poison ivy
Well-known member
To be honest, I wasn’t much looking forward to this one-night backpacking trip… not because I’d be solo for the first time in ages, but because of the first day’s mileage. I had to hike 16 miles on the first day and just under four miles on the second day so that I would arrive at the Kennebec River before 11 a.m. to catch the ferry. I have to say, however, this was a gorgeous and easy section of the AT-- it was so easy on the feet, I had tons of time to scout for wildflowers along the way.
I started on the trail from East Flagstaff Road at 7:45 a.m., hoping to make quick work of the two tiny uphill sections so I could avoid worrying about going slow for the rest of the day. Probably, the hardest part of the day was the short uphill between East Flagstaff Rd and Long Falls Dam Road -- which isn’t saying much.
Heading up the slope of Roundtop Mountain, I passed 14 south-bound thru-hikers… Fortunately, that made the time pass quickly and I managed to finish one-third of my day’s mileage by 11 a.m., when I arrived at West Carry Pond. It was super breezy there, so I took the opportunity to have a cheese and pita sandwich along the banks, while the wind kept the gazillions of bugs off of me. I was glad for the rest since my feet were already aching a little… but I resisted the temptation to soak them since I was anxious to keep on moving.
I actually wished I had waited for lunch once I arrived at Arnold Point, a gorgeous spit of land in West Carry Pond, surrounded by bushels of sheep laurel and blue flag irises. The AT follows the Arnold Trail, named for Benedict Arnold though part of this section. I guess Arnold led his troops, who were carrying boats, through the area on his march on Quebec (before he switched sides.) The troops arrived so exhausted from the journey, they were in no condition for fighting and were routed. Nowadays, the Arnold Trail is pretty much like a highway… the biggest challenge being the armies of skeeters that assaulted me at every chance, particularly along the series of bog bridges in Arnold Swamp.
After the trip through the swamp, I arrived at East Carry Pond, intending to dunk my feet in the water for a short break. However, I came upon a pretty little beach area and couldn’t resist actually going for a swim. Once I got out of the water, I saw either leeches or the largest tadpoles known to man… glad I didn’t see them before my swim!
The next big challenge of the day was hiking up Bates Ledge… or so I thought. The ascent was barely noticeable... In fact, it wasn’t until I was headed down hill that I realized I had already crossed the saddle! That brought me down to Pierce Pond Lean-to, which has to be one of the most gorgeous settings for a shelter I’ve seen so far on the AT. The lean-to is on the edge of a pond that had peepers and loons calling all night long, it was just a fantastic place to be… and I arrived at 4:30 p.m… which is amazing time for me! There was a stiff breeze, which helped to keep the bugs away, so I decided to try sleeping in the shelter, rather than setting my up tent.
I shared the shelter with two north-bound thru-hikers, Webb and Mountain Dewd and we were treated to an early Fourth of July fireworks display before we headed to sleep.
SUNDAY: I slept like the dead, not waking up once until 4 a.m. I slept on and off for another two hours, occasionally swatting the skeeters out of my ears. I had my oatmeal and hot cocoa on the shores of Pierce Pond and got ready to go by 7 a.m. as Webb and Mountain Dewd were headed off to get their pancake breakfast at Harrison’s camp … for $7 you get 12 “patriotic" pancakes -- with apples, raspberries and blueberries in them. You have to reserve a spot at breakfast, a tenth of a mile from the shelter, the night before and I was far too lazy to go over there. Unfortunately, all I could think about was those stupid pancakes on Sunday morning… and I don’t even like pancakes all that much. However, it was better I got moving early… with a later start I would have been worried about making the ferry in time.
The trail immediately took me over a dam and I scared something big into the woods -- I’m thinking it was a moose, but I didn’t see it, unfortunately. I kept an eye out as the trail follows Pierce Pond Stream for quite a ways but never saw any other big wildlife. Pierce Pond Stream is filled with gorgeous waterfalls, so I ended up taking a few side trails to visit the tops and bases of a few of them.
The scariest part of the day was crossing Otter Pond Stream, which is listed as a ford on my map. However, there were three logs planted across the stream -- maybe eight feet off the ground to cross on. It was just high enough to be a little scary and it would have hurt if I fell off them. Fortunately, I crossed without any problems.
Webb and Mountain Dewd passed me just as I reached the Kennebec River, which is certainly wide but the current was very mellow today. A canoe ferry runs across the river between the hours of 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and even has a white blaze inside to encourage hikers to use the ferry instead of trying to ford the river. Swimming or fording can be dangerous because a dam releases water every once in a while and the water levels can rise dramatically.
