Author Archives: atsioneva

I am only human. And I am subject to temptation just like everyone else… I will explain why this is relevant.

Today dawned bright and clear and beautiful, and the elevation line on the map was once again a flat line except for one small bump in the middle. “Surely today”, thought I, “I can get in that long coveted 20 mile day!”

Well, no, not quite. Roots and rocks reappeared on the trail and did slow my progress, but my true undoing was stopping for a break at Potaywadjo Spring Shelter, 7.7 miles in. Spidey was there, along with a group of section hikers who were planning to stop for the night at the White House Landing Hostel, in another 2.8 miles. 

Now, about this hostel… first off, the only way to get to it was via the owner’s motorboat, across a very beautiful body of water – am not sure if it was pond, lake, or river, but it was about a ten minute boat ride. Second, they had half-pound burgers. Third… SHOWER. Fourth, I had managed to step wrong on a root, and my left foot responded by cramping and spasming annoyingly.

I didn’t intend to get off trail until the end of the 100 MW, but I am only human, and I fell to temptation. Spidey would have, too, but he had a tight deadline to catch a flight in a few days.

So… Loved the boat ride, and the burger was the best I have had on the trail, no question. Thick and juicy, cooked just right, with the juices soaking into the bun, and with cheese melting in… And a homemade pumpkin spice whoopie pie. Drooling even now. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous, too, and there were loon calls out over the water. Some of the other hikers set up a camera on a tripod to do multi-shots of the sunset, and I had great fun, and we all had a good laugh, when I ran in front of the camera to make some funny faces for a second. Baltimore Bob and G-man were there as well, I didn’t expect that; good to see them again. 

On the other hand, the mattresses in the bunkroom were very springy, as in – you could feel every spring. It was a bit pricey, and showers were limited to 5 minutes. I managed though. There was no electricity – only at their house through an inverter, and it was $5 to charge a device, but I really needed my phone charged, so I paid. Breakfast was pretty good, but again a bit pricey; I’d thought it was included in the price, but no. Ferrying us back to the trail took a bit; I didn’t start hiking again until 9, and I begrudged the lost 2 hours. It made me grumpy later on.But that belongs more in the next day’s entry.

I covered 10.5 miles today – no, not 20, but not a bad distance for Maine either.

I hike on!

Has it really been 15 years? Time blurs, but can’t erase those memories. Never will. 

This particular day had a miserable, rainy start; shortly after I started hiking, I was drenched to the skin from the first of two thunderstorms that came through. At first I tried to shelter in a thick patch of woods until it passed, but gave up after a few minutes when I realized it wasn’t passing, and hiked on. At least I didn’t have to pack up a wet tent!

With the miserable conditions, I had considerable incentive to hike quickly, and I covered 11.7 miles quickly indeed. Having good path helped, though there were a lot of slick & wet black slate rocks. 

The sun came out about the time I reached Cooper Brook Shelter – originally I had planned to camp there and swim in the lovely cascade-fed swimming hole in front of the shelter, but by the time I got there at 2:30, I’d had my fill of water! 

It had turned into a beautiful afternoon for hiking, and the path was so smooth and easy, I just kept going another couple of miles, until I reached some great camping areas just south of Jo-Mary logging road. This is where I had arranged with Shaws to get a food drop at 10am Monday, but during a rare moment of reception, I was able to reschedule the drop at 6 pm today instead.

Between 4 & 6 pm, I set up camp, hung wet clothes to dry on a clothesline Rebecca Hueske sent me long ago, and cooked dinner on some flat rocks in the river running alongside the path. There was a waterfall cascading in. Idyllic! Other hikers came up and camped, and thru-hikers Orange Crush and his wife Lightfoot actually drove up the road and parked; they were going to slackpack the next day. 

The crucial thing is – they had a 24 case of PBR beer. And me? Thanks to my friends – you know who you are! – my food drop included a lot of chocolate. So, picture 8-10 hikers, deep in the 100 Mile Wilderness of Maine, having a massive beer and chocolate party. It was a unique and truly memorable night.

