Shaw’s boarding house, Monson, ME, AT NOBO mile 2070.8, Sunday, July 27, 2014 — Three river fords today. It took more time to take off my boots than it actually did to cross the rivers.
Today was mostly non-eventful. I was at the edge of the pond at 0500 a.m. looking for, what has been for me, the elusive moose in situ. So far, no dice. The loons were still at it, though. I got some decent recordings of their serenade that I’ll use for soundscape in the composite video that will follow the conclusion of this hike.
Rain punctuated today’s hike for about the last hour. I didn’t much care. After all, I was headed for a hostel. There I could dry out and get ready for what comes next.
Monson is another down and out trail town. It once was the center of the slate roof industry. One that dried up, the slide has been precipitous.
The trail was rerouted from passing through town to where it is now, by-passing the outskirts of the village. Not sure why this was done. Without doubt, right now it is not doing Monson any favors. The trail passes directly through several towns along the way, so it’s not unusual for it to do so.
I’ll try to learn more tomorrow as I work my way through the items needed for a successful transit of the hundred mile wilderness.
Say, if it’s possible, we intend to be trail angels as we’re driving cross country. I’d picked out Monson as the site, but from this post perhaps there’d be a better spot around this area? We won’t have a great deal of time…not much at all to walk to the trail so we hope to drive pretty close. Any suggestions, most welcome! Incredible that you’re now staring down the last 100 miles!
I’m assuming you want to hand out cold drinks and not cook burgers and the like. Also, be aware that the local businesses think that anything that competes with them is unfair. That said, I would think that ME 27 5 miles E of Stratton might be good. Town is too far to walk there. Grafton Notch is another alternative, but it’s much further west near the NH border.
Thanks…we’ll take a look. May work. Much appreciated.