Date: 2008-09-30
From: .3 past Mountain View Pond, ME

To: Kokadjo B-Pond Rd., ME
Miles today: 2.7

Well well well¢¦what a wonderfully unexpected day, where things are provided that you really need, only you didn¢t know you really needed it. We both slept well last nite, Incessant got hot (as usual) and I was snug as a bug in a rug with my 10 layers on (ok ok¢¦only 4 plus my 20 degree bag). I did get up twice to water the leaves, but fell back asleep easily. I always look around with my headlamp, hoping to see some scary animal, but nothing is ever there. Sort of like the time I was nite scuba diving in Hawaii, and I hung back from the group a bit (we all had lites) and I slowly turned 360 degrees, peering my little light into the pitch black nite ocean, hoping to see a shark, but no luck then either. Maybe I need to develop some phobias, and then these experiences will happen right?Anyway, the alarm went off and I spoke Incessant¢s name about 4 times and then the snoring ended¢¦telling me she was awake. We talked for a bit in our hammocks and around 6:30 a.m. (when there¢s plenty of light) we both got up. It wasn¢t too cold, but there was a slight chill in the air. In the low 50¢s.I retrieved our food and we sat on our hammock facing each other, eating our breakfast. I sat there watching and listening to the yellow leaves fall from the trees, all around us. There was also this very very uptight red squirrel that needed to let us know (for like 30 minutes SOLID) that she did not like us being anywhere near her territory, so it was this constant chittering¢¦she was basically bitching us out, but I knew in time, she¢d be relieved of her stress as we hiked away. Seriously, when in life do you get to experience this in this way? I had no idea we¢d be hiking out here during peak foliage season. What luck. Today is day #11 without a shower and with only 1 full day of non-hiking for Incessant. I¢d be throwing a fit if I were her, but as usual, she just does what she has to do and does it with a smile on her face. Her knee was pretty stiff this morning though, so I was really glad we modified our hiking plan for a lower day today.Today¢s hike would be great, an immediate 1 mile semi-easy climb over Little Boardman Mtn. and then literally flat slightly downhill for the rest of the day. Aw yeah¢¦my kind of day. Our tarps were pretty dry, but some of our clothing was still damp. Better than yesterday at least. We were hiking by 8:30 a.m. and I told Incessant I needed to wake up and hike behind her up the mountain. She actually hikes about the same pace as me first thing in the morning, when I¢m waking up and she¢s got fresh legs, so this is one of my favorite parts of the day. We both feel good in the morning. The trail was muddy some but was mainly leaf covered with rocks¢¦some hidden, so that was a little tough. We started up Little Boardman Mtn. (which has a false summit by the way). The sky was a thin grey, so we both kept talking to the sun, encouraging it to burn through and come out today. Incessant and I discussed how weather can really affect the positive or negative feeling of a hiking day out here. When the sun is it out and the sky is blue, it¢s a whole set of worries that you can shelf for awhile. No need to worry about staying dry and unless it¢s a really cold sunny day, you don¢t have to worry so much about staying warm either. We got to the false summit of the mountain and I found this great rock that looked like a carved out seat. I sat there and waited just a few minutes for Incessant. She showed up, we ate a snack and I told her I was going to hike on at my normal pace to Kokadjo B-Pond Rd. and wait for her there so I could finish some journaling. She was totally cool with that, as she does love hiking by herself too. I took off and then saw the trail ascending again. Damn¢¦I hate false summits, so I hollered back, ¢Uh oh¢¦the trail is going up again.¢ I heard a, ¢Damn!!!¢ coming from behind. I just laughed and hiked on.I was in my zone just hiking along and probably .5 from the road, I saw a man coming towards me. We stopped to talk and it was Mountain Lion (MA) a gentleman hiking for the Lion¢s Club to raise $ for eye disease like blindness. We must have stood there and talked for like 20 minutes. He really hoped to raise money in the 5-digit area, but as of now, he¢s raised about $3,000. The Lion¢s club has an international newspaper that has an article that just came out this month¢¦about his hike, so I¢m hoping that gets more people to donate. He asked if I¢d met Zero Zero, who is supposedly 1 day behind. I said no, but Mountain Lion wanted to talk to him, because this guy is legally blind, so he really wanted to talk to him. Mountain Lion got to Stratton and really had a hurt knee, so he went home for awhile and then decided to flip from Katahdin back to Stratton to take off the pressure. He seemed so happy to be out there and it was nice to see. In the middle of our conversation¢¦here comes Incessant. So we got a chance to ask Mountain Lion about White House Landing, where he zeroed for a few days during that horrible weather we were going over White Cap Mtn. in. Apparently, this was a Category 1 hurricane and we were hiking through it¢s affects before it swung back out to sea. It was forecasted to be much worse, but still¢¦.it explains those wicked winds we experienced. Mountain Lion told us that White House Landing does not have electricity, which concerned me, because I only have 1 camera battery left. He did say you can