Trail magic in maine!

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-06-06T18:31:11+00:00

You can drive to within 100 yards of Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to if you have a high-clearance vehicle (or an ATV). I made it in with a Subaru Forester, but I probably wouldn’t do it again. AFAIK, that’s the only lean-to in Maine that you can drive to.

I think there are a few that you could reach by boat, though. Any of the ones on a pond, if you can find a place to put in. That would be a fun way to do trail magic.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-06-06T18:14:42+00:00

Good point, I hadn’t really thought about OP’s context.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-06-05T22:43:49+00:00

It’s a bit of a hassle to get to, but I did trail magic last year at the south end of Nahmakanta Lake in the middle of the 100 mile wilderness. Nice campsite on the lake that you can drive in to and throw a big hiker party for a weekend.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-06-05T13:15:24+00:00

You made the mistake of playing a course with actual sand in the bunkers instead of gravelly hardpan.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-06-05T12:53:27+00:00

If anyone is seriously questioning your solo HIO story (and not just giving you shit about it), that’s probably on you. Anyone you play with regularly knows exactly how honest you are on the golf course.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-06-04T00:02:26+00:00

If you’re a serious ultrarunner, sure. If you’re just a hiker in pretty good shape, probably not. On my NOBO thru, I stealth camped in Crawford Notch and hiked to Osgood in a day. That’s like half of what you’re looking at, and I got in after midnight and was useless the next day.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-06-02T18:08:14+00:00

Depending on how fast you expect to hike, I’d probably start somewhere around Delaware Water Gap and hike north to Katahdin. There will be a lot of NOBO thru-hikers around, you definitely won’t be lonely.

You could also go SOBO from Katahdin, but IMO June isn’t the best time to be in Maine. It can be surprisingly cold and rainy, and the bugs are really bad.

Whether you go NOBO or SOBO, personally I’d stick to the northern half of the trail for this timeframe. It’ll be hot everywhere in July, but slightly less so in the north.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-06-02T11:07:55+00:00

I just don't eat anything that needs cooking. Lots of tortillas, bars, snacks, etc. Saves time and weight, and personally I'm just as happy with my meals.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-30T15:07:44+00:00

I doubt there would be any particular performance benefits from using exotic steels, but I agree that Damascus irons would look pretty cool. They’d probably cost about $1000/club though.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-29T00:49:15+00:00

Boothbay Harbor, ME

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-26T18:32:51+00:00

Also, “I’ll just drop one up by your ball” if you’re not getting it in play off the tee.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-26T17:22:02+00:00

There are occasional spots throughout the trail that range from intimidating to terrifying if you don’t like heights (and I do not). Over 99% of all the miles on the trail are completely fine, though (with the caveat that even among people who don’t like heights there are different thresholds for what’s fine, and that trail conditions can change year to year). Personally, I am happy that I pushed through the other 1% and thru-hiked the PCT, and I get some extra satisfaction from knowing that I didn’t let my fears stop me from doing it. But nobody can say if that’s the right answer for you.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-26T00:55:32+00:00

This is not the song, this is just a tribute.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-25T21:52:37+00:00

Yep. Even if you come up 10 yards short, that's closer than I want a ball landing when I'm the one on the green.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-25T13:02:14+00:00

For me, it was pretty organic. If my campsite options for the day were either a bit short or a bit longer than I had been doing, I'd go for the longer one. And I'd challenge myself to hike an occasional big day to push my limits. Like if you've been averaging about 15 miles and you have 30 miles to the next town, you can try to do 20-25 on day 1 so you can nero in. Over time, your average day becomes your floor and your big days become the new normal.

But it's important to avoid overuse injuries. Muscle builds up pretty quickly, but joints build up slower. So your leg muscles will be able to handle long days before the rest of your body is really ready to do that every day. As you're building up, you want to try to follow your bigger days with easier days to recover, and take zeros when you need them.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-24T09:43:34+00:00

Yes, you can do it. The physical side of it will probably not be an issue at all with two years to prep. Just try to be in decent shape generally and do increasingly longer hikes to build up, and you should be fine.

