Day 33 - 7/11 - Speak Any French?

Caribou Valley Road (196.7) to Spaulding Mountain Lean-to (201.9)

The impassable Carrabassett River

This morning, I packed up, had breakfast, and said goodbye to the Maine Roadhouse. I got dropped off at Caribou Valley Road and made it all of a half mile before I reached the Carrabassett River. The river was very swollen from the recent rain, and the wood planks I’d been told could be used to walk across weren’t visible under the roaring water. I took one step into the river, almost fell over, and just had to concede that I wasn’t going to be able to cross. I got lucky though, because there was a summer camp group from Quebec that also couldn’t cross the river. Most of the campers spoke French, but the counselors spoke English, and they offered me a ride around the river.

Warm soup!

They also gave me warm soup as we waited about three hours for their van. The ride out of Caribou Valley Road was quite an experience, going over an almost washed-out dirt road while the campers sang American pop hits in broken English. I couldn’t help from smiling, because it was just about the last place I’d imagined being when I woke up that morning. We got dropped off at the base of Sugarloaf, which is a ski mountain. The AT goes about half a mile short of the summit but on the far side of the mountain. So we had to walk straight up the ski slopes, which didn’t really have any defined trail other than streams. It had been raining for most of the morning, and I was already pretty soaked, so I just walked in the streams.

After a grueling two-hour climb, I finally made it to the summit and headed down to rejoin the AT. The descent from Sugarloaf was very slow going, so when I got to a lean-to at 4 pm, I called it quits for the day. Today was just an overall tough day, especially because I only got 5 trail miles for my efforts. But it’s also a reminder of the unique experiences that make it all worth it.

There is a popular saying on the AT that “the trail will provide.” The general idea is that if you show up each day and put one foot in front of you, whatever issues you run into will sort themselves out. While this is a great approach to life in general, it seems particularly true on the AT because of the widespread culture of generosity.