Date: 2008-08-16
From: Potaywadjo Spring Lean-to ME

To: Rainbow Springs Campsite ME
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: light rain

Day 181 Saturday August 16 ¢ Rainbow Springs Campsite ME - Miles Today: 22.0 Total Miles: 2149.9Last night about 8:30 we realized we had the shelter to ourselves and decided to set up the tent in the shelter, as we were tired of fighting the mosquitoes. Ah, the joys of sleeping without DEET smeared on our faces or wearing a head net and extra clothes to provide protection. The tent pitched in the shelter worked out pretty darn good.Brakeman was up a couple times during the night as he heard animals around us. One animal jumped up on the sleeping platform ¢ perhaps a raccoon or skunk or some animal of that size. He flashed a light around but was not able to catch what type of animal it was. Later in the night he heard a couple animals go by the shelter ¢ perhaps fox or coyote. It¢s hard to sleep when one is busy animal watching!We had another good long day, cranking in miles so that we can summit on Monday, which is just 2 days away. (Y A W N ¢¦ I knew the yawns would come.)   We had our first sighting of Katahdin today from Nahmakanta Mountain! Very cool. It was just 36 hiking miles away when we saw it. WOW.The other good news is that on top of Nahmakanta Mountain, we were able to get cell phone reception to call home to let Mr. & Mrs. Grasshopper know we may be summiting a day early. This is the first time we¢ve had reception in the 100 Mile Wilderness. So very cool that we were able to contact them! Now they know to pick us up one day earlier. WOO HOO!! The only remaining challenge is that The Birches campsite has just 12 sites reserved for thru-hikers and we know of at least 10 people in front of us. So there is a risk that we will not be able to stay at The Birches. If so, then we¢ll have to stay at Abol Bridge Campground and hike extra miles on summit day, something that we don't really want to do but there's not a whole lot of choices. We figure that the horde of 10 hikers are about 8 miles in front of us, so there's no way to pass them even if we did get a real early start tomorrow. So we'll have a bit of a stressful day tomorrow with that issue.This morning was slightly overcast, but in the afternoon we enjoyed a blue sky with some white puffy clouds.We took quite a few pictures yesterday and today of the unique fungus found in the 100 Mile Wilderness. You pick a color; we¢ve seen it ¢ yellow, purple, red, brilliant white, and orange. The shapes were just as varied ¢ coral shaped, tall and spiny, flume tops, round tops, and flat tops. We also had to stop and take a picture of a crutch left alongside the trail. We have seen a few crutches each day in the wilderness, nicely spaced apart. Finally today we figured it out ¢ we¢re in the 100 Mile Wilderness ¢ self rescue is the expectation! Wow.Camp tonight is Rainbow Spring campsite, just off Rainbow Lake. We're tenting for the first time in a long, long time, as there is no shelter here. Luckily the ground has become less saturated again. Our shoes actually dried out yesterday for the first time in a long, long time. However, our last mile into camp tonight was extremely muddy. Grasshopper ended up with her shoes totally covered with mud, so upon arriving to camp, she just walked right into Rainbow Lake to rinse them off. She¢ll head out tomorrow once again in wet shoes and socks. Brakeman will have that unique feeling of heading out tomorrow in dry socks and shoes! The weather forecast per Mrs. Grasshopper for tomorrow is cloudy but not rainy, so if we can get out of this mud around Rainbow Lake we should hopefully have clear sailing into Baxter State Park. Grasshopper was contemplating taking a swim in Rainbow Lake tonight, as it looked rather inviting. However, once Brakeman found a leech on his foot, which had been resting in the lake, all thoughts of swimming in Maine lakes ended. Ah, now we remember reading in journals about leeches in the Maine lakes. Not such a good thing. Glad we didn't freshen up our hair in Rainbow Lake, although we do have to wonder if we have leeches elsewhere on us. Our shirts are a little stinky - a nice combination of B.O. and DEET. The last couple days the mosquitoes have picked up as we're passing lots of ponds, streams and lakes in the northern part of the Wilderness. Grasshopper is feeling better today - no more of the ailment that she experienced the last few days. However, in order to continue the drama for this tag team event, Brakeman has the illness now. We're hoping that it's as short-lived as Grasshopper's and that he's feeling good and strong for the 4000' incline to the top of that little mountain called Katahdin. Luckily, we snagged some toilet paper at the shelter 2 nights ago, so we're still running with enough of the ever so precious commodity known as TP.We were both up around 4:00 a.m. this morning so we're hoping for a much better sleep tonight. We have this site to ourselves. The previous occupants left us a great little stack of firewood, all set to go in the fire pit. All that needed to be done was to light it. Our minds immediately thought, ¢So cool, we¢ll have a bonfire while we eat dinner.¢ However, it didn't take us too long to realize we can't have a fire - we have no matches and no lighter. Nobody else has arrived at this campsite, so the great ready-made teepee-shaped bonfire will go unused once again. It's 6:45 and we are listening to thunder in the distance. Brakeman is convinced that it¢s not going to rain on us. We no longer have total confidence in staying dry in our tent. But given that we only have 2 more nights in the tent, I don't think we're as concerned with staying dry as we have been in the past. Tomorrow around lunchtime we will exit the 100 Mile Wilderness and enter Baxter State Park. WHOO!! It's hard to believe that this is our next to the last night in our tent and we've got 1 more day of hiking - another 21 mile day - plus a summit if all goes according to plan and we get a reservation at The Birches. We have just 26.3 official miles left. Of course, we have to hike 5 additional miles back down the mountain, but they don't count towards the official mileage. I think tonight we're just both pretty tired and the realization that this great adventure is about to end hasn't totally sunk in yet. But I'm sure when we walk off that mountain in 2 days and into the arms of Mr. & Mrs. Grasshopper and then hop in the car, it will definitely hit at that point in time if it didn¢t already hit at the top of Kahtadin with the famous sign. Well, I believe that's it - one day and one summit short of the end. Goodnight, it's time to go to bed.