Happy Sunday! I am in a small town in Tennessee this morning. I stopped here last night as I make my way to Missouri for work this week to help roll out a new client. Flying on an airline is not my thing. After the last crazy flights to and from Oregon, I decided that anything that is 13 hours or less from my house– I am driving! I know I do some crazy stuff on my time off from work that others might be afraid to try so it seems like my having a fear of flying doesn’t make sense. I just don’t like hurling through the air at 500 mph. I prefer to stay on the ground.
I have been to Missouri in the past for a medial conference. I saw the Arch and went to a Cardinals game. I have never explored any natural areas of Missouri and really don’t know if I will have any time to find a trail this week. On Thursday, I am meeting a friend for dinner in Joplin and hope to go to the spot where one can stand in 3 states at once. It’s the one day I won’t be working with the new client, so after I finish work for the day, I’ll head over that way.
We think we have the plans for our hike nailed down as much as one can have anything nailed down for a hike. Things change on trail. The total milage will be 118.6 — this includes summiting Katahdin. How is the 100 mile wilderness right at 110 miles, you ask? The trail is always longer. Ha ha. We assume there have been changes due to storms or other natural changes over the years. When we did the 50 miles, there were reroutes due to Helene damage that caused the milage to be slightly different. The trail changes every year.
I love notebooks and writing. I have started a Maine journal where Marty and I are taking notes and planning the journey. Paper and pen just works for me. We realized after we made the 8th day plan that there’s still another 10 miles to do on day 9 from Abol bridge. If we want to take a zero on day 9 before we summit on Day 10, we will have to add on extra miles a few days. This is just the plan before we hit the trail.
We are on track to do the trail in 9 days. Possibly 8, if we get extra miles in on the days leading up to summiting Katahdin. This gives us the entire 10th day to make it to the summit of Katahdin. Katahdon is no joke. You cannot leave on the hike after 12pm on any day. There are 50-60 rescues on Katahdin every year and since deaths have been tracked from 1933 on, there have been 64 deaths. Most of these death occur on the Knife’s edge – a grueling spur along the top of the mountain. We will be taking the AT (Hunt) trail to the summit. The Knife’s Edge is often closed due to high winds and rain because it is so dangerous when the weather is good!
Day 1: Start: Mile Marker 2083.8 Stop: 2094.2 Wilson Valley Lean To 10.4 mi
Day 2: Stop: 2108.3 West Chair Back Pond 14.1 mi
Day 3: Stop: 2119.9 Carl A Newhall Lean To 11.8 mi
Day 4: Stop: 2130.7 East Branch Lean To 10.8 mi
Day 5: Stop: 2146.7 Antlers Campsite 16 mi
Day 6: Stop: 2157.7 Nahmakanta Lake 11 mi
Day 7: Stop: 2168.4 Rainbow Stream Lean To 10.7 mi
Day 8: Stop 2183.4 Abol Bridge 15 mi
Day 9: Stop: 2193 The Birches Campground 10 mi
Day 10: Summit Katahdin. 8.8 mi
Our freeze dryer came in on Friday. I was just a little sad that I had to head out Saturday for work. LOL Marty did the first bread run last night. It will finish tonight and he will do one more bread run. This cleans out the industrial smell/taste from the machine. We are really excited to start making our own camping meals for Maine! Keto meals are hard to find in the backpacking world and when you do find them, they cost a pretty penny. They run between $13-$17 per meal. Looking back, we probably should have just made our meals for all of our needs last year, but you don’t know what you don’t know. Previous to the section hikes, we were only out a few days, so weight wasn’t a huge issue. We wanted to make sure that we could do these things before making the investment.
We repurposed an old mail desk that we used for homeschooling as the place to set up the freeze dryer. We are using the old classroom, piano and now craft room for this purpose. Honestly, I have not had time to craft between work and all the outdoor adventures. I did make our wedding invitations! I’m actually considering selling the craft supplies. I keep hoping one day I’ll scrapbook all the memories and continue to make cards. I need an extra 3 days a week for that. LOL
We are making. list of things we want to freeze dry. I can’t wait to go pick cherries and strawberries this year and freeze dry them. No more taking up room in my freezer AND we will have great snacks on the trail. Marty wants to freeze dry pickles. I’m not so sure about this one, but I’ll give it a try. We are definitely going to freeze dry meat and some of our favorite keto meals. Currently, we are looking for mylar bags that fit in the insulated food bags I made. Marty thinks he has found the right size– we will see what happens.
In a few weeks, we are going to do the Bald River Falls trail in Tellico plains. This will give us an opportunity to try out some of the things we have freeze dried. We are trying to get a few miles in on the Foothills trail before we go to Maine, as well. This will give us a few opportunities to test out everything before we hit the 100 mile wilderness.
I’ll make it into Springfield this afternoon sometime. Excited to see what the landscape looks like. I should be driving right through the Mark Twain National Forest. As a college student at LSU back in the day, I did drive up into Arkansas for a few hikes, so I am somewhat familiar with the Ozarks. It will be neat to see them again and hopefully get at least one trail in this week!
My Little Red Bike 