Date: 2015-07-27
From: Hurd Brook Lean-to

To: The Birches
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: overcast clouds

An easy start today. I left just before 7am, with Smasher ahead breaking the webs. I reached the end of the 100 mile wilderness at 8am and followed the Golden Road to Abols camp store.The store was quite disappointing, as the restaurant wasn't open and everything was incredibly over priced. I was glad that I didn't have to do a full resupply, I would have been literally bankrupt from it. Instead I bought a bunch of snacks, tea, donuts. I ate all six donuts before leaving. I stayed until 10am, and then all four of us (Smasher, BigBen, Not Yet, myself) continued down the trail. We only had 10 more miles to do, so there was no particular rush. The trail was flat but rooty, and the weather was overcast but fine. We had to ford a river at one point, but the sun had come out by then and I dried out fairly fast. The miles went by pretty quickly. I finally got my first clear view of Katahdin through some trees. It looks absolutely huge, as would be expected. As I got to the campsite, just after 1.30, BigBen appeared in a car with Crusty Tissues. They invited me to go into Milinocket to get a shower. I, of course, agreed. The trip to Milinocket lasted much longer than I had anticipated. BigBen and I would be getting a ride back from some different hikers, but first we had to wait for them to return from hiking. It took hours. I had a shower, dinner, spent some time at the bar. I was really exhausted and just want to get back to the campsite. I knew I had a very early and long day ahead, so I didn't especially want to stay in town so late. The weather for tomorrow seems to be pretty bad. It's been predicted thunderstorms, hail, rain, the whole works. I'm hoping that if I get an early enough start then I can avoid the worst of it. I'm quite worried, as I've managed to chat to a few thru hikers in town who just finished. They've all warned me about how treacherous and terrifying the trail up can be. I'm feeling so ready for the trail to be over, even as much as I don't want the fun parts to be. My body is really aching a lot and I know that I wouldn't be able to push it much more. I keep getting sharp twinges of pain at the base of my back, and there is a line of pain down my right shin from falling in a rock hole, on top of the constant knee pain. I think after tomorrow I will need to rest it for a while. It's going to be extremely hard to go up and down the mountain tomorrow, and I expect that the only thing keeping me going will be the knowledge that I never have to do it ever again. I've been thinking a lot recently about my trip as a whole, and I've been asking other thru-hikers too. There are many things that we have all shared, that give us this sense of community, that binds us even though we didn't necessarily experience it together. I've been asking hikers what their favourite state was, and many have surprisingly said Virginia. I suppose it shouldn't be so surprising, as Virginia is such a huge state that it definitely has something for everyone. I think it's probably my favourite state because of the friends I was with. It was the state where I had the most fun, where I saw ponies, where I saw Fresh Ground the most, where I got much needed new shoes, where my trail legs finally appeared, where I had Mings buffet, where I spent night after night with people who made me laugh and pushed me to hike further, where I met wonderful strangers who gave me trail magic, where I finally met another English person, where I saw the sunrise over an incredible view. Already I can see why so many people come back to the trail. I don't think I will ever want to hike it again, but the pain, exhaustion, boredom, has started to fade already and all that remains is the most memorable, the most fun moments. I will undoubtedly miss many aspects of the trail, and saying goodbye is going to be especially difficult. I think that's probably inevitable after spending five months here. But until then, I hope that I can make the most of the time I have left in America. ~We finally met Val and John, the hikers who are driving us back. It's nearly 8pm, and we've just driven through McDonalds to pick up food for Smasher and Not Yet who will probably (definitely) be asleep by the time we get back. We took a brief detour when I spotted a moose in the pond beside the road. John u turned the car and did it again when we passed the pond. We spotted a calf there too. Unfortunately, they were scared by the screeching of the car tyres in the second u turn and ran away. I was equally as scared of the dramatic driving so close to an unbarred pond. I can't wait to sleep tonight. I'm very ready in every way to be finished hiking now. We've just driven in view of Katahdin, and it's taking up the entire horizon with a huge dark shape. It looks pointy along the top. It's absolutely awe inspiring.