Day 133 – Third Mountain trail to East Chairback Pond

I am back on the trail after roughly three weeks recuperating from my two broken ribs.

I drove to the campground near the north end of the AT, and left my car there.  Sheldon, a shuttle driver, met me there and drove me back to the trailhead where I had exited before. It was over an hour drive, much of it on rough gravel. Luckily Sheldon was more talkative than the driver I’d had coming out. He explained  that seeing bears in the woods  is very rare. He’s my age and has lived in rural Maine his whole life and he has only seen a bear in the woods twice. Turkey, on the other hand, are a dime a dozen.

I got to the trailhead around 1 and had a double falafel lunch, then climbed the blue blaze up to the AT. It was wet and misty out but luckily the rain had stopped while we drove there. I moved slowly and cautiously because of the risk of falling and how much more painful that would be now. I managed to fall only once the whole afternoon, backwards into my backpack so no harm done.

I met a few NOBOs. Vermont kept passing me and is now in his tent twenty feet from mine. He’s twenty something. War Hammer was heading to a shelter 14 miles ahead. That was at 3pm! Trillian and Fresh, who may be a couple, are the ones who told me about the campsite we are at. I got here first so I think they may have had to do with some rough tentsites.

I had low energy, and with all the effort of staying upright my progress barely topped one mile an hour. War Hammer and I comiserated on how we’ve slowed down in the last few weeks. I’ve gone from 2.5 to 1.2 mph and he has gone down to what I started at!

The campsite is unofficial, beside a small lake that doesn’t have good water access. I set up camp around 5:30, got a rope up a tree, and ate leftover salads from our visit to The Dream in High Park a few days ago.

One change to my kit is that I have no stove. So I’ll either cold soak dehydrated dinners, or eat wraps for dinner. One less thing to weigh me down.

In spite of only hiking from 1 to 5 I feel pooped so will go to bed before 8. It’s great to be back on trail. I just hope I find more stamina tomorrow. Driving 12 hours yesterday probably didn’t help.

Mile 2106.2 to mile 2112.1 = 5.9 miles