The First 10 Miles-A Hike Report

Amy and I met up at the Sandbank Stream campground, where we stayed one night before heading out to the IAT trailhead. Before we got on the trail, we encountered a thru-hiker who had completed the AT and was heading northbound on the IAT.

Within the first hour or two of our hike, we turned a corner and there was a male moose about fifty yards away from us, directly in the middle of the trail. Although Amy and I stayed put and tried to wait for the moose to move safely off to the side, he seriously did not care that we were there – he just continued munching away at the plants and minding his business.

After about an hour of waiting and with no indication that the moose intended to move, Amy and I decided to turn around and reroute to our lean-to. Although the encounter was a minor annoyance, it was a neat experience to have happened upon him, and encouraging that he seemed to be in such good health. We stayed at the Wassataquoik Lean-to, which was in great condition, that night. 

On the second day of our hike, we did the Ford River crossing. The river was running well, but luckily the water was not so high as to make the crossing tedious. I found a walking stick before we crossed to help out with balancing on the rocks, though I didn’t need to rely on it very heavily.

The opposite side of the crossing, before the ascent of Mount Deasey, was my favorite part of the IAT that I experienced – I watched a beautiful great blue heron fly along the riverbank, and I thought that all the river stones and gentle rapids were beautiful. As we began to hike away from the river, the trail became slightly marshy for a few hundred meters, with massive ferns and tall grasses, before turning further into the forest.

Looking back
Wassataquoik Stream
IAT Blaze

The trail up towards Mount Deasey was easy-going for the most part. We hiked past Earl’s Erratic, a house-sized boulder just to the side of the trail. The elevation picked up tremendously once we reached the abandoned fire warden’s cabin. Those 800 meters up to Deasey were tough, but the expansive view of Katahdin, Mount Chase, Sugarloaf Mountain, the Turner Mountains, and much of the Maine North Woods made the scramble worth it. The summit of Deasey made an ideal spot for a water and snack break.

Abandoned Fire Warden’s Cabin
Start of the scramble up Deasey
The view from Deasey Mountain

On our way back down from Deasey, we ran into a group of National Park Service volunteers who were out to repair the fire warden’s tower at the top of the mountain, which was great news, as the tower was in need of some TLC when Amy and I saw it.

In just the first ten or so miles of the IAT, I experienced a range of what the IAT and Katahdin Woods & Waters have to offer – close-up encounters with wildlife (the moose and the great blue heron), stunning views (the Ford River and the panoramic lookout of Mount Deasey), relaxed trail-walks, and challenging scrambles.

An Interview with Lil Buddha

Lil Buddha's Pangea Traverse
Lil-Buddha-Southernmost-Terminus-of-the-ECT_Pangaea-Traverse
Lil Buddha at the Southernmost Terminus of the ECT

This summer, I had the pleasure of speaking with thru-hiker Lo Phong La Kiatoukaysy, known on trail as Lil’ Buddha. Through our conversation, I was able to glean some insight into Lil’ Buddha’s experience on the IAT and his plans to complete the hiking route that he is pioneering, the Pangaea Traverse.

Lil’ Buddha grew up in Kansas in a Hmong-American family. When asked how he first got into thru-hiking, Lil’ Buddha noted that he was always hiking, backpacking, and camping with extended family, especially out in Colorado. Lil’ Buddha embarked on his first thru-hike at the age of 19. Two months before the fall semester at the University of Kansas, Lil’ Buddha decided to hike the John Muir Trail, which he learned about by reading Ray Jardine’s Pacific Crest Trail Hiker’s Handbook. (Jardine was the first person to popularize using homemade lightweight gear and techniques, including early start times with longer days and more mileage at a slower pace. Lil’ Buddha was part of the first generation of ultralight backpackers following Jardine.) Later in life, after moving to New York City, working in corporate America, and surviving the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers, Lil’ Buddha used his free time and sabbaticals to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), and the Eastern Continental Trail (ECT). He has since hiked each of the trail systems three times each, making him the first known Asian American and Hmong-American to achieve the Triple Triple Crown thru-hiker status.

Lil’ Buddha first encountered the IAT in 2010, after hiking the PCT and following legendary thru-hiker Nimblewill Nomad. That year, he embarked on a northbound hike of the ECT, which includes the IAT. In 2019, he completed a southbound hike of the ECT, beginning at Cap Gaspé. Finally, in 2023, Lil’ Buddha thru-hiked the ECT for the third time, from Florida to the tip of Newfoundland. This hike, completed in October 2023, marked the beginning of Lil’ Buddha’s endeavor to hike the Pangaea Traverse, “a multi-year, transatlantic expedition across the geographically separated spine of the ancient Central Pangea Mountains, from Key West, Florida, to Mount Toubkal, Atlas Mountains, Morocco.”