We watched as Dean, our ferry man, paddled across the river. He handed us a release to sign and it was a quick paddle across the river and a nice flat walk to Route 201 in Caratunk for the end of this trip’s AT miles at 9:30 a.m.
Pictures from the trip are here
- Ivy
I started on the trail from East Flagstaff Road at 7:45 a.m., hoping to make quick work of the two tiny uphill sections so I could avoid worrying about going slow for the rest of the day. Probably, the hardest part of the day was the short uphill between East Flagstaff Rd and Long Falls Dam Road -- which isn’t saying much.
Heading up the slope of Roundtop Mountain, I passed 14 south-bound thru-hikers… Fortunately, that made the time pass quickly and I managed to finish one-third of my day’s mileage by 11 a.m., when I arrived at West Carry Pond. It was super breezy there, so I took the opportunity to have a cheese and pita sandwich along the banks, while the wind kept the gazillions of bugs off of me. I was glad for the rest since my feet were already aching a little… but I resisted the temptation to soak them since I was anxious to keep on moving.
I actually wished I had waited for lunch once I arrived at Arnold Point, a gorgeous spit of land in West Carry Pond, surrounded by bushels of sheep laurel and blue flag irises. The AT follows the Arnold Trail, named for Benedict Arnold though part of this section. I guess Arnold led his troops, who were carrying boats, through the area on his march on Quebec (before he switched sides.) The troops arrived so exhausted from the journey, they were in no condition for fighting and were routed. Nowadays, the Arnold Trail is pretty much like a highway… the biggest challenge being the armies of skeeters that assaulted me at every chance, particularly along the series of bog bridges in Arnold Swamp.
After the trip through the swamp, I arrived at East Carry Pond, intending to dunk my feet in the water for a short break. However, I came upon a pretty little beach area and couldn’t resist actually going for a swim. Once I got out of the water, I saw either leeches or the largest tadpoles known to man… glad I didn’t see them before my swim!
The next big challenge of the day was hiking up Bates Ledge… or so I thought. The ascent was barely noticeable... In fact, it wasn’t until I was headed down hill that I realized I had already crossed the saddle! That brought me down to Pierce Pond Lean-to, which has to be one of the most gorgeous settings for a shelter I’ve seen so far on the AT. The lean-to is on the edge of a pond that had peepers and loons calling all night long, it was just a fantastic place to be… and I arrived at 4:30 p.m… which is amazing time for me! There was a stiff breeze, which helped to keep the bugs away, so I decided to try sleeping in the shelter, rather than setting my up tent.
I shared the shelter with two north-bound thru-hikers, Webb and Mountain Dewd and we were treated to an early Fourth of July fireworks display before we headed to sleep.
SUNDAY: I slept like the dead, not waking up once until 4 a.m. I slept on and off for another two hours, occasionally swatting the skeeters out of my ears. I had my oatmeal and hot cocoa on the shores of Pierce Pond and got ready to go by 7 a.m. as Webb and Mountain Dewd were headed off to get their pancake breakfast at Harrison’s camp … for $7 you get 12 “patriotic" pancakes -- with apples, raspberries and blueberries in them. You have to reserve a spot at breakfast, a tenth of a mile from the shelter, the night before and I was far too lazy to go over there. Unfortunately, all I could think about was those stupid pancakes on Sunday morning… and I don’t even like pancakes all that much. However, it was better I got moving early… with a later start I would have been worried about making the ferry in time.
The trail immediately took me over a dam and I scared something big into the woods -- I’m thinking it was a moose, but I didn’t see it, unfortunately. I kept an eye out as the trail follows Pierce Pond Stream for quite a ways but never saw any other big wildlife. Pierce Pond Stream is filled with gorgeous waterfalls, so I ended up taking a few side trails to visit the tops and bases of a few of them.
The scariest part of the day was crossing Otter Pond Stream, which is listed as a ford on my map. However, there were three logs planted across the stream -- maybe eight feet off the ground to cross on. It was just high enough to be a little scary and it would have hurt if I fell off them. Fortunately, I crossed without any problems.
Webb and Mountain Dewd passed me just as I reached the Kennebec River, which is certainly wide but the current was very mellow today. A canoe ferry runs across the river between the hours of 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and even has a white blaze inside to encourage hikers to use the ferry instead of trying to ford the river. Swimming or fording can be dangerous because a dam releases water every once in a while and the water levels can rise dramatically.
We watched as Dean, our ferry man, paddled across the river. He handed us a release to sign and it was a quick paddle across the river and a nice flat walk to Route 201 in Caratunk for the end of this trip’s AT miles at 9:30 a.m.
Pictures from the trip are here
- Ivy
