Date: 2003-10-12
From: wadleigh stream lean-to

To: cooper brook falls lean-to
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: clear sky

for some reason, i know that the groove is there, but i just can't seem to find it. no matter how hard i try. it just seems to be right out of reach. i wake up at a reasonable hour and eat breakfast and start to get packed up, but then i find ways to distract myself. and, next thing i know, it is 8:30 or 9:00 by the time i finally start hiking.i just seem to mosey on along, thoroughly enjoying the day. the weather is nice. the colors are incredible. who wants to be putting away the miles on a day like this? i know i don't. but, i do want to. i really do. and, that is the problem. i know the groove is there and i know that i need to get into it, but it is just out of reach. it is so close and yet so far. i know that one of these days i will become that well oiled hiking machine that i know i can be- the one that is up by 6:30 and hiking by 7:00, averaging three miles per hour, cranking out a twenty mile day like it is my job, getting to my next destination by no later than four in the afternoon. that is how it should be, right? of course not. if i start working on a schedule like that, then it really will start to feel like a job. i'm out here to have fun and enjoy myself and hike and have great adventures, not work. but, i carry my camera with me, so i guess i really am working while i'm having fun ! and enjoying myself and hiking and having great adventures. it would be great to be able to capture enough quality images on film to eventually make this trip pay for itself. that, of course, would be the ideal scenario.anyhow. so, i walked beside and crossed over numerous streams and lakes throughout the day. they just all seem to run together. (the fact that there are so many of them. not the fact that they actually do all run together). and, even if they didn't all run together it isn't like it would really matter because there is no way that i could pronounce the names. nahmakanta stream. nahmakanta lake. pemadumcook lake. what's the point? i can't even remember them to pronounce them. maybe i'll just start calling them all smith. what was the name of that stream we crossed back there? well, it must have been smith stream. now, that's the one that feeds into smith lake, isn't it? why yes. i believe it is.now, there once was a time when this section of trail was called the 100-mile wilderness. because, it was just that- wild. wild and rugged. there were only a few rarely traveled logging roads between abol bridge and maine 15- the road that leads to the town of monson. if one were to attempt to hike this section, then they had better be ready to commit. once they're in it, they're in it for the long haul. the 100-mile wilderness is the longest, uncivilized section of trail that there is. this section is still called the 100-mile wilderness, but it just isn't quite as wild as it once was. things are a little tamer in the wilds of maine these days. i crossed a logging road today that i could have followed to a place called white house landing. yep. there is a hostel in the middle of the 100-mile wilderness. i could have gone there and gotten a bed for the night, had a shower, eaten a hot meal, resupplied my food. all of this in a "wilderness." thanks. but, i'd rather not. i'm pretty sure that i can walk a hundred miles without having to take a shower or without having to buy a cheeseburger. how hard can it be? hikers did it for years.i walked right across that road and didn't even look back. i stopped at a shelter to take a break at two o'clock. from there, i still had eleven miles to the next shelter. since i haven't found my groove, it looks like i might be doing a little hiking in the dark again today. a little ways down the trail i came to a place called the antlers campsite. i was very tempted to just stay there for the night. the campsite sat in a red pine grove on the edge of lower jo-mary -i mean, smith- lake. everything was covered in a bed of soft pine needles. very tempting. but, i've got places to be. so,i refilled my water bottles and pushed on.with a little over three miles left in the day, it started to rain. not a heavy rain, but just a light sprinkling of rain. when this rain started i said, "Lord, please hold off on the rain until i reach the shelter." the rain stopped. i hiked. the sun set. i tried to see how long i could hike before i had to get out my headlamp. at about 6:45 is when it gets too dark for me to see.at about 7:00 is when i reached the shelter. and, at about 7:01 is when it started pouring rain. two northbounders, puff daddy and espy, were already at the shelter when i got here. they have a little radio that they were going to try to hear the cubs game on, but it looks like it is going to get rained out.rain, rain, rain tonight. just go away tomorrow.