Stratton, ME

About to hit the trail again and trying to get a post in quickly.

Had a beautiful walk out of Caratunk.. took the only required ferry by canoe for the trip - across the Kennebec River. Then the trail followed a nice sized stream/creek with rapids and falls all along the way. Then I stopped for lunch at a shelter right on the shore of a beautiful pond - Pierce Pond (they seem to want to call lakes "ponds" up here and I swear I don't know what the difference is between a stream, brook, creek or whatever else they call varying flows of water! ;). Nice weather too. Made for a great first half of the day.. then the trail started hitting more mud, standing water, slippery roots and rocks.. so when I finally rolled into the shelter, I was happy to be there. This too was next to a pond - West Carry Pond - so I went for a quick dip to clean off and cool down a bit even if the weather had cooled off during the day as the clouds rolled in.. and just as I was beginning to cook dinner for the night the sky began to open up. Glad I got there when I did.

Much more to tell, but I gotta split. In short, really tough climbs and descents in some cold rain that bordered closer to rock climbing than hiking at points.. so a couple nights later I decided to head into this hostel in Stratton with a friend from the trail. Unfortunately he found out that his wife had been in a car accident so he's had to leave the trail to help her out.. hopefully we'll see him again at some point later. But anyway, a couple of other friends caught up with me here and we all enjoyed a BBQ together last night. But I'm taking off now. Rangeley in 2-3 days where I'm planning on a rest ("zero" mileage) day - some tough climbs to get there!

The Whites of NH are quickly approaching! Alot of tough days, but supposed to be one of the prettiest parts of the trail.

Hope everyone's well!