Lil’ Buddha noted that the concept of the Pangaea Traverse is inspired, in many ways, by the IAT. However, whereas the IAT’s trails are geographically disconnected, the Pangaea Traverse seeks to piece together the remnants of the Central Pangaea Mountains as continuously as possible. Many of the trails that make up the Pangaea Traverse (an additional 8,000-9,000 miles) are not officially part of the IAT but have been co-branded as “possible” by the organization. According to Lil’ Buddha, “since Pangea no longer exists and is now split into the continents we know today, a Pangea Traverse is not possible in the literal sense. The hypothetical route is an amalgamation of several established thru-hiking trails, backcountry routes, a cross-network of walking and cycling paths, and route planning.” Lil’ Buddha’s hike of the Pangaea Traverse has been divided into three sections, each spanning approximately 6,000 miles (the Pangaea Traverse totals about 17,500 miles).

After his 2023 hike of the North American section of the Pangaea Traverse, Lil’ Buddha planned to complete the second section of the hike – Greenland, Iceland, and the UK – this summer. However, a leg injury has kept him off trail. Lil’ Buddha will return to the Pangaea Traverse once he is fully recovered and said that he has not felt pressed for time, since this will be the most extensive hike of his career.

Lil Buddha's Pangea Traverse
Lil Buddha's Pangea Traverse

When asked what he has found most special about his experience hiking the ECT/IAT/North American section of the Pangaea Traverse, Lil’ Buddha emphasized both the transition through various landscapes and peoples, and the sense of connectivity across the North American landscape.

At the southernmost point of the ECT in Florida, there is a great deal of biodiversity with the wetlands, and there are beautiful sunsets and cloudscapes. Lil’ Buddha noted that at Flagg Mountain in Alabama, the first 1,000-foot mountain of the North American section, one begins to get a sense of the Appalachian Mountains that gradually increase all the way past Katahdin (along the IAT). Such gradual changes in the landscape provide a feeling of connectivity. Additionally, Lil’ Buddha pointed out that the ECT runs from the Atlantic to the Atlantic – when he reached the northernmost terminus in Newfoundland in 2023, it was the first time he had seen saltwater in five months, since the beginning of his hike.

The ECT also passes through several peoples across North America. In particular, Lil’ Buddha noticed the changes in dialects and language, from Southern American English to Appalachian English to Québécois French to Newfoundland French. But Lil’ Buddha also recognized peoples’ hospitality towards thru-hikers in all parts of the continent.

According to Lil’ Buddha, although East Coast hiking is often overlooked, the IAT is a precious trail in the U.S. and Canada. Importantly, the IAT and its routing along roads, in particular, put thru-hikers in touch with the peoples of the most northeastern corner of North America.

Read more about Lil’ Buddha’s hiking experience and about the Pangaea Traverse on his website, https://lilbuddhahikes.org/home, or take a look at his Instagram, @lilbuddhahikes.

A Short History of the IAT-Border of US and Canada

Map of Mars Hill
Map of Fort Fairfield
Map of Fort Fairfield
Map of Mars Hill
Map of Mars Hill
Building the First Lean-To
Building the First Lean-To

Bordering New Brunswick, the towns of Fort Fairfield and Mars Hill, Maine, are uniquely positioned to highlight the IAT’s mission of fostering international cooperation between the US and Canada.

When Richard Anderson conceived of the IAT, he sought to encourage Americans and Canadians to think across the border, as he had done so in his professional life. Anderson had worked along the St. Croix River (Maine-New Brunswick) as a key negotiator in the establishment of the St. Croix International Waterway Commission, approved by both Maine and New Brunswick. Anderson had also worked with the Audobon Society in Quebec, looking at migration patterns of snow geese. With a trail to link the common landscape of both sides of the US-Canada border, Americans and Canadians would be able to see past the boundary dividing them.

Historically, the northeast border between Maine and Canada was never very firm: from the time of settlement to the mid-nineteenth century, the border shifted over and again. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 finally solidified the border after the Aroostook War (1838-1839), a dispute between civilians (mostly lumberjacks) over the international boundary between the American state of Maine and the British colony of New Brunswick. 

