Date: 2007-06-26
From: Katadhin Stream Campground

To: Hurd Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: moderate rain

I learned something about Maine today ¢ the sun rises very early! I woke up at 5am and was certain I had overslept. I looked out the window of my room and the sun was already peaking over the top of the buildings. I checked my watch and sort of felt like I was in an episode the ¢Twilight Zone¢. It doesn¢t get this light out until 7am or so down in Atlanta.I was at the AT Caf© at 5:20AM to have breakfast before Paul was to pick me up to shuttle me to Baxter State Park. I was watching the local news during breakfast and the weather forecast for today is not good. Heavy rain, severe lightning, damaging hail and high winds. I wasn¢t as concerned as climbing up to Baxter Peak in the rain but was more concerned that they¢d not let us even attempt it. As we spoke to the lady at the ranger post, she said they¢d only given it a Class 2 so far, so we were able to continue into the park but they¢d recommend we wait until 7AM when they would post the current conditions and class rating.I quickly checked in with the ranger station, grabbed a day pack and headed up to Baxter Peak. There were 3 other SOBO hikers heading up to the summit with me. I quickly left the three behind as I made my way up the mountain. I made it to the summit in 2 hours and 20 minutes. There was a SOBO by himself at the top, waiting for his other hiking partners to get there. I had passed both of them awhile back and let him know he had awhile to wait before they would arrive. He asked if I¢d take his pic and he in return took several of my pics.I spent roughly 20 minutes on the summit and decided I was ready to head back down. My descent took me exactly 2 hours. I had at least 10 more miles to hike today in order to reach the boundary of Baxter State Park. There was a female SOBO hanging out at the ranger station when I arrived. She was up from FL and was hiking the trail solo. She had climbed to the summit yesterday. She said it took her over 10 hours round trip and she was taking a zero day today. It was only a little after noon and she was bored out of her mind. We talked while I was readying my pack and then it was time to leave the campground area. It was beautiful hiking through Baxter State Park. It seemed I wanted to snap a photo around every turn in the trail. Simply beautiful country!I had stopped to filter some water when I saw an older man and a young boy heading up the trail towards me. He introduced himself as ¢Stickman¢ and the kid was ¢Faithful¢. They were hiking the AT as a Missionary trip to raise money for some project or something. He got the biggest kick out of hearing my trail name. He told me it was the best one he¢d heard so far. He saw I was wearing a cross and then he saw I have a cross tattoo on my right calf. He wanted to know the story behind the tattoo, so I told him and him immediately asked if he could take a picture of it. He took several pics and then offered me one of his walking sticks free of charge. He gave me his contact info and asked for me to contact him and he¢ll send me one. He makes homemade walking sticks from Poplar and then engraves scripture into it that ties in with backpacking. I can¢t wait for it to arrive! We must¢ve talked for over 30 minutes and the bugs were getting worse, so we decided to continue on our ways.I soon reached Abol Bridge and stopped for a soda and snack at the store.I still had a lot of daylight left, so I decided to hike to the Hurd Brook lean-to. It was something like 3-3.5 miles from my current location. I arrived at the lean-to to find 5 hikers already there. 3 inside the lean-to and 2 camped outside of it. I located a spot for my hammock and went about setting up my camp. During this time, another 3 people showed up to stay here for the night: an older man out for a section hike and a young couple who were hoping to hike the 100 Mile Wilderness, but only made it two days and had turned around. Honestly, they had no business being out in the 100 Mile Wilderness. His pack was made from a 2x4 wood frame with an old duffel bag tied to it with nylon cord. He was carrying a huge cooking pot from home; it must¢ve weighed several pounds. They ran out of food after only 2 days. Luckily, they ran into Brian & Brian, a father & son from NY, who were staying in campsite as well. Here¢s another funny story. This is the first time either Brian had ever been in the woods or backpacking. So instead of doing an overnight or something to try it out, the father decides they¢ll start at Baxter State Park and hike the AT to New York. He was allowing 42 days for them to do it. He was carrying over 70 pounds in his pack and his son was carrying 50 pounds. I¢m guessing his son was maybe 11-12 years old and couldn¢t have weighed more than 100 pounds. I can only imagine how miserable it must¢ve been for him to carry a 50 pound pack. The father had over 20 days of food in his pack including over 50 Power bars, a full-size can of Pam cooking spray (no idea why he had that in the woods), he was carrying two Coleman propane canisters (the ones that weigh several pounds each), something like 30+ Mountain House meals. Needless to say, we were all having a good laugh at his expense. But he knew how ¢green¢ he appeared and proceeded to make fun of himself throughout the night. They had made it two days into the trip when they decided to turn around and head back to Abol Bridge. He was able to reach his wife, who immediately left NY, for a 10 hour drive to pick them up the following morning.Brian (the father), explained he collects rocks and found a rock with some fossils in it earlier in the day. This rock weighs around 30 pounds and he had hiked several miles with it in his hands to the Hurd Brook lean-to and he planned on carrying it out in the morning to Abol Bridge. It was a neat rock but there is no way in hell I¢d carry a 30 pound rock on a backpacking trip unless it was worth a ton of money!The older man who arrived in camp really enjoyed hearing himself talk. He¢d talk non-stop for an hour or two at a time. I finally grabbed my book and found a quiet spot back by my hammock to read and relax for a bit. A short time later, one of the guys from the lean-to was headed my way with his book. He found a spot nearby and we both read in peace and quiet for a couple of hours.Once the sun went down, we all gathered around the fire and sat in silence. It¢s amazing how much time you can spend just staring at a fire. I decided to turn in around 10pm and skies opened up shortly after. The rain was coming down in buckets and there were strong storms in the area. Lots of thunder and lightning.