July 20, 2025 4 min to read

AT Blog: Day 134 and 135

Shaws Hostel and the 100 Mile Wilderness

Day 134:

Start the day at Shaws Hostel, with their great Blueberry pancakes early in the morning. Breakfast is served at 7, along with eggs and coffee.

It’s a good breakfast (maybe not as good as Harrisons but still) and I also chat with Happy again.

I ressupply at the store and make the decision to actually come back in a couple days.

In case you aren’t aware, this next section is the 100 mile wilderness. It’s fairly isolated except for logging roads for paper mills. Shaws also runs a shuttle using those roads roughly halfway into the wilderness. It costs a pretty penny but it’ll be my last hostel stay before Katahdin so I dont mind.

But I do decide against their shuttle back to trail. They wanted $20 bucks for a 5-10 minute car ride, which I decline. It’s fairly common hostels have rip off prices for close destinations but its probably the worst of the ones I remember.

I thought considering how fast I got a ride to Shaws the opposite would be true. It turns out to be false as next to nobody stops for me. Turns out the towns main road splits just out of town, where one road is the popular one to take and the other (still paved) doesn’t really get much traffic. One guy does stop for me but he just wanted to chat about the trail but not give me a ride. Super weird and kinda made me angry cause the guy just wants to waste my time while I try and find a ride.

Took me 30 minutes but finally a couple with their dog stop for me. The husband hiked the trail in the past and was super stoked to give a ride to a hiker. Their small dog was super excited to get pets from me too.

I get back on trail and finally enter the 100 mile wilderness. The terrain isn’t terrible except for the water logged portions. One portion is under a foot of water for 100 yards.

After many a river crossing (and spotting a flipped old abandoned wood bridge) and a river crossing that’s 10 yards away from a 40 foot water fall. Due to having to hike almost 35 miles in 2 short days (left late and get picked up early) and starting later I am pushing myself and make a mistake.

So I dont make a mistake at a water crossing, I make a mistake just walking. There are a lot of roots on trail, I take a step down onto a root which gives under its weight. I dont realize the root actually snatched over the top of my foot like a strap, when I take my next step I yank my foot, which is stuck.

I actually end up spraining my ankle from it. I try walking it off but its definitely hindering my speed. I was aiming for a proper campsite at Wilson Leant to, but failed to make it.

I end up camping near the top of a mountain when I exhaust myself and definitely send a ping to my parents as its the kinda campsite that’s not very visible.

Day 135:

Start out early in the morning. My ankle is still sprained so I’m going slow with it.

Trail reroute with crew of 3 working on it. It’s actually really new as the guide I’ve been using is way off. The new route goes directly to a plane crash instead of it being on a side trail.

See plane near fourth mountain. My dad flies so I send a joke message about being in a plane crash when I have good signal (while sending just kidding in the same message, just in case they dont get the joke while I have bad signal) Couple of steam crossings. Including one that has a rope to help out on a 30 yard crossing. It wasnt fun but it was doable.

Get picked up at Katahdin Iron Works Road and head back to Shaws. Bluebs and Footloose are both there as well. It’s funny as we’ve been leap frogging since the start. I also see Joker from the other day. Bleubs and Footloose just got to Monson and I chat with them a little bit. It’s funny cause I get to meet and chat with folks a day or 2 behind me.

I also get my ankle checked. It’s a minor sprain, that should heal within a week. So close to the end I cant stop so I ice it and be careful with it.

I relax mostly and update the blog while I have signal. There’s also a small grocery next to Shaws that I get a meal and stuff at. I was so lazy I forgot to get a proper meal at the restaurant but there’s plenty at the grocery store.