrailerPark. He hiked the AT in 2021 and is now giving back by offering rides to and from the trail. He’s 32 years old and lived in Lake Tahoe for 8 years. He plans to hike the PCT next year but for now, he’s living outside Rangeley and fell in love with this area when he was thru-hiking. So much to do for anyone who thrives in the great outdoors.

We have few miles to do today. Our plan is to get to camp before the rain hits, set-up our tents and rest this afternoon. The trail was fairly flat with lots of muck to get around. We went through a treed area for most of the day and ended up at West Carrey Pond. It’s lovely here but the rain has been teasing us all afternoon. We pulled out our umbrellas, but it only drizzled. By the time we setup camp, it started raining only to stop again. The weather guessers said we would get torrential downpours tonight. So far, they are wrong. A few drizzles and all is well. I’ll let you know when or if it comes. For now, I’m gonna hideout in my cozy little tent and eat some yummy dehydrated Chicken and Dumplings with Vegetables. That’s what I call comfort food! And my hot tea with an assortment of chocolates. No wonder my pack weighs so much!