Date: 2015-08-02
From: Crocker Cirque Campsite

To: Horns Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: broken clouds

We woke up early. The sky was blue and pink. The day began roughly with an abrupt climb up the Crocker Mountains. We steadily left the cover of the trees and saw the vast, open skies above us. The low dawn light cast a golden glow around us and the far-away mountains stood like blue shadows. We climbed the South Crocker Mountain first, then the North. Between the two points, we hiked passed piles and piles of moose poop. Hercules may have had to clean out the Augean stables, but could he have cleared the Trail? We finished the hike through the Crocker Mountains and began the 6-mile-long descent towards the valley. The initial portion was quite vertical but it did taper off. I thought the downhill would be a nice break from the strenuous climbs. However the terrain was quite rooty and rocky which impeded my progress. Furthermore, the Trail formed small waves which were imperceptible on the terrain profile meaning that, while the overall direction was down, we had to nonetheless hike over short bumps. I was tired and my weary state was exacerbated by the rocks on which my toes would stub or the knotted jumble of roots my foot would trip over. This unven terrain is unkind to the joints, especially my ankle which is still, even after all this time, not fully healed. We finally arrived at the bottom, which meant we had new mountains awaiting us; up and down, the same old story. This time, we began climbing up the Bigelow range, the final 4,000' mountains before Katahdin.We were exhausted. We put our music on and tried to concentrate on maintaining a steady pace. A SoBo hiker was heading down the Trail and asked us if we were Axon and Shrugs. "Yes... ?" we replied, uncertainly when she explained that she had been following our journal. Awesome! The woman is named D©j (love that name) and she just embarked on a southbound journey after having previously completed two NoBo hikes. Best of luck to her!The climb was difficult and involved a few hand-over-hand climbs, but there were few rock slides so I was happy. We arrived at the shelter and campsite which sits right before entering the exposed, above the treeline ridgeline. We had planned on going 3 miles further but Shrugs was tired. We sat in the sun on a rock, overlooking Maine's mountains and ponds for a few minutes and a wave of fatigue dropped heavily on me. We have been so tired these past few days. We seem to be alright in the morning but our endurance has waned and only permits us to hike a few hours before our energy levels crash. Today, we passed the 2,000-mile marker yet we still feel so far from our goal. Before, if I felt discouraged, I would reminisce about our journey, all those miles we have hiked and I would smile at the thought of the sights we have seen and the people we have met, but mostly, I was spurred on by the thought of our accomplishements. So much physical hardship and mental languish, how did we even do it! Now, my memory is blurred and I feel mostly indifferent: I am too tired.Zeno's Paradox: assume you must travel from point A to point B. You must first travel to the half-way point. Then, the half-way point of the remaining distance. And then, the half-way point of the always shorter remaining distance. The cycle continues forever without your being able to reach point B. The same phenomenon is observable in Maine.- Axon