Date: 2006-08-11
From: Wadleigh Stream Lean-to

To: Hurd Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 19.6

These last few days have seemed so surreal because I know how close we are to the end. We really took our time this morning because we kind of hoped that Doogie would show up. The mystery of the shelter dwellers was solved by Longhaul, who was one of them, and who explained that they were all southbounders (not a group as Snake suspected last night). Longhaul had the same schedule as us over the next few days and so we have added another hiker to our summit party. We straggled out as tiredly as we had straggled in, sans Doogie, but were almost immediately rewarded, after a little climb, by another jaw-dropping view of Katahdin. So we had to take a break. I think that should be some sort of rule, every time you see Katahdin you should have to take a break. We learned today that Warren Doyle, 14 time or so thru-hiker (see Grizzly¢s journal for the exact history of the man), had indeed picked up his shirt in the hiker box at The Place in Damascus, VA. This excited Snake since he had deposited that exact shirt and size in that very hiker box. I think it¢s so funny that the shirt he got rid of found him in the end. We eventually found Doogie, or rather he caught up to us. He had stopped walking at the first campsite yesterday and called it a rain day. So that mystery was also solved. Snake and I headed on and eventually came to Rainbow Ledges where we¢d been told there was another gorgeous view of the big K, and where there was supposed to be tons of blueberries. I said I was going to sit up there for hours. Unfortunately as we started heading up the hill it started to rain from the only rain cloud in the sky which happened to be positioned over our heads. Snake asked me, the group meteorologist, how long it would last and I said not long at all. What I didn¢t predict was the BB sized hail that started pelting us minutes later. It hurt. And it was cold ¢ it must have dropped about 15 degrees in temperature. And since we were up on a treeless ledge there was nowhere to hide from the vicious little stingers. In the end the gorgeous view of Katahdin was very brief to my eyes as we hurried down off the ledge. As suddenly as the hail had started it stopped. We sere only 2 miles away from the shelter, but now that I was cold and wet on top of my feet hurting, it was a difficult distance for me. Snake had been smart and put on his rain jacket so when we got to the shelter I was the only one who had to hurry to put on dry clothes and jump into my insufficient sleeping bag. The only food I had left was a cold dinner, which was poorly timed with my present condition, and it looked like Longhaul and Snake also practically nothing to eat. As I ate what I had from the ¢warmth¢ of my sleeping bag a nice family of section hikers gave us their extra food from the trip ¢ mountain house dinners, desserts, snacks, breakfast, and hot drinks. It was trail magic at its best and it found us on the most perfect day. My problem was that I was still shivering and I couldn¢t get out to make the dinner and drink. I came up with a plan to run to the privy, run over to get water, and hopefully have enough heat built up to cook. So I burst out of my sleeping bag and was about to start my jog when Snake said, ¢could you please put the topping on the apple crisp?¢ I couldn¢t say no to such a polite request, so I did so before running for the privy. When I got back I learned that he was not just using my stove because he had run out of fuel, he had actually made my dinner. It was the nicest gesture in the world, but I jokingly accused him of trying to spite me since he had been telling me all day that he was going to sneak off and fill my water bottle tonight. Either way I appreciated and needed it, and the warm meal did a great job of warming me up. We fell asleep late after a very giddy and talkative evening during which Doogie and I had to have said, no less than 5 times, ¢Do you know where we¢re going to be tomorrow? The Birches!¢