give your rechargeable stuff to the owners who use a generator in their house, and will gladly charge your batts for you. He also said there¢s no laundry, but instead you scoop up pond water, they have big wash tubs and laundry detergent, so you can wash by hand and then hang your stuff to dry. He said the bunkrooms have woodstoves so once you get those fired up, things dry pretty quickly. He also said breakfast is included in the price, but lunch and dinner are extra. These were all details I had been wondering about, but didn¢t meet anyone yet that knew them. Hey, at this point, I¢ll gladly take a rustic¢ish camp. I¢m most obsessed with the thought of a 1 lb hamburger than anything. JSo we all talked a bit more¢¦very nice man, and I was glad to meet him. We headed on, and I decided to go ahead and take off again to just get to the road and maybe journal a bit. I¢m zooming along and notice what I think is the sun trying to come out¢¦PLEASE PLEASE come out!!!Just seconds before I got to the road, the glorious warm bright sunlight appeared and I looked up and saw blue sky for the first time in days. I dropped my pack and stood in the road in the sun with my arms spread wide open, just receiving those glorious warm rays. Oh, what a feeling. I love the sun. I pulled up a rock and got my pocketmail out. I started laughing, because on the way down to this road (which is really a logging road that is very well maintained) I was fantasizing that while waiting for Incessant, someone would drive up and I¢d be able to leave her a note to hang tight here, go into some (imaginary close-by town) grab some burgers and come back out to surprise her. I knew this was an impossible dream, but at this point, I¢m dreamin¢ an awful lot about food! LOLSo I just got started, and I hear a vehicle coming. I really started laughing. It stopped right in front of me and a man got out of the passenger side. The driver got out and I realized this was some sort of shuttle, but couldn¢t imagine who was doing it, and then I saw a sign on the truck door saying, Appalachian Lodge and Appalachian Caf©, Millinocket, ME. Hmmm¢¦.for what ever reason, I did not remember there was a hostel in Millinocket, but that¢s no surprise since I was so fixated on getting to the Econolodge where our car was.As usual, I struck up a conversation. The driver asked what I was up to, and I told him I was waiting for Incessant. We introduced ourselves. He was Ole¢ Man, a man with white hair and a pony tail. He said he and his wife own the place in Millinocket. So folks, sometimes my brain¢s wheels turn REALLY slowly, so I¢m sitting there like a dumb ass still waiting to hike on when Incessant shows up. I asked him if he knew what the weather was supposed to do, he said more rain both Wednesday and Thursday, maybe as early as Wed. afternoon/evening. Damn¢¦I did not want to hear that. About that time, Incessant showed up and I introduced her and then BLING!!!! The wheels finally turned and I thought, ¢Geez¢¦why hike another 2 days, 1 possibly in the rain to go to a rustic place where we¢ll be handwashing our nasty clothes and didn¢t know if the bunkroom required a sleeping pad, which we didn¢t carry (I don¢t think it did, but can¢t verify) when we could just get a ride with Ole¢ Man back to Millinocket where we have a car, and all the modern conveniences of life that would allow us to resupply at a grocery store, use washing machines and avoid at least some of the weather? Hmmm¢¦.I looked at Incessant and threw my idea to go ahead and take our break now (at 11 days without a shower¢¦I was READY!). She got a huge smile on her face and was like, OK!!!! SCORE AGAIN!!!! Seriously, what are the chances?We modified our hiking plan yesterday, if we¢d hiked where I wanted, we would have been past this road. There¢s no cell service out here, so it¢s not like I could have called a shuttle. We stopped and talked to Mountain Lion for a long time, which ultimately made our arrival at the road later than it would have been otherwise, and I happen to be sitting there when Ole¢ Man shows up! Wow, did this give me a rush¢¦I was going to get to take a shower and eat real food TODAY!!! I also thought this was extremely smart, to get a break for Incessant¢s knee, get some ice on it, maybe buy a knee brace, etc. We had to evaluate her situation later for sure. So our belief yesterday that modifying our hiking plan was happening for a reason¢¦.well, here¢s the reason. Not often you get instant feedback in these situations, but you gotta recognize it when it does happen quickly.So we loaded our packs, and the hiker he was bringing out here, Larry, headed into the wilds, sobo. We warned him of the difficult ford. We took off and I was seriously so pumped about this that I was about to jump out of my skin. Incessant had a huge smile on her face too. The drive to Millinocket is about 1 hour. The trees along the road were amazing and Ole¢ Man stopped at one point and told us to get out and look at the mountain behind us. WOW!!! AMAZING colors. We passed a logging operation where these giant machines were swinging giant logs around, and shaving/cutting them all down to the same size. I snapped a quick pic as we drove by.Ok, so the next thing that happened also blew me away. Incessant asked Ole¢ Man how they got involved in running this place. He shared this is only their 2nd season, they bought it and the caf© and that they got their crash course in running a hostel of sorts by going down to Georgia and helping out Josh and Leigh, at the Hiker Hostel. I¢m sitting there listening and all of a sudden I realized who this man was. He drove Persistent, me and a few other hikers to Springer Mtn. on March 12, 2007 to start our hikes!