I woke early and jogged down the AT towards the river – there was a nice privy on the banks of the Kennebec. I returned to find Greyhound up and packing. I quickly ate my leftovers (saving half of the Cuban sandwich for a snack) and started packing as well. After Greyhound visited the privy, we were both ready to hike out. We set off at 8:30am.
Only two small mountains stood in our way today – neither even came close to 3,000 feet. The dense forest made for surprisingly easy hiking – We summited Pleasant Pond Mountain at 11:30am having hiked seven miles on the day. I wish I knew more about geology, but this mountain looked like it had been worn down in places – I’m thinking glaciers, but really don’t know.
After a quick snack, we pressed on. We made great time on easy grade – Maine is turning out to be a very pretty state!
We briefly took a break at the side trail to Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to and ate some snacks – two miles ahead lay Moxie Bald.
The weather was great – we were ready to push some serious miles. We powered up Moxie Bald, summiting 7:00pm. We slowed to enjoy the summit, eventually pausing to have a quick snack.
We still had high hopes for today. The further we got tonight, the closer we’d be to Monson, ME. Monson is the last town we’ll hit before entering the Hundred Mile Wilderness and then, Katahdin. We wanted tomorrow to be as close to a day off as possible.
We passed the Moxie Bald Mountain Lean-to at 8:30pm, just as the sun was setting. Thankfully, the trail ahead was flat. We made it to the banks of the Piscataquis River at 10:30pm and quickly made camp right on the river bank. I decided against cowboy camping as it looked like it might rain overnight. I quickly cooked and went to sleep.
We both talked about how exciting we were to be reaching Monson tomorrow. Monson was the last town we’d ever stay in on the AT – we had already booked a room at the Lake Shore House. Beyond Monson, there was a hundred miles of nothing. No towns, no hostels, no markets, no resupply options of any kind. We were giving ourselves five days to traverse the Hundred Mile Wilderness – we’d be summiting Katahdin the very next day. And then we’d be done.
How to Hike 2000 Miles 