Crazy Views

We had an awesome 4th of July! We hiked 20.7 miles from Pierce Pond shelter to Moxie Bald. It was hot, sunny, and buggy, but we'll take that over rain any day. We took a lot of breaks and chilled in a river for a little too. We also crossed the Kinebec River which is too wide and deep to ford, so we took the canoe fairy system. 

Late in the day, we decided that it would be clear enough night to cowboy camp (sleep under the stars) on top of Moxie Bald, and man was it a great decision. We could see storm clouds to the south and later to the north, but it looked fine above us, and the Ayce weather report was nice too. We ate dinner and watched the sunset, and when it got dark we watched fireworks! We were hoping to see some from the bald, and throughout the night we could see about 15 different shows 360 degrees around us! They were all really small and below us, but it was still really cool. There was a couple really good shows to the north so we mainly watched those. 

Also, before it got dark, we got to see the best view on the whole trail, Mt. Katahdin! It was so far in the distance that you could only see its profile, but after 4 months and 2 days on the trail, it was crazy to be able to see the end. 

As the fireworks were settling down, we decided to spread out on the summit and go to bed. It was pretty windy, but after a few hours we were still awake. The wind was so noisy we couldn't sleep well, but it didn't really matter. The clouds cleared around us, and we could hundreds of thousands of stars! It was so incredible that we didn't even want to close our eyes. I saw satellites, 6 shooting stars, and even the Milky Way! Then in the morning we saw the moon and the sun rise. It was one of the worst nights of sleep we've gotten on the trail, but it was totally worth it. 

Today we did 20 miles into Monson, our last town. We resupplied and had some BBQ. We're staying at Shaw's tonight where we'll have an all you can eat breakfast before heading into the 100 mile wilderness.

Only 115 miles to go!