July 15, 2010
With a good forecast in site, I took the day off from work. Madison and I had a big day ahead as we hit the trail at 7:30 a.m. I would be doing some redlining today (hitting new trails). Although I had hiked the northern half of the Shelburne Trail before, this would be my first time hiking the southern half.
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Almost immediately we had to cross Wild River. I thought I was going to be able to keep my shoes and socks dry. Nope. First thing in the morning and I had wet feet already.
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I crossed the junction with the Highwater Trail but continued on the Shelburne Trail.
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3.2 miles into the hike, I turned onto the Kenduskeag Trail. I had been here before so my redlining wouln't resume until late in the day.
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Heading up to Shelburne Moriah.
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I stepped out onto a rock for my first view of the day.
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Up a small ladder
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There was a cool undercast.
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The summit of Shelburne Moriah, my 2nd time here.
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My next target was Mount Moriah
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The trail was wet, making this bog bridging as slick as could be.
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Looking back to Shelburne Moriah
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Junction with the Rattle River Trail (Appalachian Trail)
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More slick bog bridging
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I reached the summit of Moriah, my 10th time. I don't know what happened to my sunny day, but it was becoming more and more overcast. I had a nice view looking back to Shelburne Moriah.
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I continued on the Carter-Moriah Trail
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North Carter, my next target, was now in the clouds.
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A zoomed in shot of Pine Mountain.
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While climbing up North Carter, I had a nice view of Imp Mountain. I really need to bushwhack to the summit sometime. It can't be more than .2 miles from the trail, and the open rock on the western face is very inviting.
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The views for the rest of the day were just so so. I didn't bother with many pictures across the ridge since I had done this many times before on much nicer days. Where did that nice forecast go? I tagged North Carter, Middle Carter, and South Carter. I reached Mount Hight and had a view of Carter Dome, my final peak of the day.
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Someone had fun scratching this stickman into the sand on Carter Dome.
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I headed down the Rainbow Trail
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One mile down the trail I came to an open spot.
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From here I could look up the back side of Carter Dome which was in the clouds.
I also had a view of the Wildcat Ridge from the back side.
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Next I went through a beautiful white birch forest.
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I reached the junction with the Wild River.
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I had hiked both ends of this trail before, but never the middle. It was time for some more redlining.
I reentered the Wilderness area.
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Perkins Notch Shelter
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Carter Dome from Perkins Notch Shelter
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I went by No Ketchum Pond but never had a clear view of the pond. Wild River starts as just a stream out of No Ketchum Pond, but with all the other streams in the Wild River Wilderness dumping into it, it turns into a good size river by the time it reaches the Androscoggin in Gilead, Maine.
A little later, Madison cooled off in Wild River.
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I reached the junction with the East Branch Trail. I'll have to return another time to redline that.
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The next 1.5 miles were absolutely awful ~ slippery rocks, giant mud holes, overgrown trail, rotten bog bridging. I was a muddy mess by the time I reached Eagle Link.
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Eagle Link is another trail I still need to hike, but for today I continued on the Wild River Trail.
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From here the trail continued to improve significantly although it was now raining on my 'sunny' day.
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Madison and I had to cross Wild River one more time.
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Junction with the Black Angel Trail
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For the most part, the last 3 miles were flat and smooth.
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I finally reached Wild River Campground, but I wasn't quite done. I then had a .7 mile roadwalk back to my car. Madison and I finished at 8:00 p.m.
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