The Appalachian Trail is 2,189 miles long and runs through 14 different states. Each year the mileage is a little different, depending on reroutes and changes to the trail. With 281 miles, Maine is the third largest state on the Trail and is described by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (aka the ATC, the main organization supporting the Trail) as being the “most challenging, rugged, and remote state” on the Trail.

When we were in 100 Mile Wilderness people kept saying to us “Oh, you think this is bad? Just wait until you get to southern Maine.” But we just shrugged them off and thought “It can’t reallyyyy be that bad, right? We hike all the time – we’ll be okay.” People who have never hiked at all before do this Trail and they’re fine!

But oh, how little did we realize how tough it would really be. The terrain here actually resembles the Adirondacks- if I didn’t know better, I would guess that we were hiking back at home. However, what is not the same in this case is that we are now hiking these mountains everyday, all day, with 30+ pound packs. In humid 85 degree weather.

WOOF. It is rough. But the toughest climbs always have the best views, and Maine does not disappoint.

The day after we left Monson we hiked to our first big summit on Moxie Bald Mt. We also ran into my dad’s college friend & best man that morning; small world, right?? Thanks for the cookies, Joe!

The great part about being out of the 100 mile wilderness is that there is now a town at least every three days or so. After about two and a half days out on the Trail, we were closing in on our arrival to Caratunk. The tricky thing about this town is that you have to catch the ferry to get to the other side of the Trail, and the ferry only operates from 9am-2pm daily.

We heard a rumor about a man who makes milkshakes and pizza right off the Trail in Caratunk, and the rumors turned out to be true?

We caught the ferry- aka a man in a canoe- and hiked in to the next lean to. As far as I know, this is the only section of the Trail that you can’t walk or ford yourself.

We stopped at the next lean to for the night, and it was by far the most beautiful place we’ve been so far. Pierce Pond was amazing and we were able to enjoy our leftover pizza for dinner while the sun set.

The next morning, we stopped by Harrison’s for the famous 12-pancake all American breakfast. Harrison lives 0.3 miles from the lean to and invites hikers to stop by for raspberry, apple, and blueberry (red, white & blue – get it?) pancakes at promptly 7am any day of the week. We obviously couldn’t pass it up; can you tell food is quickly becoming a priority for us?

Yes- I ate every, single bite…with plenty of maple syrup. The veins in my arms were literally exploding for hours from all the sugar and caffeine?

Between the Bigelows, the Crockers, Sugarloaf, the Saddlebacks, the Bemis range, Moody Mountain, the Baldplate range, and every mountain in between, we’ve had a difficult ten days. I’ve never been this physically challenged or exhausted. But, I’ve also never been so happy 🙂 it also helps that we just keep telling ourselves “This is the hardest it’s going to be…right?”

Sitting on the dock soaking our feet in the lake

And at a beach

Anddd in a stream. We like taking breaks whenever we find water lol.

Mile 200!

Picking wild blueberries

All the tent sites and lean tos are free of charge on the Maine portion of the Trail, and they’re marked and listed on the map. However, you can also “stealth camp” here, which is when you stay in a site you find randomly along the path that other people have stayed at and made into a site before. Sometimes, these sites can be rocky and rooty. Other times, we get really lucky and find a perfect spot like the one above.

We’ve met a lot of really great people and friends in these three short weeks, and we have loved every excruciatingly painful mile of Maine. But! We are officially 14 miles away from State #2 – New Hampshire! We should be there early this weekend after we hike through the Mahoosuc Notch, which is notorious for being the most difficult and slow (but also fun) mile on the whole AT.

Last but not least: we’ve seen plenty of moose tracks and even more moose droppings, and we were starting to lose hope on seeing a real live moose in Maine.

Wait, no.  Wrong moose tracks.

But then we finally got to see one!! She was eating grass in the pond (towards the right of the picture). We were able to watch her for over ten minutes before she walked into the woods.

It’s been fun, Maine- but we’re ready for the next step of the adventure 🙂