As happens some times, I woke up on the wrong side of the hammock this morning. I was not in the mood to hike. But when you wake up in the middle of the woods with only a limited supply of food, you don’t really have a choice. So, after taking much longer than normal to get going, I set out. 

Instead of continuing to dawdle as I hiked, I decided to see if I could hustle my way out of the funk. I started pushing off harder and harder with each step and, before I knew it, I was absolutely flying. The ground was pretty flat and I was taking full advantage of that. 

Today was planned to be 15 miles. There’s a river crossing at the Kennebunk that requires taking a canoe shuttle across (it’s a large, dammed river and water levels can raise with no warning making fording it not an option.) and if you get there after the shuttle stops running for the day, you just have to wait.

I was moving so quickly, however, that I realized I could be there by 2:30. The shuttle technically stops running at 2 but I figured it was worth a call to see if they could stay open 30 minutes longer. 

Sadly, they let me know they couldn’t do it. I was a bit disappointed but couldn’t be upset. Instead of heading to the shelter, however, I decided to go up to the local cabin rental. I had read it was a lovely place to stay and came with a 12 pancake breakfast. Additionally, I knew with the river crossing being a bottleneck, the shelter was likely to be completely packed. 

When I got to the cabins, Tim greeted me and let me know he was the owner. He told me for $40 I could have my own log cabin (no electricity), a shower and a massive pancake breakfast. I handed him two $20 bills before he was even done talking. 

I took a nap and headed back up to the main area to cook dinner. I let myself in and listened for 20 minutes as Tim played song after song on the piano. When he finished, I told him how great it sounded and he jumped a foot in the air. He apparently had been so in the piano zone, he hadn’t heard me come in. He had no idea I was there! 

He explained that today was an off day for him. I was the only hiker staying with him and his real cabin rental business (which comes with a 5 course dinner) was also empty today. And so he was taking full advantage of that by hanging out, playing the piano and enjoying a beer or two. 

He encouraged me to actually cook my ramen today and threw in an extra pack when I put mine on the stove. He then added some frozen vegetables to “fill it out a bit.” It was a feast! As I started to eat it, he brought me over an ice cold pink lemonade as well. 

He and I then sat and had a lovely meal together. We chatted about my experience on the trail, his experience being such an intimate part of it and then moved on beyond the trail – talking about life in the backwoods vs. a city and how much respect he still had for the nature around him. 

He also told me why we had to take a canoe across the river. Originally, the trail had walked over the dam. But as the trail became over grown there, the ATC had told the dam owners that they would be liable if someone fell if they didn’t clean it up. The owners then said “no we wont. You can’t use our dam anymore.” And the route was changed to cross the river. He said that since then multiple people had drowned trying to ford it when the river levels rose unexpectedly. He made me promise I would take the ferry and not try and ford it. 

As I wrapped up dinner, I thanked him. “I was having a lousy day,” I said. “But this completely turned it around.” I then headed back to my cabin to write this by the light of an oil lamp. 

Key stats:

Miles: 15

Elevation gained: 2100

Mile marker: 2043

Packs of ramen: 2