Maineiacs spend two unscheduled days in Orono

Uno and Dewey expect to resume the trail tomorrow to complete the remaining 170 miles of the AT to Mt. Katahdin, after making and unexpected two day recovery back in the comfort of home, after Dewey tried to perform do it yourself leg surgery with a dull rock on the summit of Mt. Avery. Up to this point, due the difficulty of the frustrating terrain,and wet humid slippery conditions, Dewey had been cursing Myron Avery in fact for ever having pushed the trail through to Maine in the first place. He apparently got his answer.
The home state has continued to be a challenge for the thru-hikers. In the last three days before reaching Sugarloaf, we did three 10 mile days; but each day included scaling at least two four thousand foot peaks, not a trivial endeavor. Of the twelve 4,000 ft peaks in Maine, the trail manages to climb all but four in the western part of the state. With the completion of West and Avery peaks, we won't see that elevation again until Baxter. We spent one night in the summit lodge on Sugarloaf, easily accessed by a half mile spur trail off the AT. The building is left open especially for thru-hikers to use as a shelter. We thought we had the place to ourselves until 7:30pm, when 6 college students arrived in a pick-up truck, having driven up the cat access road, loaded with plenty of party materials and a tent which they proceeded to set up in the building. They were actually quite nice and offered us a beer, at least recognizing that the way to a thru-hiker's heart is through his stomach and love of beer.
The following day we descended Sugarloaf in a 20mph winds with rain and fog, only to climb the other side of the Caribou Valley over the Crocker Mountains. These have wooded summits, no views and add at least 3 miles to the trail before reaching route 27. Reaching the road finally at least we were rewarded by meeting Kathy and staying the night at a condo owned again by our good friends the Boleys (of Lancaster PA fame.) After showers and shopping in the lovely metropolis of Stratton, we enjoyed a nice repast at Hugs Italian Restaurant that evening.
The next day we had a slow start, lacking in general motivation , but managed to get ourselves on the trail by 11am. It was warm but very humid as we set out to complete 15 miles to Little Bigelow shelter over the Horn Peaks, West Peak and Avery. Because of the humidity and a brief shower the rocks remained extremely slippery and at times it felt like walking on ice. These were the conditions which set Dewey up 'for the fall' on the summit of Avery, gashing his lower leg. Despite the injury he got up and was able to complete the 7 miles to the shelter, but in the process the front half of his calf swelled to twice it's size, making walking a challenge. We finally managed to get into the shelter, literally minutes ahead of a deluge and lightning storm that had been threatening us for two hours while we walked along the ridge. We called the nurse-pit crew who returned the following morning and picked us up near Flagstaff Lake.
At this point we have passed the 2000 mile mark and have seen Katahdin from the summit of Saddleback Junior. With any luck, we expect to summit Thursday or Friday next week after Labor Day, weather permitting. We'll have more updates if there is any internet access in Monson. Otherwise the final chapter will be written after we complete the hike next week.