Appalachian Trail Adventure Day 7 (6/23/21)

Caribou Valley Road to Redington Stream Tent Site
15.8 Miles


Last night was a cold night even though I spent it in the hostel. The windows were open and it got quite cold in the room. Eventually it got so bad that I went to an unused bunk and grabbed the blanket off of it to use as an extra blanket. In retrospect, I should have just closed the windows, but I wasn’t sure if everyone else wanted them open.


In the morning, I had breakfast with Weebles, Salt Lick, and Gazelle. The four of us, along with Mack and Bear, were to be part of the first trail drop off at 7:30. Unfortunately, though, Bear was all the way to the trailhead when he realized that he forgot his water bottles, so he had to go back to the hostel and take the 9:30 shuttle instead.


Shortly after I got on trail, I saw Juggernaut and her brother again. Remember that like me, they had done a northbound slackpack yesterday, so now they were resuming their trip south. Juggernaut had one of those embarrassing situations where she started talking to me as I approached, thinking that I was her brother, and then had to apologize afterwards.


The climb up to the Sugarloaf ridge was hard and steep. I saw sweating even though the temperatures were under 50 degrees. Thankfully I finally made it up, and as I started to head over towards Spaulding, the next four-thousand footer, I met a northbounder named Punisher. He had a pretty impressive story. He and his friend had started hiking in Key West, taken a few trails to connect to the AT, and after they reach Katahdin, they are going to travel to the Continental Divide Trail and start hiking that.




Not long after meeting Punisher, I met his friend Bop It, and I had to ask about her trail name. She explained that she used to be an elementary school teacher, and so she trained for the AT on playground equipment. One day on trail, she was swatting at bugs, and she exclaimed, “I should have trained on Bop It.” The name stuck. She also asked me to say hi to Eric at Rattle River Hostel for her, so I have to remember to do that when I get there.


After climbing Spaulding, I met two day hikers on the way down. Like I had done years ago, they were working on climbing the New England 67, the list of all the four-thousand footers in New England. They only had three more peaks to go after Spaulding, and those were the Crockers and Redington. Never one to mince words, I gave them my honest opinion that the Crockers aren’t bad, but Redington is a pain because it is a bushwhack.


I had lunch at Spaulding Mountain Lean To. It’s a special place for me, because I did my first ever true backpacking trip there while I was training for The Long Trail. That seems so long ago now.




Just after Spaulding, I hiked over Lone Mountain. I did check, but I didn’t find Bilbo or Smaug there.


I descended Sugarloaf Ridge for a while, and at the bottom I crossed a stream. It was a bit of an eerie place, because there was an old wrecked boat there. The crossing was hard, but thankfully I made it without falling in.




My plan was to end the day at Poplar Ridge Shelter, but some idiot had left a plastic trash bag hanging from the shelter, so I had to move on to the next place, lest I get animal visits in the night.


The next place turned out to be an old tent site called Redington Stream. I am in an awkward place, as I am half a day behind Honeydew and his group, and half a day ahead of Bear and the rest of the bubble. Tomorrow I hope to make it over the Saddlebacks and into the Hiker Hut.


As always, remember that you can’t take flight until you spread your wings.


And here are today’s flowers. The second one has been everywhere so far!




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