July 17

The lady who runs the motel/hostel gave me and several others a ride at 7:30 to the trailhead.  The next stretch of wilderness that I will do is 37 miles long and comes out at Caratunk, Maine.  Right now I'm at exactly 2001.0 miles of my journey.  I have 188.2 miles to go.  Probably another 14 days more or less.  It all depends on the trail, the weather, my nero and zeros, and lastly when I need to resupply.  I'm ready to finish but I'm not going to push myself.  I want to summit Katahdin under clear blue skies.  So I'm realistically looking at the end of July or the first week of August which is about when I figured I would finish.

I started off today's hike with another north bound thru hiker who goes by Not Yet.  I've hiked with him before.  He's younger and faster than me so he took off on his own after about an hour of hiking together. The hike took me up and over the Bigelow Mountains and Avery Peak.  I crossed paths along the way with several south bound hikers, and bunch of day hikers who always interview me about my journey. The views today were outstanding because the weather was perfect.  I've stopped for the night at mile 2015.5 and am tent camping just 50 yards from the trail by myself and just before Little Bigelow Lean-to or shelter.  In Maine the shelters are referred to as lean-to's. 

July 15 / 16

Left the hostel on the 7 am shuttle for the trailhead.  It rained a bit last night but it's nice now.  It is overcast with a cool breeze and temperature, just right for hiking. 

I've come across more ponds and lakes since entering Maine than I have in the entire southern states.  Most are very picturesque.  It also seems like the forest is thicker and more densely populated with the various pine species than before.  The way the forest smells is fabulous. 

7 / 16   Had a good uneventful night in my tent.  As I hiked this morning I saw more wildflowers now than in the past.  Of course it's warmer and time for them to bloom and reproduce.  It's pretty here, and the weather is nice and cool again.  Today will be a milestone occasion in that I will cross the 2000 mile mark. ✌  My plan is to hike to the highway that goes into Stratton, Maine and do a small resupply and a possible nero day at a hostel there.  My feet and legs could use the rest. 

OK made it to Stratton, Maine.  The weather is beautiful, I hope it lasts.  I'm here at the Stratton Motel and hostel.  I'll bunk here tonight and return to the trail again in the morning so this will be a nero instead of a zero for me. 

July 14

Up early for my 9.2 mile hike to the highway.  It didn't cool off until around 10 last night.  I pulled the rainfly half off for more air circulation.  After that I slept well.

So five miles into my hike I hear this rustling off to the side of the trail and turn to look and I thought I saw what looked like a coyote but I wasn't sure.  I walked back down trail a few yards and didn't see anything.  Then as I continued up trail the hair on the back of my head stood up.  Oh My God !!!!!  There not 20 yards in front of me in the middle of the trail is a lynx.  A beautiful mature lynx.  I recognized it immediately having seen plenty of bobcats in the El Paso area and this was no bobcat.  This cat was easily twice as big.  For ten seconds we made eye contact, I didn't move a muscle and neither did the cat.  I'm sure my heart rate doubled.  I slowly reached down for my tablet to snap a picture and before I even touched it the cat disappeared into the woods.  I continued to get my tablet setup for a picture but I never saw the lynx again.  Those ten seconds made my entire trip worthwhile because up to this point I hadn't seen any big game like a bear or moose.  There I was face to face with one of the most elusive animals in nature.  I still get chills just thinking about it.  And I will never forget making eye to eye contact with this beautiful wild animal.

I made it to the highway and almost immediately got a ride into Rangeley, Maine.  I'm staying at the Farmhouse Inn a hiker friendly hostel.  It's full of southbound  thru hikers.  There's only two of us here  that are northbound.  I did my laundry, and showered.  Feeling good and lucky about my big cat encounter.