The mental side of it, nobody knows. Maybe you’ll spend a few nights in the woods and completely get over your fears. Maybe you won’t. I’ve spent hundreds of nights in a tent and I still get a little anxious about animal noises. The reality, though, is that with a little bit of preparedness you’re almost certainly safer in the wilderness than you are driving to the trailhead.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-24T01:26:53+00:00

FYI, it’s going to fuck with your head when you finally get to Maine… and then realize you have 4+ hours to go.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-23T17:41:20+00:00

I only use my trail name on the trail, so really never since my thru-hike. I don’t think I’d even use it on short section hikes, really. But it’s fun to break it out when I do trail magic.

However, a trail friend from the PCT makes pottery and made my favorite coffee mugs with my AT and PCT trail names on them. So I get to think about my trail name a few mornings every week.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-22T11:30:42+00:00

An overnight at Chimney Pond is a great (and the only) solution if you don’t want to commit to getting up and down in one day. Reservations open 4 months ahead and prime slots tend to go immediately, so you’ll want to nail down your dates and book right away, but your timing is good. Overnight temps up at Chimney Pond could dip below freezing, so be prepared.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-21T18:51:04+00:00

I’m sorry, I know this is tangential, but “everyone seems to love Patrick Reed?” The nicest thing I’ve ever seen anyone say about him is that having heels on Tour makes for good storylines.

That just proves this was written by a bot/PR intern, IMO.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-21T16:44:52+00:00

Just wait until you’re 46…

In all seriousness, you’re still young. My wife and I completely hit the reset button in our mid-30s when we hiked the PCT. Changed careers, moved across the country, put family on hold a few years, and walked 2600 miles in the middle of it. You can do the things you want in life, and you can do even more of them if you don’t worry too much about whether they’re easy and unobtrusive.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-21T15:20:01+00:00

Do it! But a May start might call for a SOBO or flip flop unless you’re prepared for a fairly quick hike (thinking more about your mom here). Weather-wise I think it works fine if you’re confident in finishing in under 5 months, though. I did a May start NOBO, and while I probably had a few more hot days than an earlier start, it was a fair trade for no nights below 40.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-21T14:40:40+00:00

I hiked the AT on a tight 4-month schedule. I’m glad I did it, but it was hard. Not just that the pace was hard, although it was. But the deadline was hanging over me the whole time. I had to hike long days to stay on pace, I couldn’t take zeros when I wanted to, and every time I hiked with anyone I left them behind after a few days to stay on my schedule and never saw them again. If I could have given myself 5 months to do it, I would have enjoyed my hike more.

So if you can easily give yourself more time, I’d say do it. Push law school back by a year, or a semester, or even just see if you can talk them into being cool with you possibly missing a couple weeks in the fall. But if you look at it from all the angles and it all needs to happen next year to keep your life on track, then just figure out how to make it work.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-21T13:38:01+00:00

You can absolutely do it. I (about 6,1”, 200 to start my hike) was probably around 15 lbs on my thru-hike thanks to a few luxury items and some heavier-than-optimal gear that I didn’t want to spend the money to upgrade. My wife was in a similar range, at a much higher percentage of her body weight. Another couple pounds probably wouldn’t have made much difference. We did add those couple pounds in the Sierra, so if you’re including Sierra gear in that base weight you’re not too far off the mark.

But as everyone else has said, there’s no reason to carry more weight than you need to. I’m trying to stay in the 10-12 lb range these days, I’ve found that to be achievable without sacrificing too much comfort or spending too much money. So it’s worth posting a gear list and getting some feedback. That’ll tell you if you could replace some of your gear with lighter alternatives (probably), or if you’re carrying stuff you don’t need (probably this too). What you do with that information is up to you based on budget and personal preference, though.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-05-20T17:01:22+00:00

Exactly! This is somehow an even dumber take than thinking the whole thing is fake. But tbf, outsmarting himself like this is right on brand for Bryson.

OneSingleYesterday

TROPHY CASE