 In the end, it was a 15.4 mile day, and I still felt like I could have kept going.  But after two or three beers… tired now. It’s a very very windy, and I hope we’re done with rain!

I hike on!

A very unusual section of trail for Maine! I had originally planned for a 10.7 mile day, but the first 6 miles were so easy, they only took 3 hours! I was flying! 

As I was breaking camp In the morning, MittenMan and his daughter Socko from Michigan walked by and stopped to talk. I was delighted to see them – I’d last seen them a few states ago, iirc. We had a nice catching up before they moved on.

The next order of business was fording the west branch of the Pleasant River. I was very nervous about this, for some reason, but it had to be done. As I tied my boots together and hung them around my neck, I felt like one of those nice from “Who Moved My Cheese?”. But I took a pole in each hand and carefully worked my way across. Sigh of relief. Then I realized I had crossed downstream from the actual AT ford and the trail was nowhere in sight. There was no way I was going back over the river! Using the Guthook app and my own sense of direction, I climbed the piney cliff, walked upriver, and descended back to the trail – it helped that I heard voices below as I got close, and they helped guide me in. So that ended well.

Then it was a lovely, gradual, pine needley ascent to the top of Gulf Hagas Mt.  There was a campsite, Sidney Tappan, just on the other side of the mountain, where I stopped for a pit stop. I also planned to get water there, but the spring was just a muddy puddle. I kinda suspected that would happen though, so I was prepared for it – I carried and was careful with enough water. 

West Peak was a steep ascent and harder as a result; Hay Mt. was easier, but not as steep. I was slowing down though, at this point.

And then came Whitecap, the tallest mountain in this range. I was very eager on climbing this mountain, because on the north side lay the first sighting of Katahdin! It was extremely windy up top the open summit of White Cap, and there were a lot of gorgeous views, while the other mountains had all been treed in. It was pure delight to have trekking poles again! They made so much difference!

I stopped for the night at Logan Brook Shelter, 13 miles in, and decided to shelter up instead of tenting – a wise decision, as there was a spot of rain and more on the way. Luckily all campchores were done already, lying in my sleeping bag. Pretty windy out there! 12 miler planned tomorrow. Maybe some swimming if weather cooperates!

I indulged in hot cocoa with coconut rum tonight, mmmm. Still had one tiny bottle of peppermint schnapps left… The day will come! 

I hike on!

The day started early as usual – and with my new hiking ‘pole’, which was not usual. Day 2 with a stick! But, I had a brainstorm while up on one of the mountains where I had cell reception, and contacted Shaw’s, the hostel back in Monson where I stayed. Yes, they had some mismatched poles left in the hiker box, and no, they had no problem dropping them off at Katahdin Ironworks Rd. when they made a scheduled food drop for another hiker at noon. So I picked up an otherwise excellent pair of mismatched trekking poles late in the day, tagged for Ziptie, and right where they were supposed to be! Shaws saved my life!  I still finished out the day with the stick, it was less than a mile to the Pleasant River camping area, and it seemed fitting.

It was a long day – only 9.8 miles, but lots of mountains, as you can tell from the title. I finished the rest of the B-C range; the first mountain, Fourth Mountain, took so long to get down, I began to wonder if it was bottomless!  Mt. Three and a Half, and there really is a mountain named that!, was just a minor bump between Fourth and Third, as you might expect. Third and Columbus Mts. were pretty average, I don’t remember anything much about them, but Chairback Mountain has a mercifully short, but kinda fun, descent down an old rockslide, so some rock scrambling was on tap! Shortly after I finished the rockslide, a lady with a dog came by going south; poor dog! I wonder how it got up some of the huge rock chunks I climbed down.

I camped that night next to a pleasant little stream that fed into the Pleasant River, listening to it was very soothing. I wasn’t the only one – among the other hikers camped were G-man and Baltimore Bob. I would be constantly crossing their paths in days to come.

