100 Mile Wilderness

We enjoyed the breakfast at Shaw’s before getting a late start on the trail. The owners were very helpful in telling us which roads would be passable or not in the 100 Mile Wilderness, which we entered shortly into today’s hike. There’s a sign at the beginning warning you to take at least ten days of food, but most people I know have hiked it in four or five days. We have five days planned. It also doesn’t seem all that wilderness-like as there are plenty of logging roads and it’s very possible to slackpack it. There is even a toll for vehicles entering, with a consortium of logging companies running checkpoints to charge per vehicle, per person in the vehicle, and per each day in the area.

The trail was full of mini PUDs (pointless ups and downs) today. I was lagging in the beginning because my cold medicine didn’t seem to be working but I eventually started feeling better throughout the day and caught up to people. We mostly stuck near each other to make sure everyone got through the three fords okay.

The first ford at Little Wilson Stream I was able to rock/log hop. The second ford at Big Wilson Stream had a rope strung across it and had water levels a little above my knees. The third ford at Wilbur Brook was annoying because we thought we’d already rock hopped it when we came across it in the dark. Turned out we’d rock hopped a different stream and were moving slower than we thought. It also had a rope strung across it and was above my knees.

It was a long day at 18.6 miles, plus .8 mile on a side trail to get to the trucks. We rolled in around 9:15, set up, cooked dinner, and crashed.

6 days and 99.2 miles to go!