Woke up this morning and hit the trail at 6:30 a.m. and hiked until about 5 p.m. That put me at about 14 miles for the day.
The trail was a mix of what seemed to be relatively flat with some good ups and downs. There was a fair amount of rocks and roots today. Large sections of the forest were very stickingly beautiful, but hard to describe. There were also a lot of waterfalls today.
Climbed up Lone Mountain, Spaulding Mountain and Sugarloaf Mountain. I found lots of wild raspberries on Lone Mountain. There were not as many when I left.
As I reached the peak of Sugarloaf, a surprise pop up thunderstorm approached (not forecasted). I started the descent on a fully exposed and steep talus slope in an old, very steep glacial valley. The storm moved in and I will admit it freaked me out some and the pucker factor came into play. There was nowhere to go. But I got down and the storm passed. My adrenaline level was high still after 30 minutes of being down low in elevation.
I set up camp at the Crocker Cirque Campsite for the night. Sometime today I passed the 200 miles left mark. Right now I have 195 miles left on this epic journey.
Tomorrow, I will get into Stratton, Maine for the night and likely take a zero the next day. I have one bigger set of mountains to go over, known as The Bigelows. Then the mountains get smaller until Katahdin at the end of the AT. That does not mean easy trail though, I hear its rocky, full of roots and mud but very pretty and still smaller mountains.
J's Blog 
Pucker factor. That made me laugh out loud! Glad you made it down safely.
Is that wintergreen in your photos? Love that cute little plant.
You’ve had some epic days lately and it sounds like this day was right up there. So proud of you and how far you’ve come! “Only” 195 miles to go?!? Incredible! Go Pace Car!
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If I can make you laugh out loud, then I am glad to do so. I might again I have a feeling We all need a good laugh. I am proud of you and it’s my privilege to call you friend.
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So glad you made it down safely. Crazy purple mushroom! I am guessing not edible.
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Would you like one to try?
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Awesome fungus photos! thanks for sharing. it’s the crazy, almost died stories that will stick with you the longest, at least as long as you survive!!! 🙂 Glad you did.
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I am glad I survived too.
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