The 100 Mile Wilderness (99.8 Mile Day Hikers Paradise)

Coors, Strider, and I hiked 9 miles to ME 15 (AT Mile 2076.4) together on the morning of Thursday August 2nd. We had one week until our goal finish day and had made it to Monson, the south end of the 100 mile wilderness. The 100 mile wilderness is known to be the most remote part of the trail - hikers are warned that they should have at least 10 days of food when they enter because there are no stores/towns/public road crossings for the next 100 miles. One last test before summiting Katahdin.


Poet, the owner of Shaw's Hiker Hostel in Monson, arrived at the trail head around 9:30 and we watched 8 NOBO thru hikers get out of the shuttle - it was the Crawford family. I had been hearing about this family basically my entire thru hike - they were a family of 8 - mom, dad, and 6 kids, ages 2 to 17. The youngest was carried in a pack. They were entering the 100 mile wilderness that morning - we would be about a day behind them.

By 10AM we arrived at the hostel, handed a beer, and given a tour of the hostel and gear shop. There was no sign of Bird - we assumed he had come and gone at least a day or two before we got there.  We walked into town, which was just down the street, to the general store for snacks/breakfast, and stopped at the post office so I could pick up a package from Sixlegs. It had more than enough supplies to get me through the next 4 days. The package had not one but two 2.2 lb jars of Nutella. We did laundry, but I decided to do mine alone (rather combine with Coors and Strider). I only had a handful of items to wash, but they came out smelling fresher than they had in several hundred miles.

Shaws has a large gear shop where Coors, Strider, and I watched a SOBO thru hiker get a gear shakedown - he was carrying an 85 liter expedition pack, almost overflowing. He had just completed the first ~115 miles of the trail and had gotten to Monson with over 55 lbs on his back, and that was with an empty food bag. There was an even mix of NOBOs and SOBOs at the hostel and everyone lounged around all afternoon sharing stories about their thru hike. Strider's parents had driven over from Wisconsin and were staying in town - his dad planned on hiking with us for a couple miles the next day before having to turn around and fly home.

I slept in until 6:15AM on Friday August 3rd! Breakfast was served at 7 and Coors and I were the first in the dining room and were served three eggs, bacon, potatoes, and an endless stack of blueberry pancakes. We hung around most of the morning, resupplying and getting organized. I found four holes in my sleeping pad and patched all of them. I was hoping it would at least make it a little more comfortable to sleep on for the next week. I heard that Pappy (the 87 year old who was trying to regain his title of oldest thru hiker) had been in town that same day - he had 'flipped' to Katahdin and was working his way south.

We finally got motivated after lunch to start packing up. I nervously weighed my pack - it had enough food to get me through the next 100 miles (about 4 days) and a liter of water. I was surprised when it only weighed 26 pounds. It was still the heaviest of the three of ours (Coors' weighed in around 25 and Strider's at 24). At around 2:30 Strider's Dad drove us back to the trail. Heavy rains were coming in but we were all ready to get the last 115 miles over with. After about 2 hours of relatively easy trail Strider's dad turned around and we hiked on to Wilson Valley Lean-To (AT mile 2086.8). The first 10.4 miles of the 100 mile wilderness was  pretty flat but full of the usual - roots, rocks, short ups and downs, and a stream crossing. We got to the shelter at around 7:30PM - no rain yet but it looked like it was going to come in over night. We were the only three in the shelter - first time in a very long time we had the entire shelter to ourselves. I noticed that I had developed a really bad rash on my hips and back where my pack touched my skin - I hadn't had issues with chaffing in a very long time so I was confused why I was developing issues now, especially with clean clothes and a relatively light pack.

I woke up throughout the night hearing rain - it was pouring at 4:00 AM. And at 5:00 AM. And at 6:00 AM. We stayed in our sleeping bags until close to 7. By 8:45 it slowed down and we finally left the shelter. We only planned on going 15.6 miles that day so we took it very slow and hiked a lot of the day together. There were only a couple mountains in the 100 mile wilderness and we would climb them all in the first 50 miles (of course the toughness of the climbs was grossly exaggerated by all of the SOBOs we spoke to in Monson).

