It takes us 3 1/2 hours to climb Little Bigelow and reach then descend to the shelter. We are so glad we made the right decision to camp at the notch last night or we would have been walking in the dark, with lots of tricky granite slabs. At least the sun is shining.
We arrive at the road to find a 'trail magic' camp set up by 'Old Fart', 'Walking Home', 'Hydro', and 'Mad Mike' - they do this every year at the same time, same place for 4 days. There are hamburgers, lemonade, chips, cakes, coffee. We stuff ourselves and take an apple for later.
There are two more small climbs followed by a flat path following a series of lakes. We meet a trail volunteer who has been walking the boundary between private property and the public AT land to check for logging incursions. He is carrying a GPS - apparently poaching of public timber by neighbours who are logging their own trees is quite common.
This campsite is memorable - we arrive at the inlet and it is by a road and full of reeds, with no flat land for a tent and a bit of privacy. I leave Digby to collect the water and I go ahead to scout for a site in the forest. I find a reasonable proposition about 200 metres in from the road and about 20 metres off the trail. It is covered in moss and looks like the forest from Lord of the Rings. I start clearing a flat site for us. Digby meanwhile has collected the water, and has followed me along the trail, but misses seeing me 20 m off the trail and continues past. Luckily a bit of movement - me hacking into the forest - catches his eye at the last moment. We wonder how long he would have continued, carrying an extra 4 litres of water before he realised that he was 'alone'. We will never know the answer.
Tonight marks a great milestone - we have completed the 'hardest' 250 miles on the AT in southern Maine, and we breathe a sigh of relief and look forward to the trail getting a bit easier.
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