Post #32. The Maine Thing

Maine is starting to grow on me. I’m beginning to spend a little more time walking and a little less time clambering over boulders. I’m climbing some steep mountains but I’m not spending all day doing so. A couple of hours each day are spent hiking on a moderate grade where I can get into a consistent stride on a mostly dirt trail or a path in the woods.

A few miles of each day is now spent in open hardwood forests, which has been a pleasant change from the dense spruce or boreal forests. Another change is that I’m seeing more lakes and ponds, sometimes up close or off in the distance. The mountain blueberries are a treat that I will hate to see end. Additionally, noticing lots of moose scat reminds me of the exciting possibility of actually seeing one of those big guys!

In this age, there is an app for everything. There are couple of apps that are making this portion of my hike richer. Have you ever been outdoors and heard a bird sing and wished you knew what kind of bird you were hearing? With Cornell’s Merlin Bird ID app, as I record the bird song the app will show me what kind of bird or birds I’m hearing. Pretty cool!

Most of the time I spend hours reaching a mountain summit and am rewarded with a great view, usually of other mountains. But the problem is that I don’t have a clue which mountains I’m seeing. My PeakFinder app will tell me the names of all those mountains. All this information helps to satisfy my curiosity.

I have many thirty second conversations with NOBOs as I step off the trail to allow them to pass, wondering what the odds are of seeing them again since they are moving at a pace that I can’t duplicate.  But sometimes I’ll see them that evening because we choose to stay at the same campsite or I may see them again three days later or a week later because they choose to take a zero day while I continue to hike.

I met Truck Stop while taking a break a few miles before Franconia Notch, where he was getting off to zero. As he passed me again, three days later, I marveled at his pace, how he is as fit as a thoroughbred racehorse and appears to be about my age.

I was a little less envious of him after another encounter with him four days later, when he shared that he had to have his doctor put his hip back into place. When I met him again on the 27th, Truck Stop shared that he had to have his hip put back in place again and his inspiring story of overcoming an accident 18 months ago, damaging his hips, pelvis, vertebrae, and discs. Here he is doing a thru hike after over a year of rehab and painful disc decompression procedures. Now I’m no longer envious of him; I’m in awe. If his hip stays in place, I won’t see Truck Stop again because he will be days ahead of me, but I am blessed by our brief encounters. My prayer is that I would be a blessing to the other hikers I meet, no matter how brief the exchange.

While re-supplying in Rangeley, ME, I check out the visitor information center. A kiosk shows me another trail that I could take, one which will lead me to my backyard: the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. And today’s fun fact: Rangeley, ME is also known to be exactly halfway between the North Pole and the equator.

Until next time, happy trails from western Maine.