Baldpate, 263
He's a Maine-iac! Wow! 13 states down, 1 to go. I really liked New Hampshire, and Maine is already similarly beautiful. Right now I'm up on Baldpate, a big rock slab 3800 feet up, looking around at a 360 degree view.
Maine has a lot more to offer than views. How about crazy bouldering adventures, endless rock mazes, and impossibly steep ups and downs? I've gotten all of that over the last couple days. I'd go so far as to say that the last two days have been the hardest two day span of my entire hike!
Two days ago I crossed into Maine via Mount Success (aptly named). Success was really difficult; it took me 3 hours to go 4 miles. Then yesterday I was faced with the "most difficult mile of the AT": Mahoosuc Notch. In the notch, I had to navigate some crazy boulders, tunnels, ledges, everything. My favorite point was when I had to sneak under some branches along a ledge, so I went belly-down with a 20 foot drop just to my left. Or maybe it was when I was trying to fit through a rock crevasse with my pack on, finally gave up after a 10 minute effort, and just carried my pack through. I don't know, but it was super challenging! I ended up getting through the 1 mile notch in an hour and fifteen minutes, which is actually pretty quick.
Southern Maine is certainly no piece of cake, but it is as pretty as any part of the trail I've been on. And it's humbling; no longer am I racing to some endpoint for the day. Instead, I need to simply focus on each mile.
Next up, the infamous Moody Mountain, with its 1500 foot climb in .8 of a mile!
-Scribbles (aka Ted)
10:26 a.m. 10/28/2015
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