Miles Hiked 1,936.2
Elevation 1,483 feet
Miles Hiked Today 10.8
I flew into Portland, Maine airport on July 4. The weather was overcast, but temperatures were mild. David from Pine Ellis Lodge picked me up and it was about an hour and half to Andover. The Lodge is in an older home and while it could stand some maintenance, it will be okay for my purposes.
The next morning at 9 AM David gave me a ride to the Grafton Notch trailhead and off I went at 10 AM The plan on my first day was to only go six miles on this first day and stop for the night at the Frye Notch Lean-to.
The hiking was pretty easy for three miles and then it got “interesting” as the trail got steeper. At Baldplate west peak, I encountered a vertical granite slab climb. I’ve done these before but they are always unsettling. One missed step and there’s nothing to stop you from falling.
I made it up to the peak without incident. Just a little further, I stopped for lunch. As I pulled things out of my backpack, to my horror I realized that I’d forgotten to get stove fuel at the Lodge. Not good! No way to make dinner.
I called Pine Ellis Lodge and told them what I did. I realized they probably wouldn’t come out just to hand me some fuel, so I reserved a room for the night. I was roughly six miles from the next trailhead. I thought I could make it by 6 PM. So I headed down the trail with that goal in mind.
It was a steep rocky descent and did not go fast. I reached the Frye Notch Lean-to at 4 PM. I clearly would not make it to the trailhead by 6 PM so I called the Lodge again and told them to change the pickup time to 7:30 PM.
My estimated pickup time was optimistic. I made it by 8:30 but they Owl Shuttle was there waiting. I had long ago run out of water and the shuttle driver had some lemonade for me. SWEET!
It was 9 PM when we got to the Lodge. I showered, ate dinner, and was in bed by 10:30 PM. A long day.