Oh, yes. On Fourth Mountain, I almost wrecked my knee – slate is very slippery, particularly when wet and my left knee got caught while trying to negotiate a downward climb, while the rest of me slid. Very painful at first, but it wore off quickly. There were three hikers nearby who heard me cry out, one gave me ibuprofen and Aleve, just in case, and another stayed with me until he was sure I was okay. Hikers look out for each other!

I still need to work on bear bag hanging skills, but am getting bettet. I was looking forward to my Shaws Monday food drop, but also enjoying the lessened weight of the pack. It rained last night, but sunny and beautiful today, hope it will continue.

I just noticed my tenses are all messed up, since I am typing this post incorporating notes from days ago. I hope it makes enough sense!

I hike on!

Twas a gray and cloudy day, at the beginning, and it stayed that way. In the 100 mile wilderness, there are a couple mountain ranges, and today I entered the Barren-Chairback Range, climbing Barren Mt. Compared to other ranges, it was not very high, but still, a mountain. Here I was up in the clouds and everything breathed mist, but it never really rained, though I had the rain cover on the pack. Maybe because I had the rain cover on the pack.

At this point, I found another stick to use, making a makeshift pair of hiking poles, and that worked okay for most of the day – well, until one snapped when a backpack accidentally landed on it. Then I was back to a single stick. It still worked tolerably well.

This was one of those fortunately rare long stretch with no water sources; I had to be very careful to conserve water, but even so, I was really thirsty by the end of the day! 

I was lucky enough to find a tiny flowing stream at the end of the day, with an unofficial campsite a couple hundred yards further on. Spidey happened along a bit later and camped as well – he was not feeling well.  Me, I was feeling really hungry, and cooked a double pasta portion tonight.

It threatened to rain later, but I just laughed at it. My waterproof bear bag was already hung, and I was snug and dry in my tent; the ground was soft and pine needley, and I had company. All was well. I turned on early, as the days are getting shorter and it gets dark at 7:30 now. Plus I have to do the rest of the Range tomorrow – 9.8 miles covering several mountains.

I hike on!

The dew fell hard and heavy on my tent! Or maybe it rained, hard to tell. But it made for a late start, 10 am, because I had to – okay, wanted to – wait for my tent to dry. I got a later shuttle; they didn’t mind. 

Today was a 10.4 mile day, but one I know I will never forget. I started the day dry, I ended with soaking wet boots, wet clothes… and no hiking poles. Not a great start to the 100 mile wilderness! You see, there was this river. The Big Wilson River, I think it was. Very slippery rocks at the bottom, and no way to rock hop; it had to be forded. It is not very smart to try to ford a slippery river carrying your hiking poles in one hand and your boots by their laces in the other. 

When the inevitable slip happened, and quickly, it was all splash, boots hit the water, splash, poles hit the water, arm flail, arm flail, try to keep on your feet so the pack doesn’t get soaked… At least that part was successful! Boots being heavy, they sank; poles being light, they floated… away. By the time I flailed back to shore and got the pack off, the poles were gone – I thought they would get hung up on rocks further downstream. No. Saved the sleeping bag from getting wet though. Plenty of frustrated wetness leaking from my eyes though. No poles. Slippery bottom. How could I hope to maintain balance NOW?

Then I noticed the rope strung across the river to give hikers something to hold onto while forcing. Great! I can use that! Except… it is way out of my reach. Too high up for a short person. How can I get a hold of it? 

I can now add “rock skier” to my list of skills. I hung my boots around my neck, strapped on my pack, and climbed on top of the huge rock on the edge of the water that the rope overhung. Using a two-handed grip and my weight on the rope, I skiied down the side of the rock into the water, and painfully began working my way across, hand over hand on the rope while my feet floundered. Eventually made it. 

