Day 26 - 7/4 - Monson Marathon

Chairback Gap Lean-to (88.5) to Monson, ME (114.7)

The staccato rhythm of the rain woke me up before my alarm. I groaned, knowing I would be breaking down camp in the wet, and pulled my sleeping bag over my face. When my alarm finally woke me up, I put on my rain gear and delayed leaving my tent for as long as I could. Once nothing was left to do but pack up my tent, I went into the rain. My dad and I packed up our tents and went over to the lean-to to divvy up the gear. The lean-to was already crowded with hikers avoiding the weather, so we put our packs just under the roof and stood in the rain as we moved gear around. I took my dad’s lighter pack, with just enough gear to get me through the day, and he took my heavier pack. We set off in opposite directions, my dad for his four-mile trudge down the mountain and me for my Monson Marathon.

The morning mist lifting off the mountains

The wreck of an old plane between Columbus and Barren Mountains

I started with a climb up Columbus Mountain, and the storm clouds were just clearing as I reached the summit. As I descended the mountain, I came across the wreckage of an old airplane.

I stopped for lunch around noon at the top of Barren Mountain. The terrain up to that point was very rugged, with lots of boulders to climb over and plenty of roots, and it struck me just how slow I’d been going. I realized at the morning's pace I wouldn’t get to the road until 9 pm, meaning I’d finish in the dark. I also realized, though, that my pace would be almost completely dependent on the terrain to come and that I didn’t really have much control over that. So, I shortened my lunch break and just kept trekking on.

Views from Barren Mountain, where I had a quick lunch

Into the afternoon, the trail got marginally better, but my body began to ache. A hundred miles of rocky Maine wilderness without a shower or a bed was catching up to me. The morning rain made for very muddy patches, which, combined with a few unavoidably wet river crossings, made for soaked shoes. Eventually, I gave up on walking around the mud and told myself I’d be able to wash my shoes in Monson.

At 8 pm, after exactly 26.2 miles and 12 hours of hiking, I collapsed onto the front of my dad’s rental car. He greeted me with a burger, hotdog, salad, and plate of Mac and Cheese from Shaw’s Hiker Hostel. I ate on the drive to the hostel and had no energy for anything but a warm shower once I arrived. Five days of dirt took a while to scrub off, but crawling into an actual bed with clean clothes was well worth it.