Miles: 2,018.0 — A foggy, windy climb over the Bigelows gave way to sunlit, sweeping views — even a faint sighting of Katahdin in the distance. My legs were bare and covered in goosebumps, but I hardly noticed. By day’s end, we set our sights on Harrison’s Pierce Pond Camps, where I’d been told for weeks that a surprise was waiting for me.
I finally got my shit together on this day. I powered through my heavy pack up to the Bigelows. It started out rainy in the morning, but the storm slowly petered out to fog and wind. The summits of the Bigelows was other worldly. Windy and cold but the sun slowly peaked through and it was beautiful. Everything we climbed revealed epic views. We saw the lake that Tom had driven us around down in Stratton below.
Out in the distance Katahdin, or Mama K as many hikers call her, could be seen if you looked closely and had a map to help. I was on it. I was ready to move forward and hike my ass off. The weight of my pack made my feet unsteady and the wind didn’t help. I fell twice. My pants, still at home with my mom because I chose not to take them with me, would have been nice on this day. My legs were plastered with goosebumps. But I hardly noticed. I was too busy paying attention to the beauty around me.
As we moved forward the sun shone even more. We slowly made our way to the lean to and got further than the past three days, but still not quite as far as I wanted to. On the map ahead, I saw Harrison’s Pierce Pond Camps. For the past four weeks I’d been getting random Instagram direct messages from other hikers who knew me telling me, “Go up to Harrison’s when you get to Pierce Pond, he has a surprise for you.” A month ago, I had no idea who or what Harrison was. I found out when I was home in the Whites, our family friends go there every year and they bought us the hiker breakfast for when we got there. It was such a nice surprise.
We decided to aim for Harrison’s the next day, 18 miles ahead. We hadn’t done more than 15 since the Whites. I guess that whole Slackpack Saga had burnt me out on big days. As much as big days made me feel satisfied at the end and as much as it felt good to push myself, I was just happier doing 15 mile days.