Living in Maine has many perks, one of which is having family come meet us for a day in the middle of the hundred mile wilderness. We would spend two nights car camping on the Katahdin Iron Works road along the western branch of the Pleasant River, taking a zero-mile AT day to hike the 8.5 mile Gulf Hagas loop with friends and family. After 135.6 AT miles, today was Little John’s last backpacking day with us (he would stick around for the 8.5 mile day hike the next day as well).

After a scenic morning of about ten miles over the Barren-Chairback ridge, Grandpa Pete and Grandma Linda met us at the road and we headed back to our campsite along the water, complete with rope swing. The kids found new uses for their sleeping pads and spent lots of time in the water. Grandpa Pete spent some time unsuccessfully trying to find fish.

There’s nothing like months of backpacking to drive home the luxuries of car camping. Food, drink and camaraderie were all in ample supply.