Surprise! After hiking a 5 mile loop of the AT today, we are still in Monson, ME! There were so many pieces to this decision it is hard to get them down in any logical form (but then again, reading my past blogs - that isn't really my style anyways)
The Appalachian Trail is over 2,200 miles long. That is a lot of walking! It also costs a lot of money, of which we are running [only slightly] low on. From the very beginning we said when we stop having fun it is time to change something. Well, we found the 100 Mile Wilderness "not fun." We spent the majority of 10 days staring at our feet (in fact, one day Evan was so focused on his feet he hit a tree branch... head first - talk about a bruised ego). Some times we would loose the trail completely because we were so focused on getting through a pile of muck & mud. After talking to other hikers, both northbound & past thru-hikers, it sounds like the next 150 miles of Maine is a lot of the same...
Last night (Thursday) was open mic night at the local pub, it was our last night in town so we headed down for some grub and to enjoy Monson's social scene. (Monson is a town of 600 people in northern Maine). We were amazed! They have a host band, that also happens to be the same band that will be playing for the Contra Dance tomorrow night (Saturday). They were awesome and so much fun to chat with afterwards. Many of the tunes they played were tunes from my childhood and were great dance tunes, so yes we got up and danced in the very tiny open space at the front of the bar. It made us both yearn for more music and dance in our lives, but we had to get moving on the trail again.
So, this morning we got up, packed up our bags and headed out to the trail. We got out of the shuttle car, put our packs on our back and Poet (one of the owners at Shaw's Hiker Hostel) says "you guys should totally stay for that Contra dance, maybe I will even go with you." We explained our lack of funds and went on our way, but not before he reminded us that we had 3 miles to think it over, since we would be back close to Monson that soon. And he left. 10 steps onto the trail I realized that I had forgotten my knee brace at the hostel. Well now we had to go back anyways..
With everything pointing us back towards the hostel, we started talking and making some serious decisions. I had lost my motivation to hike the whole trail as I was dreading the next 150 miles and really the next 200 miles after that. [New Hampshire & the White Mountains were a tough area - shelters were far between and costly to stay at. And the larger northbound bubble would also be fighting for the same spaces. It was going to be a busy & expensive stretch to hike.] From the very beginning we wanted to enjoy our time in the woods. We aren't oppose to tough days or tough sections, but why dread hiking 350 miles that no one ever said you had to hike! We ARE staying out on the trail, just modifying our trip to keep on enjoying our little vacation.
We do hope to someday come back to Southern Maine & New Hampshire -maybe in the fall, when things are dryer and the leaves are turning. But, for now Evan and I are going to skip them. It will save us a great deal of money (at least 4 weeks of food, plus lodging costs, plus town costs add up), allow us to skip a lot of the crowds, and skip the rest of the ill-maintained Maine trails. We are staying in Monson until Sunday so that we can attend the Contra dance, enjoy the non-hiking parts of ourselves before catching a bus from Bangor, ME to Hanover, NH. From Hanover, we will re-start our southbound hike with a little more flexibility and love for what we are out here to do.
Remember to always "Hike Your Own Hike!"
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