Date: 2004-10-01
From: Wilson Valley Lean-To 

To: Chair Back Gap Lean-To 
Miles today: 15.6

GatherWake up, cold. Cook and pack up. Feet are hurting pretty bad, no turning back now. Heard a AP reporter tried to hike the wilderness to do a story and washed out at this spot, pretty rough through here.Keep pushing, get to Long Pond Stream, Statlan fell in and lost one of his trekking poles, never got it back either!!Feet are really starting to give me problems, skin is starting to come off the bottoms of my feet!! Keep pushing hard.Pass by Barren Mt, hard climb. Go by Third Mt. Monument Cliffs, keep pushing north toward Katahdin.Hiking in a bubble it seems, Kip, Chef and a bunch of others. Start slowing down, feet are killing me, nothing to put on them, I¢m walking on the sides of my feet now, can¢t stand the pressure.Columbus Mt., pretty tough climb with my feet like they are. Make it to Chair Back Gap Lean-To, I had to hike into the night using my headlamp. Got there about 10:00 PM, Kip and the rest are here, shelter is full, cowboy camped, eat and turn in.Wilson Valley Lean-To ¢ To ¢ Chair Back Gap Lean-To ¢ 15.6 miles10/01/2004SlimerMuch better sleep, wake up to find myself covered with leaves and pine needles. The leaves are falling like mad here.I listen to my beloved red squirrels as I pack up. Move fast to Abol campground. Get to asphalt road and walk that to the camp ground.Many bird hunters are out today. Get to camp store. A group of thru-hikers are there getting ready to leave for the birches. I spy ¢Shivers¢ I last saw him back in GA, good person he is.I enjoy the atmosphere of this store. I buy food and eat without any manners what so ever. Float planes are beached on the river shore, Katahdin is looming in the distance, so close by, within a mile of the Baxter State Park Boundary. The day seems to be shaping up quite well. At the store I meet ¢Pop-Tart¢, the MATC Ridge Runner. Through his binoculars I can see Baxter Peak (Katahdin). Can just barely see hikers moving up there, they look like piss-ants. Tomorrow I¢ll soon be one of those piss-ants, A happy piss-ant that is. Rally and the crew comes in, we all sit outside the store. I notice that Rally sets away from us. She mutters that we smell terrible!! HA !!Sundown shows up. I really enjoy their company, it appears that we are all going to summit together.I soon get going, easy walk. Spectacular white water streams along the trail. At this point I begin to think about what Rally said. I decide to take a quick bath in the creek (COLD)!!Water takes my breath away. I hope Sundown and Rally don¢t walk upon me (girls) HA!!Nice long walk to the Birches Campsite in Baxter. This site is only for long distance hikers.Here I meet Shivers and his father, wonderful people they are. I check in at the Ranger Station and head for the campsite. Throw my gear down in the shelter and start sorting out what I don¢t need to take to the summit, checking our gear and checking it twice. Katahdin is one tough climb, the toughest mountain on the entire A/T. We all set around with the summit on our minds. This is what we have struggled and suffered for, for over 5 months and 2,174 miles. Oh, and one tenth of a mile.We all go to bed with Katahdin on our minds, tomorrow it will be over ¢Bittersweet¢ it will be.