Date: 2008-09-27
From: Sydney Tappan Campsite, ME

To: Sydney Tappan Campsite, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Wow was the wind crazy last nite. It kept waking me up and sounded like huge ocean waves. It was amazingly warm and cozy though, the temp never dropping out of the 50's in my hammock. That's partially because of having the tarp pitched very close to the hammock and ground, the hammock being hung low to the ground, and the duff. I was ecstatic really. I got up @ 3:30 a.m. to water the leaves, and Incessant felt a drop of water on her head. Because I pitched the tarps directly to the ground (I helped set her up for our first bad weather), silnylon stretches over nite, so it wasn't taut on her head end. One simple adjustment fixed that, and she had no more probs. I woke, not realizing the sun was up, because I sleep with my cap over my eyes. I woke and saw it was 9:22 a.m. I just smiled knowing it was still quite warm,we weren't hiking today, and it was just dripping from the trees, no rain. Incessant woke about 30 min. earlier. I got our food down, and I enjoyed milk (Nido) and cereal this morning. It was actually quite nice out, despite the strong wind and grey skies. We decided to throw our raingear on and just go sit on the wooden bench and talk. Incessant had a great idea...why not move the log bench under one of our tarps and hang out there protected? So, I skinned my hammock, re-pitched one side of my tarp way our...actually tying the corners up 2 tree trunks, and we moved the log bench under my tarp. PERFECT! Now we were protected from the wind and occasional sprinkle. We decided it was time to finish last nite's card game, so we did...Incessant won! We obviously had to play another as a tie breaker (I'd won one out in the woods a while back), and guess who won this one? Incessant AGAIN! She's on a roll man. By now it was 1'ish, and time for lunch. I could really go for my favorite #5 Vito sub sandwich from Jimmy John's right now, with salt and vinegar chips and a big fat coke. Instead I had my usual english muffin with a babybel cheese and mustard, small bag of cheetos, which upon opening..went all over the wet ground, and yes...I picked them all up and ate them anyways! And a Welch's fruit snack along with some fig newtons. It was a big lunch! LOL Incessant was eating a pepperoni and mayo roll up in this flat bread she found. She gave me a bite, knowing it was more like my vito Italian sub than anything else I'd get out here. Because of the length of time we're out before making it to Whitehouse Landing (who has a short order grill and a 1 lb hamburger!), I can't let myself think about real food too much...it's pure torture. After lunch, we were both stiff from sitting all morning, so we got up to walk around a bit, then I had the brilliant idea of listening to my iPod and dancing! So that's what we did! So picture it, 2 people in full rain gear, sharing the 2 earbuds of an iPod, dancing their swet hearts away and singing along with the music too out in the middle of the Maine Wilderness on a windy misty day! LOL We had SUCH a great time, and it kept us warm as well. I think only 1 hiker went by today, and the trail wraps around this campsite, but without noise you'd never know we were here. He did turn and look to see what the commotion was. I'm sure he thought, "Wow, must be nice to be able to just hang out in the woods and screw around." Actually....it was. After probably an hour of dancing (maybe more), we decided to review what I was writing in my journal so Incessant could have me add what she wanted. That took awhile as you'd guess, and once finished, it was about 5 p.m., so we decided to cook our dinner. I just cooked while sitting at the bench, with my cookpot stuck out of the end of the tarp. Mac n Cheese, here we come. I also had a dinner snack of peanut butter and some of Incessant's trailmix left overs (she really doesn't like the stale peanuts in those things). Then we moved the log furniture back to the fire ring, and I repitched my tarp and got my hammock unskinned again. We both crawled in for the nite around 7:00'ish, which was nice. Just as we got settled, the rain started lightly falling again, and the wind was blowing. It was warm though, it said 64 degrees in my hammock around 8:30 p.m. It was a truly fantastic zero day spent out in the woods. I was afraid it was going to be pouring and 30 degrees, but we ended up being able to hang out and have a wonderful time. Tomorrow is the remaining 5 miles of real mountains, 3 peaks to include White Cap. I hope the rain stops but if not...it surely won't be the first time we've hiked together in it. Remember, back in PA this year, it rained almost everyday but 1 I think, so Incessant is seasoned in that. I'm really excited to have the significant climbing and elevation behind us after tomorrow. I can't believe that the only big climb left will be Mt. Katahdin. 76.8 miles to go! (I'm dreamin of walking into our home and seeing my boys right now...I can't wait.) ~Certain