Magic in the Mountains

August 26, 2021 (17 miles)

Stafford Notch – East Curry Pond

Today was a decent day. It was actually really good, just kind of weird and unexpected. The day started off slowly at our campsite with muggles, I like not being in a hurry in the morning. We went up and love Little Bigalow and walked on the ridge line for a while.

Creature, Dumb Horse, and Party Dave all caught up and we hung out at a view for a while. I hiked with Creature and it felt just like old times. We caught up to the boys and I hiked on with my crew for a little while until we rolled up on the entire Dirty Bubble hanging out in a parking lot celebrating the end of Southern Maine and the “beginning of flatness”.

Again I was vortexed in a parking lot by the promise of beer; it was fun to hang out with old familiar faces like Road Soda, Rat King, Goat, and Friday. The boys weren’t about hanging out so they hiked on, I had all intentions of catching up. I chilled a little too long and had a few too many beers, though, and inevitably had to booze cruise to try and catch up.

It became clear to me pretty quickly I’d have to nigh hike to catch the boys, but thankfully I ran into Creature, Dumb Hose, and Party Dave at a BEAUTIFUL stealth spot on a beach by a pond and decided to stay there.

We swam and caught up just like the beginning of the trail. It’s amazing that we’re all going to finish; I really hope we’re all able to summit together plus the rest of the Maine Train. I’ll catch the boys tomorrow, but for now I just want to enjoy camping on a beach at sunset with my OG friends. Special day for sure.