Tuesday July 2, 11.4mi/18.3km

Rainbow Spring campsite (2165.5) to Abol Bridge (2176.9) (ME)

I got moving later than usual, knowing it was a short 4-5 hour hike into “town”. It was another beautiful sunny morning, and the trail was flat for the first 5mi/8km.

I walked along Rainbow lake for a couple of hours, and every once in awhile the trail would get close enough to the water to walk out and have a view.

I started the climb up to Rainbow Ledges, and for some reason someone left an entire bag of food on the side of the trail… like three days’ worth. And good stuff too!

I didn’t take anything, in case someone was caching food in the woods. But they better get here quickly, the rodents will eat thru the bags!

The climb up was uneventful, except for this funny sign.

And it even had some sections of really good trail, like PCT-quality. The tread was built up with gravel and dirt, and super dry and smooth!

The top of Rainbow Ledges had nice views.

Thunder started rumbling, I definitely wouldnt want to be up on Katahdin today!

I was a half mile from the road, and it started hailing… hard. I took a video, its hard to see, but shows little ice balls bouncing off the ground.

Hailstorm video

As I was walking the road, a nice woman offered me a ride to town! I got a cool Katahdin photo from the car.

She works at the AT Cafe in Millinocket, and even though it was her day off, we drove there and had lunch. And a milkshake!

The Cafe is a cool place, and has AT memorabilia all over.

All the past AT finishers have signed a ceiling tile somewhere here… neat!

I’ll be back here in a couple of days after I finish, to eat and sign a ceiling tile, of course!

Afterwards I went to the AT lodge hostel, got a shower and laundry, and took a nap. More hikers came in later, and we discussed all our future plans. I ended up giving an impromptu presentation on hiking the PCT, since it was on almost everyone’s to-do list. What a random night!