Date: 2005-09-12
From: Mahar Tote Rd. (Whitehouse Landing)

To: Rainbow Stream Leanto
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: few clouds

My late Grandfather¢s birthday - William O¢Connor born 115 years ago today in New York, son of Irish immigrants. This accounts for most of my 3/8 Celtic roots.No rain and a nice sunrise greeted us. Good sleep lumpy bed notwithstanding. Now today should be easy again - 15.8 miles but only one up-and-down - over Nesuntabunt, about a 700' ascent. So I was glad for the late breakfast time of 8:00 which enabled us to sleep long and late and assemble our things leisurely.And what a breakfast: eggs, bacon, english muffins, blueberry pancakes, orange juice. Only slightly short of what we had at Shaw¢s but more than adequate.   There were some early hikers out there - the horn sounded shortly after 8. Well, they¢ll have to wait. After a refreshing boat ride with wisps of lake water wetting our faces, we were on the Trail by 9:25.Cheshire Cat does not hesitate to tell us about his hiking prowess and how some of us, i.e. me, should lighten our packs. ¢You¢ll get the old time religion eventually¢ Jim tried to tell him gently that ultralight hiking was ¢new time religion¢ but he again used the ¢old time¢ refrain. Now, I admire him in that he¢s very fit and enjoys life but I didn¢t appreciate the smugness of his admonishment on my pack weight. Let him eat Ramen noodles! So I told him he mounted his pack the wrong way.So of course he set out ahead at a brisk pace. I walked with Jim & Julie a while then move ahead. The first half of the morning was an easy and fun stroll along good footing besides Nahmakanta Stream. Then the footing became difficult and slow with rocks and roots until I arrived at Nahmankanta Lake which was one of the nicest and most substantial bodies of water in Maine- a good place to stealth camp and to wade or swim. The trail actually hugged the lake shore at times.Cheshire Cat was having his mid-day break at Wadleigh Stream Leanto when I pulled in. We talked some and I¢m tolerating him more now. His destination for tonight¢s the same as mine - Rainbow Stream Leanto. I actually left before him but he caught me and passed.   An inconsequential rolling ascent/descent is followed by another steep one: Nesuntabunt. I¢m looking forward to views of the lake and possibly Katahdin.The climb was steep (so what else is new?) and view worth it. Katahdin rose ahead, clear of clouds, a purplish massif with gray trim standing against the cobalt sky. Below lay the azure waters of Nahmakanta. Great photo-op so I took my time. The descent was easy, so should the rest of the hike be, no? By now, I should know better. Yes, the map¢s elevation profile indicated a fairly flat trail but the mere 2 miles from Crescent Pond through an area called Pollywog Gorge and Pollywog Stream was a bear; very difficult footing and small but steep up-and-downs. So it was a darkening 5:00 when I arrived at the road by the Pollywog Stream crossing still 2.4 miles from Rainbow Stream Leanto.I put on the jets, making it to the shelter in exactly one hour. As expected by now, the Trail went up-and-down as it followed Rainbow Stream but at least the footing was mostly decent - how else could I have covered 2.4 miles in one hour? Cheshire Cat had set up his tent as did some other hikers but in the shelter were 4 Brits hiking the 100 Mile Wilderness. One was celebrating his birthday today and handed out mints wrapped in ¢Happy Birthday¢ paper. Enjoyed talking to them about hiking in the UK and elsewhere. And I met Cycle Hiker - I had heard about him sending his bike home after 700 miles in Virginia. He knew some of my Trail friends from my spring hike including Walt with whom he was vying as to who had the heaviest pack. He was sorry to hear that Walt was off the Trail. Managed to fix and eat dinner before pitch darkness set in. At least the water¢s close at hand. Finished the journal in the dark and wasn¢t bothered by the baseball bat floor in the shelter. And I thought: wow, my last night on the Trail before Abol Bridge and Baxter. This is going to happen - I¢m going to finish the Appalachian Trail!