Date: 2008-09-02
From: East B Hill Road, ME

To: South Arm Road, ME
Miles today: 10.1

Oh my gosh, the food here at The Cabin is AMAZING!! Margie cooks dinner and Earl cooks breakfast. We were all down eating around 7 a.m. Eggs (we cooked our own to our liking), blueberry pancakes (Margie had picked the blue berries on a mountain nearby), bacon, homefries, biscuits and gravy, OJ, and coffee. This place is unbelievable and Karen said it best, their hospitality is humbling because it's almost like they can read your mind for what you need. That's what 14 years of running a place can do I suppose. I woke in the middle of the nite to a horrible nightmare that Karen and I were hiking at the top of a mountain, where a shelter was and a storm blew in and lightening was hitting all around us. The boom of the thunder is what woke me up with my heart racing. It was not storming here (as you might think) but I¢m surprised this lightening issue crept back into my psyche again.   Karen decided to hike in a few miles with me so she got her stuff together and we were hiking by 8:45 a.m. I commented that my pack felt heavy for some reason, I mean geez, I was only dayhiking, but I gave it little thought and assumed I was just tired. Another perfect Maine day, a little overcast, but cool and nice. First thing was a really nice 1.5 mile climb and then a short down to Surplus Pond. About 1/2 way up, we were talking and a day hiker, Michelle, stopped to chat with us. This woman is awesome. She¢s a park ranger and on her day off was out for a 10mile hike! I¢ll talk more about her in a bit though. Also, Banjo and Half Elvis flew by as well. Wow, really beautiful, clear clear water, rock bottomed pond and there's a cabin on it. I've learned it really doesn't belong to anyone and that it may be torn down since it's on AT land. Seems like a waste of a possible resource for hikers, but I don't know anything about it. Karen and I really enjoyed this hike. She's going to come out like this as often as possible (when she's not packing everything up and relocating this operation to the next town) to get a little climbing conditioning in. It's so nice to have her hike with me. There's great camping sites by the pond too. Man, I keep seeing all these places I want to just stop and spend a week at camping. Drives me crazy to have to keep hiking on. At the pond, Karen turned around and hiked back to the car, and I had to move on. I really wanted her to continue, but she¢s nursing a healing blister and we thought it best if she didn¢t push it too much. Besides, she wanted to do some driving and recon for the next areas I¢ll be hiking out.It was a bit steeper 1.5 miles up to Wyman Mtn. I stopped for a short sit down break. I was totally alone, the breeze was blowing gently, the sun flickering in between the shady spots and I got overwhelmed by this moment. I looked around at these woods, which have been my home for so long now. The trees have been my faithful listeners during all of those months I hiked alone and talked to myself, the leaves and dirt on the ground have been the collectors of my sweat, sometimes my blood, and my tears as I hiked through moments of happiness, hardship, pain, frustration, joy, and sadness. The rocks and logs have served as my stretching posts, sometimes tripping me up, but almost always used as my furniture when I need to take a break and rest or sit down in camp to make dinner. I cannot believe I will soon be somewhere other than in these woods, among the chipmunks, moose scat, mud, skeeters, and green moss. Today was just a thinking sort of day for me. Karen and I were talking some about this, but I gave many miles of thought to how something is lost when an idea becomes institutionalized. The AT was once an idea in a man¢s head, Benton McKaye (sp?). Today though, it has become institutionalized in its own way, with organizations that run via bylaws, paid employees, souvenirs are available with AT logos, etc. When anything approaches institutionalization, there is also a culture that develops around it, and within this culture, beliefs, ideologies, and attitudes are created. This is all just how it works¢¦over and over and over again. On one hand, the organization is needed to keep the AT up and running so that people like me can just wake up one day and choose to hike on this trail free of charge, which is an amazing concept all of its own in this country. On the other hand, along with cultural development, are cultural views and these views are passed on in many many ways. For instance, we all learn what it means to be a boy or girl or American as kids from many different sources, some more formal than others. Mom, dad, the media, books, institutions like schools and boy scouts. Unfortunately, we are often totally oblivious to the messages we are perpetuating. And believe it or not, one way all sorts of messages are passed on is through something as ¢harmless¢ as a joke. A few years ago, I was on Whiteblaze and a person started telling homophobic jokes, so I called him on it. I explained that at some point, we ALL need to take responsibility for the messages we are sending, even through jokes. In this day and age I doubt most of us would EVER consider telling a joke that had the ¢N¢ word in it (referring to blacks), because most of us have finally learned it¢s just wrong, it¢s inappropriate, and telling a joke like that gives you a sick feeling in your chest because we finally ¢get¢ that it¢s serving to marginalize that group of people, which is just wrong and unnecessary. Those jokes serve to perpetuate an attitude of lesser than, sometimes exclusion and hatred. As a kid, I was at the library checking out a new joke book every week because I loved making people laugh, but as adults, our jokes