Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 16 – A quick stop in Rangely
11th August 2023
Poplar Ridge Lean-to (209.9) - Little Swift River Pond Campsite (225.4)
Daily miles: 15.5
Total miles: 231.7
The NOBO girl who was laying next to me, her kit smelt so bad that I couldn’t face towards her. I had to either lie on my back and turn my head or lie on my side with my back to her. Shelters seem fun, and it was nice to be out of the rain because it absolutely hammered down, but I definitely prefer my tent.
Looking out of the shelter
Poplar Ridge lean-to
The two ladies were up and out early, then I packed up quickly because there was a very pressing issue I had to attend to, and the privy was on the trail so I didn’t want to go and come back. I roughly packed all my stuff up and ran to the privy, just in time!
Another fine privy
I set off at 06:45 and the trail was of course saturated. There has been so much rain that the water has nowhere to go because the ground is sodden. I was twisting and turning and hopping from rock to root to try and keep my feet, not dry because that was impossible, but at least not completely soaking. It worked for a while until I stepped into the mud and then I gave up caring and walked straight through the wet bits.
I went up and over Saddleback Junior – a nice bit of rock climbing first thing in the morning! I went very quickly over the top as it was very windy and the clouds were blowing across. Coming down I kind of forgot that it would be the same as going up – reverse rock climbing – so there were quite a few sketchy bits.
Saturated trail after all the rain
Heading up on what looks like a nice day
Climbing up slick wet rock
Lots of steep sections
Top of Saddleback Junior in the clouds
It started to drizzle a bit which was annoying as we had checked the forecast and it was clear and sunny but the reality was we were in the cloud and rain. I put my umbrella up for a while but I knew it would be too windy to use it at the top because it was already windy and we were still in the trees.
Cal caught up to me just before the big climb up to The Horn and just before we got above the tree line. I was moving so slowly. It was difficult because the trail was like a river, even the vertical bits had water cascading down them, making climbing up them quite tricky. I put my waterproof jacket on just as I reached the tree line because it would provide protection from the wind which was really whipping across the exposed alpine zone.
Most of the top is giant slab rock which wasn’t too bad to walk on. I stayed a short while at the top, even though the weather was gross it was quite nice to be up there, and having the jacket on meant it wasn’t cold (I would have been cold without it). Just as I came to the signs for The Horn a NOBO was passing me and I asked her to snap a picture. She did, and then we both ran in opposite directions in a bid to get out of the wind.
Puddles on the top
No views but still beautiful
Nice to know I’m still on the right trail
The cloud was thick
Very windy at the top
Made it to The Horn, using the sign to help keep me upright against the wind
I literally ran across the slab rock and down to the shelter of the trees before ascending again to Saddleback mountain. The conditions were the same up here. Very windy and cloudy and on the way down it started to rain. I ran once again in a desperate attempt to get lower and into a nicer environment.
Visibility was low
Some ladders for assistance, although this one was easier to walk up the rocks
The summit of Saddleback
Still nothing to see, but I like the vibe
The wind was savage
There were some bit slabs of rock to get down and the wet weather made them quite slippy so it was tough going. As soon a I hit the tree line again the sun came out… of course it did!
The descent took what felt like forever, and there were more big slabs of rock. A lot of them felt grippy enough, but there was one where I took a big fall and fell flat of my bum and slid down the rock. My poles scattered to the sides and I then had to climb back up to get one of them and then slide back down.
Then next couple of rock slabs had bars in and one had a ladder. The one I fell down could do with something.
The descent went on and on and on. Muddy and wet most of it but my shoes were soaked long ago so that wasn’t a problem. Some of the bog boards were submerged anyway so it would have been impossible to stay dry.
On the way down
Coming out of the clouds
The sun trying to break through
This is the rock I slid down on my bum
Some helpful rebar
I eventually made it to the shelter which I wasn’t going to stop at because I assumed that I had been so slow that Cal would have eaten there and moved on already. But I saw his hat on his trekking pole and that was a signal to me that he was in the shelter - at least I assumed it was for me as I didn’t know who else it would be for! He said he had only been there 20 minutes because the descent was so treacherous he couldn’t go fast.
This is the shelter famous privy with the two toilets next to each other and the game of Cribbage in the middle. The shelter is also nice because it has plastic in the roof so it’s not as dark as most of them.