But it took a long time to get across that river, and I still had a mile to go. About the time I found a stick to serve as a temporary hiking pole, fellow flipflopper Spidey came across the river. He boosted my morale enough, and set a good enough pace, that it didn’t take too long to get to the shelter, but still, it was dusk. Getting onto full night. So I stayed in the shelter, which unusually was full, and rolled a few tortillas for dinner. Also downed a shot of rum, I figured I earned it!

But first I needed to change into dry clothes! In the dark, could not find the privy, so I just changed behind a convenient cluster of foliage. No phone booth, you see…

Not my favoritest day!

I hike on!

Someone changed the password on my account sometimes since the 10th; last date I was able to log in. I can’t fix it until tomorrow, battery at 7%. Apologies if you sent me emails – please respond to me in a comment if you did email since the 10th. I will post again after I get it fixed. Fingers crossed. 

Though I am keeping notes, I will not be updating the blog every day, even if I do have service, like tonight. Trying to conserve battery – but don’t worry, I will catch up on all the days once I can! Things are still happening!

And I hike on!

I am Ziptie. And I smile.

Today I am amazed all over again by an amazing abundance of kindness and chocolate! Doug, NevaP, crkat, teamdaak, and Morning Song… Thank you so much!!! My friends are the very best and keep on giving!

Today was the zeroest of zero days, truly excellent and the break I sorely needed. A lot of resting and reading, a bit of raining, and some resupplying. I think I walked less than a mile, and that was only to get food and pick up packages.

I spent some time plotting out exactly how far I will walk each day between here and Katahdin, so I could pinpoint a good date and time to rendezvous with the Shaw’s employee who will be doing a food drop for me. My backpack cannot hold eight days of food, nor would I want to carry that much weight. Splitting it up into 5 and 3 days worth works better. 

The first 3 days into the 100 MW are the hardest, so I am planning only 10 miles for those days. After that I will increase to 14-15, and finish, with luck, in 8 days or less, sometime a week from Wednesday, I think. Ve vill see!

Very eager for tomorrow… This is it! The last push!

I hike on!

A body at rest will remain at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force.

This body is definitely at rest.

I woke at 5:30 am as usual, but let myself lie around until 6:30. I was not in a major hurry – I had already decided to get off trail at the nearer of the Monson trailheads, only 5.7 miles up, instead of the nearly 9 mile one further on. So I took it easy.

I am staying today and tomorrow at Shaw’s Hostel. Tenting, which is about 1/2 the cost of staying in the bunkrooms, but the ground is soft and grassy, free of rocks and roots, very comfortable. When my shuttle let me out, the first thing he asked was if I wanted a complimentary soda, or a complimentary beer. I picked the beer. 🙂 

There are about thirty other hikers here.I’ve talked about black holes? Monson is the true black hole. Every single northbound hiker stops here, and most of the southbound ones, too. It is a final “catching of the breath” spot before the plunge into the 100 mile wilderness. 

After eating lunch (including blueberry pie – how could I resist?), I walked over to the ATC office in Monson to register my planned date for summitting Katahdin. After giving it some thought, I have decided to try to make an average of 12 miles a day through the 100 MW, meaning 7-8 days. So I set the summit date to September 16, a week from Friday. That gives me a bit of leeway if I am slower than meant. The ATC employee was very knowledgeable, and answered a lot of questions I had. I left with better confidence in my ability to make it up.

I spent a lot of the afternoon just relaxing in the tent with the rainfly off. The mesh walls of the inner tent let in the breeze and kept out the bugs; I napped some and read some. And today is Labor Day, so the hostel owners celebrated in fine traditional fashion – $5 apiece for a barbecue with hot dogs, fresh corn on the cob, potato chips, watermelon, giant chocolate chip cookies, beer, the works! My stomach is very happy. 

From where my tent is, I can hear sounds of happy conversation from around the corner, and through the open window, Han just told Luke to blow up this thing so they can go home. I have a whole southern section to blow up before I can go home. 

I pause.