Days 172-179 September 19-26 Spaulding Mountain Lean-to to Monson, ME, and the 100-Mile Wilderness Day 172 Spaulding Mountain Lean-to to Hostel of Maine Today is Sally's Birthday. Happy Birthday, Sally! Note from Sally: Many thanks to all the people Dan/Titanium enlisted to send me happy birthday messages. That was a lot of fun, and I had a great day! Back to Titanium: Today's weather was warm with intermittent cloud cover -- a good day for a hike. The trail started out relatively easy. It was hilly with few obstacles. then it changed back to the nasty sharp, steep rocks reminiscent of a survival course or "Fear Factor." The views from the ridge between Spaulding and Sugarloaf Mountains were spectacular. At a trail intersection near Sugarloaf, the AT trail sign pointed us toward a steep uphill trail. The AT always seems to take an uphill direction, the steeper the better. I had followed this trail for about a half mile when I encountered another thru-hiker.