almost always serve to make fun of another group of people.What brought this whole thing on, is that I recently had a person tell a joke to other hikers at my expense. Now, if it represents me in a truthful way, I¢ll probably beat you to making fun of myself, because let¢s face it, I AM mildly OCD when I have to check my alarm clock 5 times before I go to sleep right? The problem I had with this particular joke is that it was suggesting that I was somehow a ¢lesser¢ hiker because I am a section hiker and everyone else present was a thru-hiker. When Benton McKay dreamed of the AT, do you REALLY think he cared or gave thought to creating different categories of hikers? In this book written by Earl Shaffer that I was looking at last nite, he made reference multiple times about how making the AT a more difficult trail than it originally was when built (it used to go through many more towns and have more road walks) did not make sense to him because it was making it less accessible excluding more people. He¢s known as the first thru-hiker, but do you think he cared at all if the person hiking ahead of him was doing the whole trail in one shot?   See folks, as the institutionalization of the Appalachian Trail progressed and the trail culture formed around it, these categories of hikers were also created by those in the community, which is also the normal progression of the development of any community¢¦the need for categories and labels so we can understand where we fit in, how to define ourselves, and this all leads to creating a community identity. It¢s normal in some ways. We have thru-hikers, 2,000-milers, section hikers, and day hikers. As I type these 4 categories, I have different ideas associated with all 4. I think having categories is inevitable, but they become dangerous when one group is given more rights or privilege or respect than the others, just because they are that group. This joke, innocent as it was to the person telling it, automatically created a momentary feeling of exclusion for me, because I am not a thru-hiker, never will be, and the thing that really matters (that we¢re ALL hiking this incredible trail difficult mile by difficult mile) did not matter, what mattered was whether or not I could do it all in one year like everybody else. We all have to be careful about joking, because you do not know what that person has been through, what their history is, what issues they may be dealing with. So for me, this struck a nerve because yes, I¢m not a thru-hiker, and my thought is, why does that matter anyway? If they say 1 in 10 people who start a thru-hike actually make it, then that means there¢s 9 of us out there that have faced obstacles, be it injury, admitting you just hate hiking, homesickness, financial reasons, illness, family matters, blah blah blah¢¦the list is endless as to why you couldn¢t finish in one season (and who set that as the gold medal standard anyway?). Sometimes I feel like going up to every single person who feels the only ¢real¢ or respectable way to hike the AT is a thru-hike and say, ¢Do you KNOW what I have faced in the past several years, just trying to get out here, and then fighting to keep going!? Do you KNOW how many obstacles have been placed before me and here I am¢¦.still putting one foot in front of the other?¢ How can my hike be any ¢lesser¢ than a person who manages to make it in one season? So I see the Hike Your Own Hike as a sort of an equalizer mantra. The trail itself is an equalizer, as Karen pointed out. It doesn¢t matter what color you are, how old you are, what class you belong to, what your occupation is, how much $ you make¢¦.we all have to hike the same tough miles to hike the Appalachian Trail. Hike your own hike is one of the purest phrases in my opinion, and it¢s ultimately what we all have to do. I am secure in that, but this undercurrent, this cultural attitude of ¢us¢ and ¢them¢ drives me crazy sometimes. Would I feel this strongly about it if I were still a thru-hiker? Actually, yes. Last year, as I met new people, I witnessed time and time again a sort of shame or reluctance to admit that they were ¢only section¢ hikers (as if only thru-hikers are worthy). After I realized what was going on, I started immediately telling every person who responded like this, ¢Oh wow! That¢s great! It doesn¢t matter how you do this trail¢¦what REALLY matters is that we¢re all fortunate enough to be out here enjoying this incredible trail, even if only for a day.¢   I wanted to be part of bridging this bizarre gap that has formed between the groups. Hiking the AT should serve to bring people together, to share in the beauty, to experience being part of a unique and (mostly) wonderful culture. It should not serve to exclude or put down some and lift up others based upon a cultural attitude that has somehow been created. As part of this community, I am going to do my part in trying to police this exclusionary attitude, starting with this journal entry, which I know will be read by many people who are or want to be part of the AT community. And don't worry folks, I' not stressing this or worrying about this or crushed by this by any means, but I did think it warranted some thinking and writing time. I love this trail, its people, and the community, and as part of it, I'd hope all people would feel included and proud to be part of it in whatever capacity they can. So there ya go¢¦yet another Certain-ism. Because I was thinking so deeply about stuff, the hike went by fairly quickly today. Just before reaching Hall Mtn. Lean-to, the water source was totally muddy, and I had about 3 swallows left, so I needed to hike another 1.5 miles down now to get to water and eat lunch. In the meantime, I caught up to Michelle, the ranger and we talked and even