Date: 2015-08-04
From: Approximately Mile 2133 Before Jo-Mary Rd

To: Crescent Pond
Miles today: 21.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Once again, Mother Nature was kind to us and stopped raining by morning. We set out after 6:15 am and we're happy to see we weren't far from Jo-Mary Road and had hiked further than we thought last night. The trail was wet and muddy in areas but relatively flattish with small ups and downs. I cruised the first 4.2 miles by 8. At Antler Campsite, August passed me with plans to hike 33 more miles to Abol Campground and summit tomorrow. At lower Jo-Mary Lake we stopped for a snack break on the sandy beach. It was nice. Just as we were leaving, Cracker a flip flopper arrived. He and Wookie had met in the beginning. I left a message for The Struggle Bus (Crafty, Sugar Magnolia and Uphill) in the register at the Potaywadjo Spring Lean-to. They are planning to catch up with us to summit on August 7th but since we don't have service, we have no idea how they are doing. We had another view of Katahdin from Pemadumcook Lake. It was cool to see how much closer we are since our first sighting on White Cap Mountain yesterday. We met Teepee who was hiking the last of his AT miles today after section hiking the past 13 years. We also met Foxfeet and Half Full who flip flopped and are hiking Monson to Mt Katahdin before finishing Monson to Harpers Ferry. We had to ford the Nahmakanta Stream.We planned to dry out our tents at the Nahmakanta Campsite but there wasn't any sun or great place so we kept going. However the trail got muddy with big wet roots and rocks. The sky clouded over. It was a tough segment to muddle through. We passed by Opie whom we had met just before Monson. Wookie decided to stop and cook lunch. I was fixated on drying out my tent so I kept going hoping the sun would come out or I could hang my tent somewhere with airflow to at least get some of the moisture out. As I mentally pleaded with Mother Nature, the sky lightened a bit and I saw a patch of blue sky in the distance. I passed by Foxfeet and Half Full and descended down to the gravel road where I was surprised to see Hyrobics and Chimney since they planned to summit August 6. The sun was out but there was a light sun shower. There weren't any trees to hang a line so I hung my line across the bridge over the river. I had about 15 minutes of good direct sunlight before the sun went behind the clouds. A car approached so I ran to the bridge to untie one end of my line. In my haste ati forgot the edge of the bridge was slats like railroad tracks and my leg went through the gap and I pulled the post down. I managed to get untangled and move the rope. The driver was nice and said "this is a first" and dug around his truck for something which ended up being a fire extinguisher to bang the post back in. I rehung my tent but it was misting again so I packed up and decided to hike the 2.5 miles to the Wadleigh Stream Lean-to and wait for Wookie there. I started moving and enjoyed some trail that ran around the Nahmakanta Lake and even went through the beach twice. The thunder kept rumbling and getting louder. About 5 minutes from the shelter it started sprinkling. I made it and hurried and filtered water. Oper had arrived. Then we heard loud clinks on the shelter roof. It was hailing a little and then it started down pouring. I was glad I had hustles to the lean-to and cooked some couscous. 45 minutes later Wookie arrived drenched but in good spirits. Ever Ready was right behind him. Unhinged was already in her tent before any of us had arrived. Then a father and two sons arrived. It got crowded all of a sudden. I was glad we were moving on. I headed out and summited Nesuntabunt Mountain which has a side trail to a view of Mt Katahdin which is 16 miles line of sight away. The sky had cleared after the storm so we had a great view. I sat on the rock admiring the view until Wookie arrived. We decided to hike 3 more miles. We made it a little over two more to Crescent Pond where we got distracted by blueberries and then I saw a nice camping spot right near some blueberries so we decided to stop. I set up my tent and then grabbed my pot and picked some more blueberries for breakfast, braving the mosquitoes. Then it started to rain.