So, this summer I finally decided to set off on my own and get an appartment. Being my first time living on my own (for the summer, I go to college the rest of the year), and of course being myself, I decided that this summer would be my greatest adventure yet. So far I've been working a crappy job with not so decent pay, and I've spent most of my money on hiking gear and supplies, as well as done a considerable amount of hiking. Now I've always been a fan of the outdoors, growing up in rural Maine it's somewhat mandatory. I had never gotten the chance to go hiking however.
My first hike of the season was a scaling of a local mountain in Acadia National Park (two actually). It was horrible timing on my part, I was just starting to get over the worst cold I've had in years and was thoroughly out of shape, needless to say I barely made it up the 500 foot face (hold the boos for later). And coincidently my second hike of the season was the same mountain but about 2 months later. Having fully recovered from my previous ailment by this time, I and my hiking buddy/sensei/wilderness guru Sean "B" Strothmann (shout out!) scaled the smallish mountain rather quickly, Even having to coax my then girlfriend up the granite face. She's got serious issues with heights.
For hike number three my go big or go home mentality kicked in, I wanted to climb the highest mountain in the state, Mt. Katahdin. So one tuesday afternoon I shot B a text asking if he wanted to climb Katahdin that weekend. Within the next two days we bought the parking pass for baxter state park (only $5 if you're a resident of the state) and when the weekend rolled around we set off for the great north of Maine. After finding our parking spot, we began to ascend the Abol trail. It starts off harmless enough, a wooded trail with a moderate but comfortable rise winding it's way up the mountain. It's not until you reach the point where the slide begins that you realize exactly what you're taking on. From that point on it's a bit more of a challenge, especially having to navigate the loose rocks and dirt that dominate a decent portion of the terrain. There are many large boulders as well, especially once you get close to the top of the slide. You'll find yourself scrambling over and around the larger ones trying to make it to the plateau, but even once you're there it's still a mile to the summit. Luckily at this point the Hike's calmed down a considerable amount.
Number 4 is about to go down, B, his dad, one of his dad's friends and I will be doing a 30 mile hike near Saddleback mountain this weekend, it'll be my first multi-day hike ever, so we'll see how that goes, and I'll update you all when I get back with a new blog