The tree canopy had kept me from getting drenched most of the day but the chaffing on my hips and back was rubbing against my pack and was very painful. There were a couple of streams to ford - the water levels had risen from the recent continual rain and some of the crossings were a little bit sketchy. I was thankful that we stuck together to cross because one was up to my waist and needed Strider's help to stay upright. I don't know if I would have been able to get across if I were by myself. We took our first break after 4.7 miles at Long Pong Stream Lean-To. There were three SOBOs still in their sleeping bags at 11AM, not wanted to hike in the rain. We told them we were going to the shelter that was another 10 miles away and they looked at us like we were doing the impossible.

Barren Mountain (2,660'), the first hill in the Wilderness, had remnants of a tower at the top. It was very cloudy and hard to distinguish between the different peaks we crossed before starting the steep, rocky, slippery descent. It started pouring on the way down so I was moving very slow - and my knee started hurting a lot, especially on the steep steps up and down over rocks. I was worried that it was going to get worse and last the rest of the trip, which would make climbing Katahdin rather miserable.

We made it to Chairback Gap Lean-to (AT mile 2102.4) after 15.6 miles at around 5:40PM and I took a spot in the shelter. I was still trying to avoid sleeping in my tent, especially in the rain, because of the awful smell. I tried to eat extra food to lighten my food bag - hopefully carrying less weight would reduce the pressure on my hips and back, which were now red and swollen from the rash/chaffing. There was only one hard day left before the trail flattened out for the second half of the 100 mile wilderness. We were supposed to get a couple of days of nice weather, hopefully enough to get us to Baxter State Park.

I noticed a sky full of stars when I woke up in the middle of the night to pee. There was blue sky in the morning and not a cloud in sight. I was slow to get up on Sunday August 5th - I didn't start hiking until close to 7AM. I was moving very slow, my knee was still aching - Coors passed me within the first mile, it probably took me about an hour to hike that mile. There was only 0.5 miles and 200' to the top of Chairback Mountain. Strider caught me on the way down. My hips, back and shoulders were stinging. About four miles in I passed Katahdin Ironworks Road and saw two cars go by. All of the roads in the Wilderness are private but can be used for a fee/toll. Some hikers pay for food drops so they don't have to carry 100 miles worth of food. The Wilderness is not as rugged and remote as you would think. I passed several camp groups and many weekend hikers that were being picked up/dropped off throughout the 100 miles.

We had another ford but the water was only knee deep so we crossed it without any trouble. We hiked together over the next stretch of flat and smooth trail but had about six miles of gradual climbing before Gulf Hagas Mountain - it was hard to distinguish between Hagas, West Peak, and Hay Mountain, they were all wooded summits. We stopped at Carl A. Newhall Lean-to for lunch and met a very talkative SOBO from South Carolina. She was surprised that a 'city girl' like me would be out in the woods! She warned us about how rocky the top of Whitecap Mountain was - she compared it to the rock scramble on Katahdin.

Whitecap Mountain (3,650') was the last mountain before Katahdin. I found Coors and Strider at the view point - we could see Katahdin in the distance under a cloud. We kept waiting for this rock scramble that we had been warned about but it never came. There was a short steep rocky section - thankfully my knee pain went away after one dose of ibuprofen. After the descent down Whitecap the trail was mostly flat, still plenty of rocks and roots. There were half NOBOs and half SOBOs camping at East Branch Lean-to (AT mile 2123.1) - I took a spot in the shelter again. We had hiked 20.7 miles that day and were excited that we only had two days left in the Wilderness and had completed the hardest part.

I mentioned the bad rash on my hips and back to some of the other NOBOs and heard that several other hikers had the same issue coming out of Shaws - we determined that it was the Tide Pods that were used for the laundry. I don't think they are meant to be used on such small loads of clothes and the detergent didn't completely rinse off. It began healing in the following days but left lasting marks.

When I woke up at 4:30AM on Monday August 6th it was still dark - I waited until 5 to get up and was on trail by 5:30. The first 1.5 miles was a climb up to Little Boardman Mountain (2,000') which I didn't really consider a mountain. The trail crossed several well maintained dirt roads and there were long stretches that were smooth and flat. We took a snack break at Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to 8.1 miles in at 8AM. By 10 I had hiked 12 miles and by noon I had gone 18.4. The miles were going by quickly - we planned on doing a big day since the terrain was easy. It was another sunny day and the trail was drying out - my feet actually stayed dry all day! There were a few stream crossings but the water had receded enough to be able to rock hop across.

