July 23rd, 2018, Maine
Poet shuttled us back to the trail head and we got going around 8:45am. It had been raining all night and was still drizzling on and off. He warned us about the local slate which is notoriously slippery. Sure enough, just walking up the rock to get back on trail all of us noticed how slippery it was.
After about two hours I was a little ways in front of the group. There were two river fords along the way. I took my shoes off and crossed in wool socks, which worked surprisingly well. It seems like the wool is less prone to slipping on rocks than either bare feet or my shoes. On the far side I rinsed and wringed out my socks before putting the shoes back on. This got almost all the moisture out and I was on my way again.
I stopped for lunch at he first lean to. There were a couple NOBOs there doing the same thing.
After lunch I continued another 8 miles to the next lean-to, which was our plan for the day. The last few miles were tiring and I’m pretty sure I was slower on each mile than the one before it.
But I did take time to record some of the interesting and beautiful things I came across today.
I reached the lean to around 6:30pm, set up camp, got water, had a light dinner, and climbed into the hammock to preview tomorrow’s hike.
It turns out there is a deep water ford of the Kennebec River after the town of Caratunk. It is apparently a dangerous crossing and some hikers have died attempting it, one as recently as this year. So the MATC established a canoe ferry service that is actually part of the trail. The ferry runs from 9:00-2:00 so you have to manage your arrival time—or you may be waiting until the next day to cross.