Date: 2008-07-23
From: East b. Hill Road

To: South Arm Road
Miles today: 10.1

:DAnother day of trail... aaahhhhhh... so nice. Of course, we had the obligatory maine mountain rock scrambles for parts of it, but i never felt like i was about to fall and hurt myself. so nice...The weather was rainy again, so that was a bummer.... but it was good hiking.We started the day early... i didn't sleep well last night. sleepwalker and i were out in the trailer and it was a little cramped, and buggy out there. I don't know how snake eyes and trust me are doing it.   I suppose it's easier to tolerate it when they have champ...Anyway, sleepwalker, knuckles and i went to breakfast at the diner, and i had some hugemongeous pancakes. That was good.... then knuckles picked up the tab... thanks! I now owe her about thirty bucks. I keep reminding her about it, but she plays dumb, like she doesn't know what i'm talking about. But i know she knows... he he he.We got the shuttle to the trail at 8, and we were hiking by 8:30. There was trail! muddy, puddle-infested, overgrown trail, but real trail! Whoo hoo. I was very happy. Oh yeah, and so i don't think that high fructose corn syrup (pancake syrup) should be consumed in large quantities before hiking... ...blllurp...We flew down the trail today. We finished up by 1:45. We even had 2 river crossings. They were only knee deep, but it takes time to remove the boots and put them back on.Let me say this about my boots...They work for my feet, but they are not constructed well at all. Today, my bootlace broke. Perhaps it's due to being wet for a week, but still...and i have a lace eyelet on my other boot that sheared off again. Same thing as my last boot. I got these things less than 3 weeks ago. When i talked to the guy at EMS, he commented that garamont doesn't recommend using their boot on the A.T....What?It's a _hiking_ boot. Does it matter where i hike? I suppose it's designed for hiking in a manicured park?What?Anyway, the A.T. is destroying the boot. Beware all of you who buy garamont hiking boots... they won't last very long, especially if you use them for hiking.The rest of the afternoon was spent doing school stuff on the interweb, and just hanging out relaxing. I am hoping this town stay has recharged me for the trail. It's going to be an insane push to get to katahdin on time to get home. Well, it doesn't have to be, but gobbbles's dad is coming into D.C. on the 8th, and so that has him in a hurry. I've hiked with him since the beginning, so i would like to summit with him, so i will see if i can keep up, as long as it doesn't cause injury. snake eyes and trust me are going to try to stick with him too. thud will be there, but it won't be hard for him...he practically runs down the trail already anyway.Oh yeah, snake eyes was diagnosed with lyme. He has spent the last two days at the hostel recovering. He feels a lot better now, so he will be with us heading out. He figures he will take it slow, and just put in the long days....Good news for knuckles today! Her husband is coming out to hike the last part of the trail with her. She is very excited about this. I don't know what that means exactly, but i think she will slow down and really try to savor this last part of maine with him. I'm glad for her, but i will be sad if it means she leaves the group... we shall see.So for you future thru hikers reading this... the Pine Ellis is a great place to stay when you reach Andover. But bed space is limited, so call ahead. They assist with slackpacks, and the owner, Eileen, is a really nice woman. Keep it in mind. The food at the diner is decent too...Time for sleep. Big day ahead...