Day 100: Abol Bridge 50 years later

• Abol Bridge (2183.9) to Katahdin Stream Campground (219.3)
• 1014 feet rise, 522 feet decrease

I like the symmetry of my return from Abol Bridge on day 100 on my 50th anniversary walk. It is cold and rainy this morning, as it was on November 11, 1975. We are still curled up in the blankets of the Apalaches Trail shelter. The room is clean and everything is perfectly combined in a minimalist way. The building is old, perhaps since the beginning of 1900, but restored and equipped as an ultralight hiker. Everything you need and nothing that doesn’t. I couldn’t decide if the room was decorated with courage, I needed it.

Finally, he decided that the courage was included, threw the covers and divered for my fan. My watch confirmed what I felt, I had packed in an excellent night of sleep and was ready to start. The memory of being standing on the Abol bridge is burned in my mind. Today we will drive there and see if reality and memory are relatives.

Loan pants

I realized that what I put today would be wet for the rise tomorrow. He had a spare shirt of the rebound box but without spare pants.

I secured the permission to borrow loan clothes for a couple of days. It seemed quite simple, until I arrived in the loan closet. There were many tops, but few funds and none in my size.

The pants I finished were very pleasant compression stockings in a small size. I have never used a bit and get this was a task. On the positive side, with each step they boosted me forward like a Honda shot.

I asked the historian how they looked and he said sincerely: «They look good, well, not as an old fat lady in socks.»

Man knows the way to my heart. Such complement! I turned like a urogalo that shows my feathers. He even took some photos to show me that his evaluation was precise. I could add that we are supporters of body positivity, so we could laugh so hard in the Not to use joke.

I cannot say so much for my hairstyle or how carefully my backpack is, but my butt was well packed in those socks.

I would discover it later, after being wet by rain and sweat, what was the real challenge with these stockings. Throughout the trip, I had used pants with a Go fly that allows you to relieve you without removing your package or pants to spoil me. When nature called, these were like eliminating and replacing the contraction wrap.

ABOL BRIDGE

Spring loaded, was stunned with emotion. The historian was bleak and was sore by his back, which seemed to get worse as the days passed. I was worried about his back, but he assured me that it would be fine. He would rest and register for the climb tomorrow. He had doubts, but he insisted that he was fine, that he wanted him to walk through this segment.

He had some concern to make 9.5 miles timely, especially because we didn’t have the first beginning this morning. My desire to link my memory of the past with today was stronger than my concern about the possibilities. We drove to the 100 -mile desert exit point and then return to where the Trail of the Apalaches re -enters the forest. I had a memory of a sign, but we couldn’t find it. My best assumption is that it moved from near the road along the path at a short distance and replaced by the current kiosk.

The bridge was also confusing. He ABOL BRIDGE It was originally built in the 1950s and opened to the public in 1972. It was clearly in its place in 1975. I remembered that they crossed a really large river just towards the end of the walk, but when looking at the Penobscot river under the Abol bridge, it should not have been here. The reason why he is so caught in my mind is that Rich and I remove our boots to cross the water we had to cross and when we reached the other side, my feet hurt so much for the blisters that I walked at a distance in my feet of sock, thinking that I was in the end and it didn’t matter. I will have to let that memory be independent, I cannot connect it to the current geography.

After following the driving road for a distance, the AT cuts a dirt road of low traffic that soon comes out and becomes a path. There is a catwalk on a stream that flows from the main river. That’s where I found a small Boxter State Park sign.

How to enter the park

I emphasized magnificently trying to discover exactly how to enter the Baxter State Park and get a hiking permit to ascend to Katahdin. No place I found put it clearly, so I will try to do it here. This is not an official explanation, of course, but maybe he can help while think of his Baxter walk. Once I saw the kiosk, everything was clear.

The confusing part is that you collect your 9.4 mile registration form before reaching the Birches camp. The solution is a two -step process with 9.4 miles to walk between. .

Hike

1. I arrive on foot from the 100 mile desert to the kiosk with the registration forms.
2. Register on the hiking list in Kiosk.
   1. If there are less than 12 people for that day ahead, you can enter the park with reasonable security, you will have a place. A faster hiker can pass it and take its place, but in general, everyone can count up to 12, so lucky, nobody would try to run ahead and move it.
   2. If there are more than 12 people on the list for the day, better hang out and camp before the park and arrive early the next morning to reach the tail.
3. Complete the Distance Excrement Registration Form from Baxter State Park. It is in triplicate. You have these 9.4 miles with you to the Birch camp, where you exchange it so that your camping label in the birch and uploads to Katahdin.

Transporting different to the feet

If you enter by car, as we did, a section hiker is automatically considered. I joked that I was doing a Flip-Flop with a 50-year-old flip. The ranger really laughed. But, he was still a section hiker for the purposes of Baxter State Park.

We had camp reservations for Katahdin Stream Campground, adjacent to the Birches hiking camp. Camp reserves included hiking permit. Because we had space for 4 people in our camp reserve, the hostel of the trails of the Apalaches hooked us with a hiker who was in the shelter and had no reservations. He could climb and then come to our camp to spend the night. Otherwise, I would have had to leave the park that night.

Flying 10 miles

The 9.4 miles between Abol Bridge and Katahdin Stream Campground passed, although I really walked 10 miles because he took the Hugh water bypass. I anticipated that it would be humid and careless due to low elevation and wet climate. I was pleasantly surprised if it wasn’t. Elevation changes are small, but not absent. The path amounts to 1017 feet and descends 522. The surface is mostly soft under the feet, but not careless. There were many roots on the path and some rocks, but above all, it was an excellent rolling band.

The insects were great. Between sweat and Picaridine, I felt a bit like a greased pig. My lenders were not permanent saturated, so errors had a field day. My butt and the thighs were full of snacks. I hope they were less active after dusk and in the camp.

Even being celebrated by Bugs, I was happy to make this walk. I loved the forest and the quiet. I didn’t see anyone all the walk. Normally one to feel disturbed by the flat terrain, I delighted with the beauty of the ponds that crossed out of the area.

There is no signaling signal to Katahdin. His name is Baxter Peak on the park signs. I guess it must be a relative with Denali Top. People call it one thing and officials call it something else.

Arriving at the Katahdin Stream camp

I arrived at the Katahdin Stream 5 hours and 17 minutes after starting my walk. The miles of the red line showed 9.4 but my real miles were 10.1 since I took the high water bypass. It took me some time to locate the historian in our camp #8, but I was very happy to see it. He had a well -configured camp and didn’t seem to have too much pain. I was glad for that.

The rain this morning is the same as 1975, but in other ways, it is very different. Last night I slept in a bed on the hostel of the trail of the Apalaches and tonight I will sleep in the luxury of a camping refuge in one of the most difficult to obtain reservations in the world. In 1975, it came from a long journey through the 100 mile desert before there were food supply falls. And, due to our budget, there would be no bed that night. After leaving the Abol bridge, we make further for freeport, I, to the LL Bean store. It was open 24-7 and we could hang out until after 10 pm they had told us that the police could sleep without being bothered in the baseball shelter if it arrived after 10 pm and went out by Dawn. I don’t know if it was true, but our night was not disturbed, although a little less than comfortable.

Tonight, I will sleep comfortably at the shelter with my friend, colleague and 50 -year -old partner. We have walked these 100 days together and I feel prepared tomorrow to assume the last miles of this life event.