Today may have been the most dangerous day on the trail to date. I keep thinking that conditions can not get worse than they already have been, but conditions keep getting worse. Wait until you see the pictures of the river we had to ford. You can not imagine how stupid it is to continue on the trail.
It rained very hard all night long. By early morning, the rain decreased to just a drizzle. Zak and Barbara had a friend take their car to the Caribou road just off the AT. However, they moved their car because of the rain. Their friends did not think that the stream by Caribou road was fordable. We had heard that this stream was waist high yesterday. We had heard that the next stream was ankle deep and rising by mid afternoon yesterday. Zak and Barbara offered to give us a ride out. The weather forecast called for more rain and thunderstorms for this afternoon. We did not have enough food to wait more than another day for the weather to break and the streams to go down. We decided it was safest to get out as quickly as possible.
When Barbara, Zak, Loafy, Stripe, and I got to the stream, it was waist high, and not fordable. There were rapids downstream, and a waterfall entering the stream. We decided to trail blaze upstream to look for a better place to cross. There was an AT sign about a half mile back up the trail that we thought might be at an old logging road. We went back up the trail, but could not make any progress down what might have been an old logging road. We then went back toward the stream and found a moose trail we were able to trail blaze until we found a place in the stream that seemed more fordable.
Loafy decided when he saw the stream that it was not worth the risk of crossing. He was going to walk back to Rangley. Cricket was going to see every white blaze regardless of the risk. We left him at the shelter with some extra food so he could wait out the high water. Loafy may have been the only one who made the right decision.
I was tallest so I volunteered to cross the stream with a rope. Stripe and Zak held on to one end. I thought that if I fell, they would be able to prevent me from going down the rapids before where we were crossing. I got most of the way across, but did not think I could make it any further. My feet were slipping. I felt like I would lose my footing at any time.
Zak said that he is heavier and decided to try. He made it across the stream. We tied a rope across the river, which made crossing much easier. We all got across without a problem. Zak took the dog across in his backpack.
Once on the other side, we needed to find either the trail or the logging road that was shown on our maps. We had to walk a while through the woods parallel to the stream before we found the logging road. We had to walk at least 5 miles on the logging road before we met a logging crew who gave us a ride to Zak and Barbara's car.
We met Chris the New Guy at the hostile. He told us about how he had to swim across the stream at Caribou road. He fell while crossing, but was able to swim with his pack to the shore. He thought this was the most dangerous thing he's done on the trail.
After a very long day, we finally made it to Stanton where we are staying tonight. I will continue on the trail when I feel it's safe. I will blue blaze anything I feel is too dangerous. I will yellow blaze when blue blazes are not possible. Maine does not use bridges. All streams need to be forded. This doesn't make much sense. I'm sure they have access to the same money every other state has. What they are doing here is extremely dangerous. It will kill someone.
I have less than 200 miles to go. We are planning on slack packing Bigelow Mountain tomorrow.
I could be on Katahdin in 10 days.
It rained very hard all night long. By early morning, the rain decreased to just a drizzle. Zak and Barbara had a friend take their car to the Caribou road just off the AT. However, they moved their car because of the rain. Their friends did not think that the stream by Caribou road was fordable. We had heard that this stream was waist high yesterday. We had heard that the next stream was ankle deep and rising by mid afternoon yesterday. Zak and Barbara offered to give us a ride out. The weather forecast called for more rain and thunderstorms for this afternoon. We did not have enough food to wait more than another day for the weather to break and the streams to go down. We decided it was safest to get out as quickly as possible.
When Barbara, Zak, Loafy, Stripe, and I got to the stream, it was waist high, and not fordable. There were rapids downstream, and a waterfall entering the stream. We decided to trail blaze upstream to look for a better place to cross. There was an AT sign about a half mile back up the trail that we thought might be at an old logging road. We went back up the trail, but could not make any progress down what might have been an old logging road. We then went back toward the stream and found a moose trail we were able to trail blaze until we found a place in the stream that seemed more fordable.
Loafy decided when he saw the stream that it was not worth the risk of crossing. He was going to walk back to Rangley. Cricket was going to see every white blaze regardless of the risk. We left him at the shelter with some extra food so he could wait out the high water. Loafy may have been the only one who made the right decision.
I was tallest so I volunteered to cross the stream with a rope. Stripe and Zak held on to one end. I thought that if I fell, they would be able to prevent me from going down the rapids before where we were crossing. I got most of the way across, but did not think I could make it any further. My feet were slipping. I felt like I would lose my footing at any time.
Zak said that he is heavier and decided to try. He made it across the stream. We tied a rope across the river, which made crossing much easier. We all got across without a problem. Zak took the dog across in his backpack.
Once on the other side, we needed to find either the trail or the logging road that was shown on our maps. We had to walk a while through the woods parallel to the stream before we found the logging road. We had to walk at least 5 miles on the logging road before we met a logging crew who gave us a ride to Zak and Barbara's car.
We met Chris the New Guy at the hostile. He told us about how he had to swim across the stream at Caribou road. He fell while crossing, but was able to swim with his pack to the shore. He thought this was the most dangerous thing he's done on the trail.
After a very long day, we finally made it to Stanton where we are staying tonight. I will continue on the trail when I feel it's safe. I will blue blaze anything I feel is too dangerous. I will yellow blaze when blue blazes are not possible. Maine does not use bridges. All streams need to be forded. This doesn't make much sense. I'm sure they have access to the same money every other state has. What they are doing here is extremely dangerous. It will kill someone.
I have less than 200 miles to go. We are planning on slack packing Bigelow Mountain tomorrow.
I could be on Katahdin in 10 days.
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