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!!!? Him and his wife were down there helping, and they were telling us that they didn¢t really want the caf©, but now he said, it¢s a total success and they employ 23 people!!! I told him I about got car sick on that ride up to Springer Mtn., and when I told him this¢¦he then remembered me!! We were both shocked and thought it was just the coolest thing. He started a thru-hike in 2002 and broke his leg near Spence Field in the Smokies¢¦required a rescue operation, surgery, and all. The story was amazing as he told it. He did finish his hike though, a few years later, so I appreciated so much that he understood first hand what it¢s like to have unexpected occurrences end a thru-hike, and then you go through the process to figure out if you want to finish it or just not go back. Wow, we had a great talk all the way back. He too is amazed at the synchronicities that happen on this trail. He was excited that he¢d been the one to give me a ride to Springer, and now¢¦here I am, only 62.9 miles from the end!!!He showed us where the caf© was and then dropped us off at the Econolodge where skeeter (our car) has been patiently waiting to see us again. He said we could settle when he gave us a ride back out and I told him it would probably be Thursday. I was beaming, and we walked in and Cassandra got us a room. We went up and I told Incessant to take the first shower¢¦to relish in it, to take as long as she could stand, and I¢d start doing chores. I don¢t know if I¢ve ever known her to take such a long shower ever! LOL I got most of my pack exploded. It¢s amazing how you think things are drying out, out there, and then you get into a controlled environment and feel that everything is actually still damp. We surely take our climate control for granted don¢t we?I took my shower¢¦.and about 3 hrs later (ok, maybe 45 minutes) I hopped out and had ¢my town moment.¢ We were happy happy women. We layed there just enjoying being in a bed, clean, warm, not having to worry about anything and then I needed to feed the beast (my stomach). We went to the Appalachian Trail Caf© and I got potatoe wedges, French onion soup and a club sandwich. Incessant obviously doesn¢t have a hiker appetite yet, but she was hungry once she got real food put in front of her. This caf© is great¢¦all AT with hilarious artwork and a sign for the bathrooms saying ¢The Privy.¢ They¢ve done a great job with it.After lunch, we went to the store so I could get some ice cream, and some milk and cereal. We went back to the room and I got some ice for Incessant¢s knee. I finally got a good look at it, and it¢s swollen, so over lunch we discussed the options. Incessant told me her goal has always been to support me and for me to finish. She said she felt like with her knee and how late it¢s getting in the month (it¢s Oct. 1 tomorrow) she felt like she¢d rather have me go back out and knock out the last easy miles, and give her knee a rest. I told her it was more important to me that she hike Katahdin with me (if she felt ok doing it) then it was for her to complete the wilderness, so our decision is for me to go back out and get to Katahdin Stream Campground, where if her knee is doing better, she¢ll join me for my summit. I can knock out these last miles in 4 days, and if she were to come back out, we may have been looking at 7-10 days, and that¢s cutting it too close to Oct. 15 when they close Katahdin, so this seemed like a win win for us both. I¢ll certainly miss her though. She did the hardest miles of the 100 mile wilderness. I can¢t describe how impressed and proud I am of her for pushing through those mountains with me in that shitty weather. She got a first hand taste of what this life can be like, and that is priceless to me¢¦to have a partner that really understands what you¢ve experienced out there. My only regret is that our chances of seeing a moose together are lowered, but you never know, lot¢s of people see them on their way up Katahdin. This also allows me to avoid the rain all together, because the weather channel is forecasting rain both Wednesday and Thursday with Friday being in the clear. I¢m happy about that too. I checked the 7 day forecast and only Sunday has a 30% of a few showers. My summit date should now be October 7, and it¢s supposed to be partly cloudy with a 20% chance of precip, which is the same amount as they forecast for totally sunny days, so I think this works great. Next rain is forecasted for Oct. 9, which was going to be my summit date before we made the decision to come into town. Wow¢¦this HAS all happened for a reason huh?Today folks, in the caf©, was the first day I really knew I¢d finish. I think it happens earlier for a lot of people, but because of the insane nature of my hike and it¢s obstacles, I take nothing for granted. I am going to complete the Appalachian Trail, and I am going to summit Mt. Katahdin on October 7, 2008. I then get to go home, and try to relearn my life there, and bond again with my boys Hank and Henry. I am ecstatic at that though. As Incessant said, ¢It¢s time to finish, it¢s time to go home.¢ I could not agree more. It is time. I need some sleep, it¢s after 10 p.m. WAY past my normal bedtime, but I need to eat something¢¦again. Fruity Pebbles, here I come.~Certain