Date: 2018-08-02
From: Rattle River Hostel (mile 1892.7)

To: Gentian Pond shelter (mile 1904.4)
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: moderate rain

Today marks my last full day on the trail. As much as I'm excited for the future I have before me, I can't help but feel as though a part of me will miss the trail life until I return.This morning I made myself a pancake breakfast, which always reminds me of Saturday mornings on scout trips. After packing up, i spent a long time catching up on journaling in between socializing with awesome hikers and staff at the hostel. It feels great that I managed to get up to date before my journey is complete. It definitely delayed my start though - people who are staying tonight started showing up because I didn't leave until 1pm! After saying goodbye to some friends who are zeroing at the hostel, I headed North on North Street, and passed the dam over the Androscoggin River. I found a bit of trail magic along a road before the AT heads into the woods again. Shortly into the climb I ate lunch, which I really just wanted to do anywhere out of the hostel so that I got moving, but I found a nice rock with a pretty good view of the river valley. While on my way to the next viewpoint, I had my phone out checking to see exactly where I crossed the 600 mile mark when a bee stung my arm! I swatted it off but it left its butt and stinger in my arm. I hiked to the 600 mile mark and celebrated by using tweezers to remove the stinger. During all of this I met Giant, a 6'10" hiker. He's trying to do the trail in a summer between college years so he's been hiking quite fast. We cruised up Mt. Hayes together, but I decided to take the spur trail at the top to reach the actual peak since I have time to smell the roses today and tomorrow. It was cool to reach the top of the first mountain of the Mahoosuc range, plus I got some wild blueberries as a reward. Much as my plans so long ago for this trip have blossomed into a journey, the blueberries that were so small near my starting point have developed and grown to be full.After starting so late, I really kicked it into gear the rest of the day. We had some great views of the surrounding mountains at several points today. I leapfrogged Tunes, AM Fog, and Flomo in the afternoon, who I haven't seen in a long time. I think AM Fog is the earliest person that I saw more than once on the trail, so it was cool that I got to see him so close to the end as well. We passed Dream Lake and I splashed myself with a bit of water from the inlet so we'll see how my dreams are affected tonight. I reached Gentian Pond shelter at around 7:30 and made dinner. The plan was originally to make dinner and swim then head to the next shelter in order to cross the border, but I found some friends here and enjoyed talking with them, plus the reviews for the next shelter are pretty poor, so I just decided to stay the night here. Besides, then I can get a picture of the Maine border during the day! Though I didn't go swimming, I did soak my feet one more time with a beautiful view at the lake. I was in a great mood pretty much all afternoon and evening (which definitely helped my pace), and I'm excited to be in a great mood tomorrow too.