Trailer Park the Trail Angel
July 9, 2024
mile 420.5-438.8
(Maine Roadhouse) (16 miles of portaging)
We had planned to get an early start this morning but that didn't exactly happen. Henry woke up with his carpal tunnel around 4:30 and again around 6 am. I massaged his wrist and forearm until he fell back asleep but it meant we were both exhausted when the alarm went off at 6:30. Didn't make it out of bed until almost 7:30 and slowly got ready. Granola for breakfast and then began to carry our first load down the trail to finish our portage to the museum and route 16.
We're portaging this entire section because of low water levels on the Dead River. We carried the canoe down to the museum where a few old men were working on getting things together for a logging festival happening next weekend. I was already getting really fucking annoyed before we reached it as mosquitoes feasted on my flesh and we made a wrong turn down a different trail. One of the men came over to us and was hilarious making jokes and acting like he'd known us all his life. He offered to unlock the door of the forestry museum for us so we could look around and we said we'd love to! When he asked how we liked the shelter and the trail my annoyance disappeared because he was so proud of how they maintained and built it. We told him how much we enjoyed our stay there and thanked him for all of his hard work. We returned to the shelter for our second load of gear and then checked out the museum which was surprisingly one of the coolest museums I've ever been to.
So many amazing paintings depicting old logging camps, photographs, old tools, Native American artifacts, displays of moths of Maine- I would totally go back again.
So overall our intentions of an early start ended with us getting on the road around 10:30 or 11. (Also Henry was pretty pissed that he carried 40 pounds of water up a mountain last night when we could've just filled up our water bag here at the museum hehe oops).
Our road walk was hot, muggy, and fly ridden. And did I mention hot? A big uphill to start is always fun as well. A slight breeze would stir and I would spin around to try to get some air on my face which felt like it was in an oven because of the thick air and my bug net. With about 10 miles to go I started fading... sweat was dripping down my face and anytime I tried to take off my bug net it was as if a signal was sent to every fly in a 5 mile radius and they would come swarming and try to bite my forehead.
That was when out of nowhere a Jeep drove by, someone yelled out the window and pulled over to jump out- Trailer Park! We both knew Trailer Park from the AT and couldn't believe the chances he'd be driving down this very road. He ran up to hug us even though we smelled like sweaty roadkill.
We talked for awhile and then he jumped back in his Jeep and told us he'd be back in an hour. We continued our portage in much better spirits, it's always so nice to see friends. When he returned he had a bag of ice, cold water, a box of popsicles, two Gatorades, and an entire roll of Flextape. We could not believe it. What a freaking angel!!! we sat on the guardrail in the shade, ate every single popsicle while catching up with him. There is truly no better friends than friends you meet on trail.
When he left and we continued on our road walk our spirits couldn't have been higher. I put the ice in a Ziploc bag which I then tucked into the front of my shirt, letting the icy water drip until it was completely melted. Henry let me slackpack by putting my pack in the canoe so I basically felt like I was floating. I had ducked off on a side road to pee and when I re-emerged Henry was a hundred yards ahead frantically waving me to hurry up. I jogged to catch up knowing he must see something cool, and there in the river was a moose! She was beautiful, standing in the water watching us, not a care in the world. We watched her until she disappeared into the brush and then continued on.
The skies opened up shortly after and we got absolutely poured on but before we knew it we'd reached Maine Roadhouse! The Roadhouse is an AT hostel but is right on the road for the portage for the NFCT as well.
It didn't open until 2021 so I never got to visit it on trail unlike Henry who'd been here once before when thru hiking.
Checked in with Trickle who we'd met previously at Shaw's the year before and she showed us to our private room where we dumped our gear, changed into some dry clothes and hopped on the 5 o'clock shuttle to Stratton to grab some groceries. Back at the hostel we had such a great evening. Henry made us homemade chicken alfredo with broccoli and garlic bread, we talked to hikers, and played multiple games of ping pong.
I took a lovely shower (they have the best, most luxurious body washes and conditioners and even body lotion!) and then crawled naked under clean, cold AC sheets. Life cannot get much better honestly.
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