Date: 2005-09-19
From: Rainbow Spring Campsite

To: The Birches Campsite
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: broken clouds

The last full day, up at 6 AM and gone by 7:05. What a great feeling, Good Times and I were excited, we both have the same plan. We wanted to end up that day, near the base of Mount Katahdin (for an assault to the summit the next morning).    The move along Rainbow Lake was a nice one. There was a lot of roots however, we were making good time. The trail did have the one re-route that we did not expect or read about in the hand-book. I know it added some distance to the day because it made a 90 degree turn to the right for quite some distance before coming left and back on to the main trail. It looked like the re-route was to get the trail away from the shore line. Erosion and human impact was taking its toll, that was why there were so many roots along that section (in my opinion).    We were just talking about how many moose I had seen along the trail and the fact that Good Times had not seen any at all and "bang", a huge bull moose went crashing through the woods. At 10:45 my 6th moose sprinted away from us just off to our left. Just past the Hurd Brook Lean-to area, this moose was by far the biggest animal I have ever seen in the wild. A good set of shovels on top of it's huge body made an impressive site. There was about six feet worth of spread in those antlers. I do not know how he ran through the thick woods so fast. He looked, outstanding.   We were there at the Abol Bridge, 11.2 miles, by noon. Just before we reached the road we came upon our last bit of trail magic (near the beginning of the 100 mile wilderness's northern boundary). Within hearing distance of the Greenville-Millinocket road, we found a cooler full of Little Debbie snacks and soda. Little Debbie was a staple for me and many other hikers all along the AT. Inexpensive, tasty and loaded with mile producing energy (sugar). Fudge wheels were my favorite. You could crush them into a blob of chocolate, and they would taste just as good as if you ate them in the original prefabricated shape (not messy either, like a crushed cup cake, and yes I would have ate that as well).   The Abol bridge and the view of Mount Katahdin, was a sight to see indeed. I could not believe we were finally there. We pulled ourselves away from that vista and went to the Abol Bridge Camp store, purchased lunch and anything else we thought we needed for the summit (including a celebratory can of beer for that day and at "The Sign"). A good old great tasting, infamous can of Schlitz.    Blister Sister was there with her car, waiting for a few hikers and we sat and talked to each other for a while. Blister Sister was section hiking this year, she thru-hiked once before. Forever North showed up and evidently the two new each other from her hike back then. I first met her at the Gathering in Caratunk and then one time along the trail (at the Carl A. Newhall Lean-to, about 80 miles back). She and her friend eventually left and gave Forever North a ride to Millinocket. He said before leaving that he will return to summit when the weather cleared. I also meet a hiker through Blister Sister that gave me a great idea.    He too had long hair (much longer then mine). He told me of a story whereas he was confronted by a young girl who asked him why he wore his hair so long. He told her he donated his hair to a place that made wigs for sick people. She said, "I thought so" and pulled her wig off. She had Cancer and was hiking her own hike, the battle with the disease. Her mother insisted that she put her wig back on and she said, "no, he is one of us". I was touched by that story, cancer took my Mother four years ago on this date of this journal entry. If I ever decide to cut my hair, that is what I pledge I will do, contribute it all to the "Locks Of Love Foundation".      The Camp store had a payphone that cost a lot of money to make a call from. I believe it was a satellite payphone, I called Brenda to inform her where I was and to have her call Brian and say everything was going as planned. Brian planned to leave at midnight that evening and with a friend of his (Wayne), and was going to drive strait through to the base of Katahdin. I posted a message at the Camp store in case he showed up there to tell him exactly what I planned to do. After a nice long break, we started walking north again. The section of trail from the Abol Bridge to the Ranger Station was a pleasure to hike. We had just under ten miles to go till we reached "The Birches Campsite". Good Times, as we were hiking, made a great suggestion. "What if we were to wake early the next morning, get to the top of Katahdin and be the first two people to see the sunrise that day". I had read about this before, if you are there on the summit at sunrise you WILL be the first to see the sun that day in the U.S. (obviously it was because of the elevation there on the peak). We signed in at the Ranger Station and walked to the lean-to's at the campsite, just up the road (we were the only two there that night). The Ranger Station offered day packs to the thru hikers who wanted to use them for the summit. I was tempted however, I figured I walked all this way, every step of the way, with all my gear and I would go to the top with it as well.    We hung our Bear Bags for the last time this trip and soon were ready for sleep. Good Times packed his day pack and planned to leave the rest of his gear at the Ranger Station. We settled in and set our alarms for 1 AM. We woke up and then I told him that I did not think it was such a good idea after all. The weather did not look that favorable for such a trek, but that would not have stopped us. What pulled the plug on the idea was that we did not have adequate flashlights for that type of assault (that mountain turned out to be hard to do in the daylight). Every light we had, needed fresh batteries. Had we have thought about it back at the camp store, we could have perhaps purchased two flashlights then. I was sorry to let him down, I would have loved to have finished the hike in such a way (if only we would have thought about it sooner).   We reset our alarms for around 6 AM the next morning and climbed back into our sleeping Bags. What a great night and what an exciting feeling, we were going to summit tomorrow, cool!