Date: 2016-08-18
From: Moxie Bald Mountain Shelter

To: Shaw's Lodging, Monson, ME
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Verge and I were in better moods this morning. As we ate our oatmeal, she looked at me, smiled, and patted my leg. I love her. She pushes me, and sometimes it sucks A LOT, but I'm sure it's making me stronger or better or something. We got going, and for once, the guidebook's interpretation of Maine terrain was semi-accurate. It was a beautiful, breezy, fall-like, day with semi-flat terrain and beautiful trails. I guess one of my main qualms with Maine trail is the horrible maintence. It feels forgotten and wild, which is cool and all, but SUCKS to hike through. So today it was wonderfully refreshing to have actually nice trail--wide, fewer rocks and roots, lots of cushiony pine needles, etc. it definitely wasn't like that all day; we tromped through tons and tons of deep mud and had to actually ford our first rivers, but it was much nicer. For the first part of the day, we talked about what 7 days left on trail means for us.Being done in seven days means not having permanent dirt smears on your legs.It means not wearing the same outfit everyday.It means getting to shower every day.It means not using leaves to blow your nose.It means not having to purify your water before drinking it.It means you don't have to carry your house on your back like a snail.It means having easy access to fresh fruits and veggies.It means not having to hike every day of you don't want to.It means not having to carry your trash with you where ever you go.It means not having bear bag every night.It means I can get a haircut.It means having the freedom to watch movies.It means freedom...The list goes on.The second part of the day, we ran into a nice couple with three gorgeous dogs, and the woman said she'd thru-hiked two years ago. We traded stories for a while, and it was fun to chat, but we had to continue. I noticed how many leaves were scattered all over the trail, but it's only mid-August! I'm thinking maybe because it was such a dry year, they're falling early? I then listened to music, which I haven't done in a while, and it was grand.Being done in seven days means easy access to music any time of day.We did our 18 by 3:45ish and hitched into Monson to go to Shaw's Lodgingwhere our buddies Jingle, Sweets, Wheels, Mountain Goat (pictured above), and Princess Peach were all waiting for us.I'm so excited that we're all together again. It feels really special that we're all headed into the final leg of our journey together: the hundred mile wilderness and finally, Katahdin. We've all decided to summit on the 25th, and I can't wait. This is all surreal. I can say, "we'll be done in a week" as many times as I want, but truly, it feels like I'm just going to be hiking for three more months. This just feels like life now. So weird. I'm thankful that I have both my job and school waiting for me when I go back, but I envy my friends who have a wide open future. They can do whatever they want! They say they envy me though, so I guess you always want what you don't have. Soon enough I'll be facing those same challenges after I graduate. What will be next for me? Don't know! I do know how lucky I feel to have met such an amazing community of people out here, and more specifically, Jingle, Sweets, Training Wheels, Mountain Goat, and Princess Peach are some of the best people I've ever met. I truly hope we're able to do the trail magic reunions we've briefly chatted about because they're awesome, and I love them. 115 miles left. Here we go.