Date: 2008-09-24
From: Pollywog Stream Stealth Campsite

To: Abol Bridge Campground
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: clear sky

Wow, it seems as though I was just thumbing through my guide book dreaming of Maine... and now It is really HERE! I am on page 159, I have reached the end. My profile shows this crazy line going up off the page. Yikes! Well, today started out pretty awesome. I got up in no particular rush because I was just heading to the last shelter of the trail... an easy 11.5 mile day. But.. once I got to the first shelter where Brown Bag, Moonshadow, and S. Forecast stayed last night... I got the news. Sunkist stated "Well, I've got good news and bad news... The good news is that the next shelter is only 11.5 away. And the bad news is that Brown Bag is heading to Baxter today." Ahhh the shock hit in, I was not ready to pull a crazy mile day and summit TOMORROW! Was he nuts? (Yes he was haah) The trail was filled with crazy weather reports... supposedly Hurricane Kyle would be hitting land and bringing bad rain... Friday (our hopeful summit day) Saturday would be a washout for sure.. and thus we would have to wait all weekend for good weather. Now I don't need an amazing beautiful day up on top. I just really don't want to hike in rain if I don't have too. Well knowing all this... the crazy chaos began. Sunkist and Kyanite took off in a hurry to reach Brown Bag. (Which was really silly as he had probably left at 7 and it was now 10:30!) But then I ended up in the chase after them. I mean the snack pack has been together pretty much since NC, although sometimes on and off we have hiked together for a long time. Why shouldn't we summit together? So I to had to hike up a storm. I was getting pretty stressed out, which is really counter productive of the natural beauty of the trail. I stopped by Rainbow lake to eat lunch and chill out. I decided I would summit Friday no matter what. I made peace with the fact that it may be crappy weather, or that my friends would all be ahead of me. I just wanted to end the trip in a calm manner. I reached the last shelter, and decided to push on to Abol Bridge. Perhaps I would be able to catch up with Kellie (BB's sis) and figure out where everyone was. It was really bitter sweet to pass the shelter. The log was all full, and after reading a few folks' entries I moved on. The walk down to the bridge was really nice. I took my time, smelled the balsams, and listened to the crazy red squirrels. Then I reached the Greenville road. If you have never been on it... it's also called the Golden road due to the crazy amount of logging that goes on around it. Lumber trucks fly down this dirt road, and hit speed bumps before crossing a single lane bridge over the Penobscot. It is quite a shock to hit after a quiet day in the woods. After a few photos from the bridge I moved on to the camp store. It was there that Sunkist, Kyanite, S. Forecast, Aggie, Kellie, and Brown Bag were sitting at a picnic table. The weather report was clear for Friday morning... and thus everyone was staying at the campground. No more crazy chasing to finish the trail. It was finally a peaceful joyous moment. After figuring it all out, I went into the store and bought all sorts of yummy junk food to stuff my face with. Whoopie pies, chips, soda, a microwave cheeseburger (sounds gross I know but man did it hit the spot), and some candy. Oh yes, all was right in the world.    We all got tent spots down by the river. It is beautiful and the view of Kathadin is breath taking. To think only 2 more days... and this phase of my life will be over. Kellie once again rocked our socks with amazing things... skittles and she brought with her a huge stack of smutt! (trashy tabloids that even the boys love to read) We also enjoyed time around the fire. Ahh.. and I nearly forgot. It is Moose Hunting season here in Maine. The camp store is also a moose checkpoint. Tonight I saw 4 huge dead moose in the back of pickup trucks. One was shot by a young girl with her dad, that was kind of neat to see. It is a weird culture but wow those things are big when you are around them. I was kind of sad to state that I have only seen one real live moose on the trail and that was in VT... now in Maine I have seen 4 dead moose. (I'd much rather see live ones)Ready for sleep in the shadows of Katahdin,Sun Beam