The famous privy
With 2 toilets
Cal was fast running out of food and didn’t think he would make it to Andover where we had planned to get to, and also, although I went into Andover in 2018 and stayed at the lovely Human Nature hostel, we had been hearing some bad stuff about Andover. The resupply was very expensive, the Human Nature people were out of town and the other place to stay in town, although convenient, is described on Far Out in the comments as a “squalid flophouse”.
So Cal had come up with some plans. He has been saying ‘we’ when talking about the plans so we haven’t discussed hiking together but it seems we are, for now at least. I’m sure he’ll want to go quicker at some point. And really I’m supposed to be going quicker if I want to do this in 100 days, but this point I’m not sure if it’s possible or not. So the plan we came up with was to go into Rangely today which was 2 miles away, skip Andover and go to Gorham instead, which would be a further 5 days.
We walked the 2 miles to the road (which went super quickly because we were chatting) and we crossed the road to the parking lot to see what was happening there before hitching.
We saw a guy with a backpack getting into a car and asked them if they were going to Rangely. They were and they would give us a ride. A hitch without trying. Perfect!
The hiker was a NOBO and the driver was his uncle who had helped him slack-pack over the last section. They too were going to the grocery store so they dropped us there.
We resupplied. It was agonising as usual. I bought a load of old junk as mormal and a few things I’m not sure about. I’m now carrying 8 sachets of hot chocolate because I have been thinking about it since I saw RJ with his and it’s been colder than I had expected it to be; it was pretty chilly in that shelter last night. The rest of it was the usual rubbish… Twix. Fruit snacks. Cheese. Crisps. Candy.
Resupply in Rangely
We also decided we wanted to get some real food and get a bit of charge in our electronics before leaving town. I was sorting my resupply out, throwing away the packaging and putting stuff into my food bag and a guy came up and said “hey, hiker trash, do you need a ride back to the trail?”. We said we wanted to go into town first to get some food but thank you anyway.
He went into the supermarket and when he came out he said “I’ll take you to town”. So we got our second hitch of the day without hitching. It was only half a mile down the road but that’s too much for non trail miles!
We went to the Red Onion, which was recommended by our hitch, and I had a pizza and we charged our battery packs. Good timing as it poured down while we were in there.
Great pizza
By the time we finished it was 6pm and we needed to get back to the trail. The next camp site was 4.8 miles away so we would try and get to there but happy to camp earlier if there was a flat spot.
We went to hitch and the second car pulled over. They were the nicest couple. They were just up here using their summer cabin and having a drive around, they even invited us to stay with them in Gorham, to take a shower and do laundry, but they were going home to Boston on Tuesday and unfortunately we wouldn’t be there until Wednesday. They were going to give us their number and they were going to come and pick us up and everything. So kind!
So we set off late into the day to try and get to this camp site. We hiked together. I’m sure Cal could have got there a lot earlier but he stuck with me which was nice. Our bags were heavy from resupplying and we were both very full of pizza.
Cloud still hanging over the Saddlebacks
We walked until it got dark and until the point where I fell over a tree root which was the point we decided to put our headlamps on. We still had 1.4 miles to go when we first checked the GPS. I got a spurt on and went, what I thought was, really fast. When I checked again we still had a mile to go.
We were chatting the whole way which was really nice but as soon as it got dark time really seemed to slow down and we both hit a bit of a wall. We talked about people who go fast on trails and how they don’t make any friends. I said that the trail is 50% about the challenge and 50% about the people. Cal said the challenge is what attracted him to the trial in the beginning (he has also hiked the PCT) and the people are what makes him keep coming back.
That really stuck in my head. What is more important to me? Hiking this trail really quickly, for no reasons in particular, or being around a good bunch of people. At the moment I’m not 100% on the answer to that.
Cal took a fall as well so we have both had a tumble today, and we eventually, having seen absolutely no flat spots at all, found the camp spot. It was 8:30pm.
I’m actually quite impressed that I’ve managed a 15.5 mile day, with 2 x 4,000 ft peaks and a town stop with resupply and real food.
Sore wet feet
My feet have been wet all day so they are gross. My shoes have ripped even more so I will need to replace them soon, they also smell like death. They smell so bad that I can’t bear to have them near me. My socks are just as bad.