ate lunch together. Wow, what a cool woman. First of all, when she told me she had been married for over 26 years and had 3 grandchildren, I about crapped myself. She has her own guide service business that she¢s been running for 7 years now. If you google Mountain Woman Guide Service, her sight should pop up. She offers guided hiking trips, kayaking trips, fly fishing trips, snowmobiling, and all sorts of awesome stuff. She¢s an incredible example for both her grandsons and granddaughter. I told her not to be surprised if this wasn¢t the last time she saw me. I¢ve never gone snowmobiling before, and totally want to. I did tell her about snow walking, which I learned about from B.I. She was highly interested and it wouldn¢t surprise me if she was leading those trips too soon. I so enjoyed talking with her, but did leave her in private when she needed to stop and make a call. She was just minutes behind though, and I saw her again when her ride came at the South Arm Road where I was hanging out. After lunch though, it was a VERY steep 1 mile climb up Moody Mtn., that I am officially renaming ¢Kicked My Booty Mtn.¢ Wow, when the topos showed a line straight up, they weren¢t kidding. There was also recently a landslide near the top, so the trail has been rerouted around all of the debris and the reroute is so new it¢s hard to hike on because the soil is soft and slippery. I understand why there was a landslide though, I mean how long can huge boulders, tons of dirt, and heavy tall trees last on a totally vertical setting?I had told Karen to pick me up around 5:30 p.m., but again, I was ahead of my estimated time, so I called her and said it would be closer to 4:30. I can¢t seem to figure out my pace anymore with tough terrain and slackpacking. She was off-roading in her little car (we lovingly refer to it as Skeeter) today¢¦not exactly on purpose. She was scouting ahead to make sure she knew where to pick me up tomorrow and thought she¢d try to take a shortcut which took her down a road that is used as a snow mobile path in the winter, so her little car was having to ford some water, get through deeply rutted roads with huge embedded rocks, and what should have been about an 8 mile shortcut ended up taking 1.5 hours! LOL By the time we¢re in Monson, she¢s going to know the backroads of Maine better than the people who live here! I finally got to the top of Moody Mtn. where it flattens out for about .5 and then has a very enjoyable and gradual 1.2 mile descent that was just lovely. I saw 2 baby snakes today, a feisty chipmunk, and a couple of sasquatch and a very very lost abominable snowman. Hey, when you don¢t see wildlife for weeks on end, sometimes you¢ve just gotta make it exciting for yourself right? I got down to South Arm Road and Black Brook by 4:30. Michelle was right behind me, and you have to rock hop across the brook on about 15 rocks. Rock #3 she goes in! She started laughing as did I. It happens sooner or later to all of us you know. Karen wasn¢t there, she was still making her way back from Rangeley, so I got my pocketmail out, threw on my croc and waded into the brook to a large rock and sat there journaling while soaking my feet. It was really nice, and the brook was so stealthy quiet. It had some vegetation in it. A big truck drove by and a man saw me sitting there. Then it turned around and came back and stopped. I could hear 2 men¢s voices. You just never know folks¢¦was this a predator who had spotted me sitting there by myself? Was it just another person waiting for some hikers to show up? I was waiting for car doors to slam, so I got my cell phone out and even though I don¢t have service, I was going to pretend to be having a conversation with the person who would ¢be here any minute.¢   They never got out and within minutes, 4 hikers showed up that were getting some gear from these men and everyone disappeared, the hikers finding a campsite by the river and the truck (which I later learned had people in it from Pine Ellis, another hiker hostel) drove away. Sort of weird to feel vulnerable like that, but you do what you gotta do right? Karen showed up at 4:45 p.m. and she walked down to the brook and we enjoyed a foot soaking before leaving. On the way back to The Cabin, she pointed out that on this trip, from driving up from Virginia till now, her driving mileage and my hiking mileage matched as of today. I¢m at 1927.6 miles, and her car hit that mileage when she was driving to get me! We both thought that was hilarious. We got back to The Cabin and I took a shower. Earl and Margie had dinner ready by 6, spaghetti and meatballs, salad, garlic bread, corn on the cob, lemonade, and apple cobbler with icecream for dessert!! Wow can Margie cook. Another hiker, Free Will (NC) joined us tonight. He knows Banjo and Half Elvis so when Earl picked them up today, they passed Free Will and stopped. Nice guy. One last airheaded thing I did today...about my pack feeling heavy this morning? Earl had asked me to pack some magazines up and drop them off at the Hall Mtn. Shelter for hikers to have reading materials. Last nite I gladly grabbed probably 2 or 3 lbs of magazines and put them in my pack so I wouldn¢t forget. Today, I hiked all day, never opening my pack until I got to South Arm Road, where I discovered the freakin magazines!! I¢d totally forgotten about them, which is why my pack felt heavy this morning!!! LOL I¢m such a dork. So guess what, Bemis Mtn. Lean-to will be getting supplied with magazines tomorrow!It¢s late, and I¢ve got a longer day ahead of me, and Karen and I have to leave The Cabin and relocate probably in Rangeley or nearby. She¢s so great to deal with those logistics for me. It¢s late and my brain is tired from thinking so much. 246.4 miles left folks. ~Certain