It's been hot. Some portions of Maine are in the 90's. At least it's a bit cooler in the mountains but not cool enough for my liking. I sweat like mad on the uphill portions of the hike. But the trees do provide some welcome shade. The views have been good here in Maine and the trail tough.
The rocks along the AT in New Hampshire and Maine are mostly metamorphic consisting of schist, gneiss, and phyllite. There is also quite a lot of granite, an igneous rock. Ever so often I come across some pegmatite of museum quality. And great samples of milky quartz can be found everywhere. The schist here is loaded with muscovite, a form of mica which reflects the sunlight and looks like silver glitter in the rocks. The rocks sparkle in the sun as I hike the trail.
Ended the day at Sabbath Day Pond Shelter after hiking a long and tiring 17 miles. I'm tent camping which I like to do in nice weather. This section had an initial hard uphill to Old Blue Mountain where I was rewarded with some outstanding views. I was forced by the black flies to put on my head netting for a while which worked well. The weather has held for these last few days. Not many clouds, just blue skies for a welcome change. I'm at mile 1959.4 of my journey. Tomorrow it's 9.2 miles to the highway, ME 4 and then a 9 mile hitch into the city of Rangeley for a shower, laundry, and something greasy to eat.
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