Date: 2007-07-09
From: Carl A Newhall Lean-to

To: Long Pond Stream Lean-to
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: light rain

OK, before I get into it, a headline in the idiot news dept: I'm the feature story once again for complaining about blisters and not using the Neosporin I'M ALREADY CARRYING!   End of story.Looking forward, I'm staying in a motel room tomorrow night and could not be happier. I've got a whole day planned to switch out gear, dry out and clean up, plus an ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT buffet. To do that, it's gonna be a looong day hiking tomorrow. First, let's talk about today.From here on out I'll affectionately refer to today as "hell-day"! Starting the day off, the terrain was easy. But I've pushed too hard and I've gotten sore and blistered enough that my pace has slowed almost down to 2.0 mph. Then the hard climbs (HCs) came. Just before the HCs, I fjorded my first ever AT river (no problem so far) and talked to some nice old park ranger who warned me about upcoming weather AND running out of water¢¦ HA!Soooo, going up the first major HC to the ridge I run low on water, go to the advertised stream only to find it a stagnant mosquito farm. (by the by, I'm doing something wrong with my water filter or else its totally useless. I've been drinking straight from springs for 3 days now.) Anyways, pull out the filter, already frustrated, and filter 15 oz of water in 32 minutes! Not good. Then, of course, I grab everything, throw it in the pack, and do something no one should ever do ¢¦ hike angry.Around HC peak number three I've run out of swears, and finally cross a spring. HOORAY. I proceeded to fill up on water and the day is saved. And then, ¢¦ the bottom falls out of the sky; pouring rain, wind-gusts strong enough to push you over, all coupled with the fact that Maine trailworkers (bless them for their dedicated hard work) are obsessed with rock staircases and just plain steep-ass rocks.Well, time to find out what I'm made of, I guess. You know the adage "when the going gets tough, yada, yada, yada", wellll, the tough are 20 miles back hunkered down for the night. You don't have to be tough to thru-hike, you have to be a little crazy. Because when hell-day comes, the crazy make it a personal battle against a damn mountain. At the climax of my hell-day I threw on a cheap plastic emergency poncho and decided I was, no, am crazy, and thus hell-day officially began.I took as many energy boosters as I could find, forced myself to jack up my adrenaline, and really got serious about this mountain blocking my way. Side note - I saw only 4 other people on the ridge, all together, all early in the day before the storm came. Halfway into hell, the only other living, moving creature was a mouse. It looked at me and said, "You know what I think of this rain? Two tears in a bucket." I simply replied "mo#%^*@it" and charged straight ahead. The reality of the situation did not actually sink-in until I arrived at the relative safety of the shelter that if I had stopped hiking on the ridge and/or did not immediately take hypothermia precautions, I probably was on the hairy edge of something very bad.Sure was interesting though. And I'm glad that now I have experienced the WORST. And for the first time I've been more concerned with hiking than with all my fears and insecurities. I guess hell-day wasn't so bad after all. Hell-nothin' ?One more day and the 100 mile wilderness will officially be pimp-slapped by yours truly. Wilder-nothin'thanks for reading~ Obie