Date: 2013-10-02
From: Abol Bridge

To: The Birches
Miles today: 10.0

I slept in this morning, which felt great and was much needed. Then I causally packed my stuff up and walked back to the Abol bridge camp store to get some coffee around 9 am. I saw Rock Dancer waiting for a hitch outside the store, so I talked to him for a while and we talked about how much we're going to miss all the crazy experiences and miss having no idea how or when we will ever get anywhere. Around 10 am, Bootsy showed up and we caught up about the last few days. Then we drank more coffee and waited for the restaurant to open at 11. Soon Nimbles showed up and we all wandered the camp store and talked about things that we could actually buy now that we don't have to carry them any more than just 10 more miles. Then the restaurant opened and we rushed in to eat. Bootsy and I were waiting for Tiny Tim to show up, but since there was no cell service or even a land line, we had no way to get in contact with her or know when or if she was coming. It's strange that I had service on and off throughout the 100 mile wilderness, but can't even use a land line in civilization. While we were eating, we saw Limping Eagle driving up and we were sure Tiny Tim would be with him, but there was still no Tiny Tim. Limping Eagle told us that he didn't think that Tiny Tim was going to be able to hike, but we wanted to talk to her and figure things out before we just left and climbed Katahdin without her. Limping Eagle offered to drive us up the road until we could get service to talk to her, and while we were driving up the potholed dirt road, Limping Eagles muffler fell off. Luckily we had one bar of cell service, so while Limping Eagle fixed his car, Bootsy and I were able to get texts out by holding our phones out of the window. We found out that Tiny Tim was not getting any better and wouldn't be able to do Katahdin with us, so it's final, were going up Katahdin tomorrow. We got back to the camp store around 2 30, bought a few snacks and some ice cream, and then started our hike to Katahdin around 3. The hike was easy and beautiful except for the two river crossings we had. The dam upstream must have opened because the water level was high and swift moving. Of course we didn't want to take the high water trail, so we prepared to forge. On the first crossing it took me three attempts to find a route across that didn't involve me being waist deep in quickly moving water. I was about halfway across and waiting to make sure Bootsy found a route when she slipped on a rock and fell forward. She was able to keep her pack mostly out of the water and steady herself on a rock but without any footing and the pack weighing her down, she couldn't really get up. I reached out to help but realized if she let go of the rock she might really go under, so I grabbed the back of her pack and helped pull her up. She was wet but didn't get hurt or anything and we both made it across. The second river crossing was too deep to walk across but had rocks that we were able to get across part of the way on. They were far apart though and I got stuck with one foot on one rock and my hands and other foot on the rock ahead. I decided to just go for it and push off with my foot and hope I made it fully to the rock, which I did, but I lost a water bottle to the river in the process. After this rock the water wasn't quite as deep and I was able to slide into the water and walk the rest of the way across. Just another day in the life of an AT hiker. I really do love river fords though because they are just fun. We finally made it to the Birches around 6 40, right after dark, and signed in at the ranger station. Bootsy, Nimbles, and I all slept in one shelter and stayed up until about 11 30 reminiscing about the trail and being anxious/excited about tomorrow. Can't believe tomorrow is the day!