We made it to MAINE!

Hey, all, from South Paris, Maine!  We are currently visiting with Moonshine's second cousins Kathy and Dan who so kindly picked us up from Grafton Notch and brought us back to their home here in South Paris.  Kathy and Dan own a restaurant and tavern, The Smilin Moose, that we look forward to visiting today.  We woke up to rain this morning, so we decided to take a deserved and much needed day off.  We crossed the NH-ME state line on Friday afternoon, and what a GREAT feeling, although it is still surreal that we are here.  We have now walked 1,912 miles and have 267 miles to the big Mount Katahdin!! 
Maine has been pretty difficult thus far, but we hear it will get a bit easier for us.  It is very rugged and rocky, and the rain we had yesterday and the day before made for very slick rocks.  We completed what many proclaim as the most difficult mile on the trail, Mahoosuc Notch, on Saturday.  Mahoosuc notch is a gorge-like alley filled with car sized boulders that we had to maneuver over/around/under.  It took us almost 3 hours to complete the mile and was very energy-consuming...I am very glad to have the obstacle behind us, as we have been hearing about it for hundreds of miles!  We are relieved to be out of the White Mountains and away from the huge crowds of people, and the trail in Maine has been much less traveled.  We have continued to walk about 10 miles a day, as I have been battling a cold/sinus issue that doesn't make the hiking any easier.  We have been encountering many new thru-hikers in the past few days, as most of the hikers that we have known and hiked with are far ahead of us or have completed the trail by now.  We have definitely slowed down a lot lately and have been taking advantage of most opportunities to take days off, but we really don't have a deadline so we figure we don't have any reason to rush. 
Our wildlife sightings up this way continue to be few and far between.  We are really looking forward to seeing a moose, as we continue to come upon lots of moose scat and moose tracks.  We have seen a spruce grouse recently, and a hummingbird, and that's about it.  Haven't seen a bear since NY!  Keep your fingers crossed for a moose sighting!
Our next planned stop will be in Rangeley, ME in about 4-5 days.  We are so glad to be in Maine, and although it has been very challenging thus far, it has been beautiful!  We are having bittersweet feelings about nearing the end of our journey, but we are still taking things one day at a time!  Hope everyone out there in the real world is doing well, we are thinking of you often!  Take care.