We got to the most beautiful body of water I have seen so far on the trail. Pierce Pond was amazing looking. Unfortunately, about a month and a half to two months ago, thru hiker "Parkside" went for a swim here and ended up drowning. They say he did a 20 mile day before the swim, and his legs cramped up in the water. When we arrived today, there is a tree stump with "Rest in Peace Parkside" carved into it, and his picture in the lean-to. It's a sad reminder that anything can happen, even to good people. Life is too short, one big reason for me and my buddy Tarzan for coming out here. A prayer goes out to you, your family, your trail family, and your friends tonight Parkside.
In the afternoon we made it to the Kennebeck River. It's about 75 yards wide, and the official AT is followed by hopping in a canoe with a guy that takes you across. There is a white blaze painted in the bottom of the canoe. The guy told us that if you were to try and ford the river after the amount of rain we've recently had, which was currently about 10 feet at its deepest, you would most likely either be drug under water and nearly drown after being swept downstream, or you would just simply die. We had already planned to take the ferry, so we hopped in. Houdini manned the front paddle spot, and I hung out in the middle, not doing a thing but enjoying it!
When we got to the road after a short 0.3 following the ferry, we walked a mile to Caratunk to the Sterling Inn to get a few snack items to get us a few days further. We were then shuttled to Northern Outdoors in The Forks, ME where they do rafting trips and have a restaurant and their own brewery. We took free showers across the street at the campground, set up tents, started laundry, ate some food and sampled some beer, then called it a night.
It was a great day with sunshine and no rain until we were finishing eating and finishing up laundry. Stopped as we were leaving to go to our tents, which is fine.
15 mile day.
151 miles to go.
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