Sprout Day 135 (Tuesday, August 9th, 2016)

No blog from August 8th but 3 pictures:

Bubbles coming down a rooty trail

Unicycle

View from our room

August 9th:

We took our time getting up and moving, it felt good to lay in a bed and relax.  We got up around 7:00 and packed everything.  We had a lot of food that we had to take out of packaging and figure out a way to stuff everything into our backpacks.  We watched some of the Olympics while we were packing.  Check out was at 11:00 but we were gone a little before 10:00.  We went to the convenience mart and got an early lunch and went to restock on fuel down the road at a hiker store. Rangley is a nice town.  I could see myself being happy in a town like this in Maine.  

After we got the fuel, and made sure we had everything we needed, we started to walk towards the trailhead which was 9 miles away to hitch a ride.  It's crazy how easy it is to get a ride in some of these small towns.  Smudgy had someone pull over for him the same time we had someone pull over for us.  We got in the back of a truck and he went ahead and got a ride from a lady in an SUV.  The family that picked us up were so nice.  It was a mom, dad, and three kids. They had another hiker in the back too.  After they dropped her off at the IGA they headed towards the trail.  They gave us a couple drinks and a cinnamon roll!  They were from New Hampshire and knew what it was like to be a hiker.  Their son told us that they hiked some of the 48 peaks in the Whites that he is working on completing the 48s too!  That's so awesome and I'm kind of jealous.  I would love to hike the 48 peaks one day.  I hope he finishes it and continues to hike.  We had a lot of hiking ahead of us so we thanked them and went on our way.

Our day was basically hiking to Saddleback Mountain then hiking over to the other side.  There was a tent site there and it turned out to be an eight mile day.  It was beautiful going over Saddleback because we were above tree line and had some great views.  I really love being above tree line.  

When we got to the campsite I claimed our spot with my footprint and tentpoles and went to get water.  It was a real chore to get to the water source because it was further than some and it was trickling pretty slow.  I used an empty sawyer bag for a makeshift funnel to fill up the other bags.  When I got back Bubbles already had the tent set up, our mattresses blown up, and was making dinner.  I'm lucky to have her as a hiking partner.  It was a great day and we're happy we're back on the trail. Tomorrow should be a good day too.

Trees on boulders

Rock Ledge

Smudgy climbing up the trail

Eddy Pond

Fragile Alpine Zone

View from Saddleback Mountain

Appalachian Trail marker

Rock Cairns

Bubbles making it to the summit

The Horn Elevation 4041 feet

Sprout on the trail

Day: 135
Miles hiked: 8
Total Miles hiked on the trail: 1115.4
Bears: 0
Bluegill: 2
Butterflies: 8
Chipmunks: 3
Cows: 24
Crawfish: 1
Deer: 20
Donkeys: 2
Grouse:  1
Horses: 15
Hummingbird: 1
Inchworm: 1
Really Big Dog: 1
Mice: 2
Nest of bugs: 2
Newts: 2
Owl: 1
Rabbit: 1
Skunk: 1
Snail: 1
Snake: 2
Squirrels: 11
Toads: 3
Trout: 2
Turkeys: 4
Turtles: 107
Vultures: 6
Woodpecker: 1