I said I would be ramping up the miles, and here we are. With yesterday’s easy miles and today’s promise of pizza and a hot tub, I decided to go for it. I mentioned towns and services would be getting closer together, and here we are…Caratunck was just over 18 miles away. Let’s go!

I had been hoping to see Hero again, we had great fun last time we hung out, and what would you know, when I climbed up Moxie Bald Mountain he was having coffee on top! I threw down my pack and hung out for a while and told him my plan of hiking to the Northern Outdoors near Caratunk for dinner and hot tub soak (camping on site), and convinced him to come, even though he did 20 miles yesterday. We had a few climbs between us and town, but most of the terrain looked like cruising. 

On we go!

We chat and laugh….Hero has been living in Alaska but has recently moved back to Alabama where he was from. It was good to have company on trail again. 

We hiked and hiked, taking lunch on one of the mountains….it was a steep climb up and down, but when is it not?

His legs were starting to scream at him and I started getting a blister on my little toe, but town!

It was after 6 when we reached the highway, Northern Outdoors was 2 miles down the road. We stuck out thumbs out as we walked, and went to a small pull out where we stopped and gave the road our biggest smile as we hitched. Finally it worked, a couple that was summering up here from Tennessee picked us up; we were their first hitch hikers. Nice folks.

We got out at our destination…a stand-alone little resort…and got a campsite. First order of business: tents up. Then dinner and drinks. I hadn’t had a pizza on trail yet, so I took the opportunity to get my standard pepperoni and mushroom….so cheesy…it was perfect. After dinner I took a short shower and jumped in the hot tub. It was close to closing time,  but even that little bit of hot immersion was divine.

We went to our tents much later than usual, but it was worth it. I have pizza to pack out tomorrow and we’ll have some breakfast at the restaurant before getting on trail. Tomorrow is the mandatory canoe shuttle across the Kennebec River! A major milestone 🙌.

P.S. Please forgive my spelling and grammar errors, I’m in the woods! And know I don’t catch them all.