Date: 2003-09-28
From: Campsite

To: Campsite
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: overcast clouds

start campsitedestination campsiteI was awoken by the sounds of something being thrown at my tent. What ever it was ,it would hit my wet tent with a splat. It was loud enough that it woke Mudbutt up who was tented a few feet away. Splat,there it was again.I peered outside to see who was throwing things at my tent. I could see no one or nothing out of the ordinary. I laid back down,then there it was again.Splat! A squirrel chattered loudly from the tree above my tent! Okay,smarty pants,I am awake! Then just as I got up to go get our food bags down,the rain started in again. I hit the snooze in my mind and laid back down. Later ,when I woke up again it was still raining. I got up and got my food bag then sat in the front of my tent and fixed my breakfast. All the while listening to the rain hit on my tent. Finally,I just quit putting off the inevitable and got dressed,then packed up. If I am going tomake it to Abol Campground in 6 days,I have got to get moving,rain or no rain. I hugged Mudbutt good bye,then we! both started squalling. If we are like this when I leave for a week what is it going to be like when we both go home? I don't even want to think about it. With final instructions for both of us ,I set off up the trail. My tears are mixed with the rain,as I hike. I am so grateful that I have this chance to hike atmy own pace. Yet part of me feels really guilty for going off and leaving Mudbutt. Yet,even if I had of hiked to Gulf Hagas where she is getting out,I would have been taking a chance on not having enough food to get me through the wilderness,nor would I have had eough time to hike and stay on our schedule. So,I feel like a bird let out of a cage to fly for a season. Except this bird might as well be a duck for all the water there is. The trail turns into a river as I try to navigate it. Then I come up on a rocky,and I mean rocky descent. It is also steep and I am reminded of the trail through the White Mountains. I take my time as I inch my way down. I have to lo! ok for each step my feet need to go. Luckily,even though the trail is wet,the rocks provide somewhat flat services to stand on as they gradually go down. Then at last I am at the bottom of the rock slide and the trail gets somewhat easier. at least it does if you are a duck. For a long while I try to keep the water out of my boots,then as the rain comes down hareder and harder,the low places in the trail become small pools of water. Finally I get tired of trying to side step every one and I just start walking through them. I come to the West Branch of the Pleasent River just after lunch. I have been dreading this ford all day. I am grateful to see that it is not very deep at all and by no means a swift river. I sit down and take my boots off. Miraclously ,my feet are still somewhat dry. I take off my socks stuffing them down inside my boots. I tie my boots together and hang them around my neck. I also undo the belt of my back pack. By the time I am halfway across the river,my feet are numb with the cold. That is good,I can't feel the rocks as ! they grind into the bottom of my feet. Once across the river,I sit down and dry my feet as best I can and put my boots back on. I am clipping along at a pretty good pace when I come to a wet boggy part of the trail,made worse by the constant rain thoughout the day. As I put one fot on a rock and the other foot on wet grass,the grass gives way and down I go,into a puddle that is at least a foot deep! I gingerly getup,I am now soaked clear to my feet. From then on I just slosh through the water. There is a certain freedom in being soaking wet. You cannot get any weter,so you donot have to watch where you step,or worry how deep the water on the trail is. By late afternoon the water is ankle deep consistantly on the trail. Small streams that could be walked across with a step now become a rushing torrent as the water flows down the mountain. At one point on the trail, I pass a spot where I can hear water rushing underneath the trail. I look down and see a small hole with a stre! am of water running beneath it. I stop and filter some water,filling my containers full. If I donot make it to the next shelter,at least I will have water and can stealth camp along the trail. By five oclock,I am tired and weary.There have been no flat places to pitch a tent. I have no idea how far I am from the shelter,so I plod along dripping water from my head. It rains in bursts,first a light shower,then a heavy deluge. I have never been so wet in my life.I drag myself up over countless small assents and stagger down the other sides.I come to one possible tent site right on the trail and right next to a small stream that has become a roaring river. I don't think I can take the noise for another night,and I am not sure it is high enough to be safe if we hve much more rain. I plod on dreaming of a hot shower and a meal at Waffle House. I know by theamountof rain that most of my stuff in my pack will be damp. My tent was wet whenI took it down this morning. I am grateful that I rolled my sleeping bag and clothes bag in a garbage bag efore pac! king them this morning.I know (I hope) my things will be dry. FinallyI come up on a semi flat spot just off the trail. A little bit of house keeping and within minutes I have my tent up. I shiver as I strip off my wet clothes while tanding in ront of my tent. Sure enough my clothes are dry. I struggle trying to put dry clothes on a wet body. but eventually perserverance pays off. I sit in my tent and eat a cold dinner.I am too tired to cook,and too hungry to wait on a hot meal if I did feel like cooking . I realized that skipped lunch today. It is easy to do when it is pouring rain. It is just no fun to sit in the rain and try to eat. I think this is the first time I have had a cold dinner the entire hike. The rain starts falling harder and the darkness moves in slowly. At last my feet and hands are warm although my fingers still look all shiveled up,like when you have them in water too long. It seems so lonely here without Mudbutt. As much as I enjoyed the hike today,I fi! nd myself missing her. She was going to stay put today and hike out tomorrow when it is suppose to clear up. I certainly hope it clears up or I will be here tomorrow all day.One soaking wet day is all I want for awhile. I saw a sign on the trail today at the crossing of another trail. It said Katahdin 89.5 miles. It shocked me into reality once again to remember that I am hiking in Maine. Well,today I was wading in Maine.10.5 mls.