I started moving slower in the afternoon, my feet were hurting. I heard from southbound hikers that the Crawford family were just ahead - slack packing through the Wilderness thanks to a trail angel named Fresh Ground who met them at road crossings and made them breakfast and dinner. There was a small bubble of NOBOs with them also taking advantage of the trail magic. I was hoping to pass them - I didn't want to hike in a bubble - we were hoping to get spots in the Birches Lean-to. The Birches is a shelter at the base of Katahdin in Baxter State Park that is open to NOBO thru hikers only. It's first come, first served but only 12 hikers are allowed each night. Since we had been hearing that many NOBOs were planning on summiting on the 9th, the same day as us, we were worried that there wouldn't be enough space. I had actually been stressing about the logistics of getting into Baxter State Park and finding a place to camp for the past week.

We got to Wadleigh Stream Lean-to (AT mile 2152.7) by 4:30PM after 29.6 miles - it had been awhile since I had hiked that many miles in a day and my legs and feet were aching. I woke up early the next morning, Tuesday August 7th - excited to get out of the Wilderness. There were less than 25 miles left and I was looking forward to getting to Abol Bridge where there was a camp store and a restaurant. I got up at 4:30AM and was on trail by 5:00 - it was dark enough that I had to use my headlamp for the first 20 minutes. I was moving okay but had hoped for easier trail - I didn't move well over the roots and rocks. I took breaks at both of the shelters I passed, but didn't drink enough water - most of the water sources were ponds or pond outlets which were rather boggy, yellow, and warm. It was not appetizing and I kept passing them up, hoping to come across better looking water. The morning was sunny, but clouds moved in by the afternoon. Strider, Coors, and I all hiked at our own pace and were separated for most of the day. I passed literally dozens of hikers entering the 100 mile wilderness for a weekend hike. The most remote stretch of trail on the AT was actually rather crowded.

At the top of Rainbow Ledges I found Coors taking a break - I hardly paused to check out the view of Katahdin because I needed water badly. Luckily I found a cold stream on the way to Hurdbrook Lean-to, the last shelter in the Wilderness, where I found Strider taking a break. I heard thunder and storm clouds were moving closer and closer. I ate pretty much everything left in my food bag. Coors and Strider took off down the trail, hoping to hike the last three miles in the Wilderness to Abol Bridge before it started pouring. I left shortly after as the rain started - the thunder was right overhead but the rain didn't last long.

When I could see the road I literally ran out of the Wilderness - Fresh Ground was there waiting for the Crawfords with Kool-Aid and Watermelon. It was only about 2PM - we had already hiked about 23 miles and only had about 15 miles of the hike remaining. Coors, Strider, and I walked down the road to Abol Pines for a late lunch and paid a small fee to use the WiFi. I saw on Instagram that Bird had summited Katahdin on August 5th, which meant he had averaged about 28 miles a day over the last week of the trail. We checked the weather and saw that the 9th may be stormy. The weather on the 8th was supposed to be pretty good in the morning. After going over our options for a while we decided that trying to summit the next day (the 8th) was probably a better option. We picked up a couple of items from the camp store, just enough to get us through the evening and up and down Katahdin. Now we had to figure out where to sleep. We could walk back into the woods we just left to find a space to tent, or we could pay for a site at the campground near Abol Bridge - we figured that by that late in the afternoon the Birches Lean-to would already be full.

At about 3PM we headed to the Baxter State Park boundary to see if we could find a ranger to ask for suggestions about the best place to camp. We ran into a ranger just outside the park who told us that there were only 5 thru hikers signed up to sleep at the Birches that night and we had plenty of time to get there that afternoon and check in to the Ranger Station. We hadn't intended on walking an additional 10 miles to the base of Katahdin that day - but a little after 3 we set off for the Birches, making it a 32.9 mile day, my second longest day of the trip, and Coors' first day hiking over 30 miles. After less than four months of hard work my hike was about to be finished - a day earlier than expected.