Date: 2015-08-05
From: Crescent Pond

To: Abol Pines
Miles today: 19.4

I picked a few more blueberries while Wookie cooked a breakfast bomb of oatmeal, potatoes and ramen trying to use up his food. We set out stopping to view the Pollywog Gorge. Almost two miles later, we found two apples and two oranges left on the logging road bridge. We sat down and I enjoyed an apple with my oatmeal. We moved on hiking along a stream and arriving at the Rainbow Lean-to where Opie was just packing up. After a break, we moved on. I took the 0.2 mile side trail to Rainbow Dam which had a view of Katahdin. Four section hikers who were at the lean-to also went so I Asked one to take my picture on the wooden dam. I ran back to the trail and hiked on eventually catching up with Wookie where he stopped for a break at the Rainbow Lake campsite. The sun came out so I pulled out my rainfly and held it up to dry. We hiked in with the intent to stop at Rainbow Ledges for a break, view of Mt Katahdin and to dry our gear. On the climb, we got distracted by bountiful blueberries so we pulled out our gear to dry while we picked blueberries. Unhinged also stopped and we chatted. The clouds rolled in and we felt a few sprinkles so Wookie and I packed up and resumed the climb. There was a dark stormy cloud in the direction in which we were headed. At the top, we saw a sign with mileage but thought the view was further. Turns out it wasn't. The view was there but the top of Katahdin was covered in clouds anyway so we missed it. I was very bummed as I had been looking forward to the view all day. The sky cleared again and it never stormed. But it's hard to know as we learned yesterday with the crazy hail and rain. We hiked on to the shelter passing 9 Lives finishing up his section hike. At the stream before the shelter I met Hook and Franklin from Maine whose entries I had seen in the shelter registers. They started March 1 and plan to summit on the 7th. At the Hurd Brook Lean-to, we cooked an early dinner since it was only 3:30 pm. Our last Lean-to on the trail!!! Hard to believe. Unhinged arrived and set up camp. Ever Ready arrived and Unhinged was dying to continue hiking like we were. We were originally planning to camp somewhere before the Baxter State Park border. But as we left, we decided to hike to Abol Bridge where there was a campground and store. We passed 9 Lives who was also heading to the campground. He mentioned he hadn't eaten since the blueberries on Rainbow Ledge so I wondered if he had run out of food. So I stopped and left him a bar on a rock in the middle of the trail just in case. I then had to catch up to Wookie since my bars were at the bottom of my food bag and it took longer than expected to retrieve one. I finally caught up to him at Abol Bridge where we had an up close view of Katahdin whose top was hidden by clouds. We stopped at the store and I was able to recharge my phone. Yay! We then headed over to Abol Pines campsite across the street and set up our tents in front of the water. I enjoyed sitting by the water as the sun went down. I am so glad we hiked all the way to Abol Bridge. I ran back and forth to the store a few times enjoying soap, water and paper towels! I saw 9 Lives in the restaurant who thanked me for the granola bar and said he wasn't out of food, just hoarding it and trying to lose weight. But he ate the bar within seconds of seeing it. Tomorrow we must leave early and hike the 0.8 miles to sign up for one of the 12 coveted spots at The Birches Campground reserved for NOBOs. But tomorrow will only be a 10 mile day!