Despite the history of the disputed border, Maine and New Brunswick evidently share a common landscape and geological history. Additionally, single families occupy either side of the international boundary (for example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, special border-crossing exceptions were implemented for towns like Fort Fairfield and Mars Hill in order that families separated by the official border could still see each other). The boundary section of the IAT – which extends from the north slope of Mars Hill to the town of Fort Fairfield, where the trail goes along the border between Fort Fairfield, Maine, and Perth Andover, New Brunswick – embodies the commonalities that link the two countries in this northeast corner of North America.

Since the mid-1990s, the IAT has effectuated its goal of fostering cross-border cooperation. After attending an IAT board meeting in 1998, the Executive Director of the Fort Fairfield Chamber of Commerce, Cheryl Boulier, wrote: “I… was extremely impressed with all the support that I saw from different geographic areas, both from the United States and Canada for this project. It is very exciting to us that we would have an opportunity to be able to promote the [IAT] in our community as a vital link in providing a border crossing from the United States into Canada.”

Trail Work Report-June 2024

Carrying Beams to the lean-to

Trail Work-June 2024
Fort Fairfield, Beaver Bypass, and Mars Hill

On June 6, a trail crew of eight IAT members went up to the Mars Hill area to work on parts of the trail in need of maintenance.

On our first day of work (June 7), we walked up to the Fort Fairfield lean-to. Originally constructed in 1998, the shelter needed to be jacked up and have some old sills replaced. Julia Daly and Bill Duffy had gotten started on the repair process back in March, sledding in new cinder blocks that would be used to replace the old ones, but our larger spring crew arrived to finish the job. After carrying two 100-pound beams to the lean-to using ratchet straps and four people on each beam, we spent the morning lifting the shelter and clearing overgrowth from around the site.

Moose and Bear Tracks near Fort Fairfield Site
Carrying Beams to the lean-to
Entrance to Fort Fairfield Campsite
Fort Fairfield Lean-To
Getting Started on Fort Fairfield Lean-To
Fort Fairfield Work

With so many trail crew members that weekend, we were able to get the Fort Fairfield work done in just a few hours. We then split into two groups: one headed to Mars Hill, while the other went to the Beaver Bypass along the US-Canada border (the Beaver Bypass was evidence of our earlier discussion that morning about beavers’ ability to drastically alter the landscape).

The next day (June 8) we went to work on Mars Hill. When we reached the near top of the hill, I couldn’t see the blades of the windmill through the mist but I could hear them whirring around – IAT hikers have commented on how much they’ve enjoyed sleeping to the sound of the windmills. We got out of the trucks, grabbed our tools, and zipped on our raincoats. Although it was too overcast to take in the view that looks down from Mars Hill onto New Brunswick, it was a cool experience being shrouded by mist at the top of the hill.

View from the Bottom of Mars Hill
Under the Windmills at Mars Hill June 8
Getting Ready to Work at Mars Hill June 8

Our first stop at Mars Hill was the lean-to, which dates back to October 1996. The first Mars Hill trail crew had used a lawn roof rafter to get the parts for the structure up to the campsite at the hill’s summit, but our spring crew just worked on cleaning up and safety-proofing the designated fire pit, clearing weeds and charred wood.

We then continued on from the campsite to clear the rest of the trail as it winds along the hill. I must note that my favorite part of the IAT that I saw throughout the trail work weekend came about half a mile southbound from the Mars Hill lean-to: the young forest that flanks the trail is open and lush and green. Before the IAT signed an easement with the Mars Hill landowner Wendell Pierce and forest re-grew around the trail, the area had been farmland – Eric Hendrickson told me that sheep had grazed up and down the side of the hill. On June 8, 2024, the trees and ferns looked especially beautiful given the recent (ongoing) rain (downpour).

This past winter, Eric and Elaine Hendrickson had made note of fallen trees that would need to be sawed out of the way, so we focused on clearing out the trail. Given Josh’s efficiency with the chainsaw, we finished up the work by mid-day, and were finally able to retreat back into the trucks, heavily rained-on but feeling good about what we had accomplished that weekend at Fort Fairfield, the Beaver Bypass, and Mars Hill.

Mars Hill Forest
Mars Hill Lean-To
Mars Hill Trail Crew June 7
Mars Hill
Mars Hill Build Crew
Mars Hill Historical Pictures

If you’re interested in getting involved with helping keep the trail nice for our hikers, please sign up to be notified of future trail work by visiting: Trail Work Volunteer Sign Up