Day 18, 7-6

--> Poplar Ridge Lean-to,  8 miles

I woke up and was the first one out this morning. Blue Sky and Shutterbug had said Mt. Abraham was nice and had good views, so I decided to go the extra 3.4 miles (1.7 each way) to the top. It's also a Maine 4000 footer. That's number 7 so far this trip. When I got to the summit, however, it was socked in and very windy. I sat behind a small stone wall and had a granola bar, then headed back to the AT. Even with eth extra excursion I was still the first one to the shelter. From the shelter it was flat then down to a river, which I had to ford. It was then an extremely steep climb to Poplar Ridge. The shelter here has a baseball bat floor. There is also an information packet left by the maintainer. It was an interesting and informative read. Apparently he has been maintaining this section/shelter since 1956, and helped reroute the trail in the 70's and 80's.

A group of teenage girls just showed up, so the quiet is gone. The NOBO section hiker said they are well behaved. They just walked by, and all had matching bright orange rain covers. It was fun to watch. Tomorrow I'm doing 9 miles over Saddleback and the Horn. It will then be quick to get to the road to resupply and get lunch in Rangeley. Hopefully the library will be open so I can add more Journal entries to the blog.