Date: 2015-08-23
From: Pleasant River West Branch

To: East Branch Lean-to
Miles today: 16.4

The trail was wonderful today.So wonderful.So well maintained.The Wilderness is not as wild and overgrown as I imagined. I am not sure why I thought it would be. Maybe distant memories of Bill Bryson's book have settled in the back of my mind.This morning, I ate cold oatmeal and granola in my tent (the granola makes it much tastier, and adds a nice, delicious crunch). Then I packed up, saying goodbye to those who had emerged from their tents. Thunder Chicken was planning a shorter day than us. I wished her luck, and said that maybe we would see her at the bottom of Katahdin, after our final descent. As she plans to summit the day after us, she will likely stay at Katahdin Stream Campground the night we leave. We might see her there!The day began AMAZINGLY. There was a long, easy, very slight incline that took me past intersections with the Gulf Hagas trail, which is a loop full of beautiful waterfalls. I may come back to try it someday.Then the uphill got a bit steeper. Still, it wasn't too bad.Iso came up behind me during one of my many breaks (I constantly stop to drink, or to pee, or to snack) but I eventually left him behind again.Silent Force and I leapfrogged a couple times, as we usually do, but I got to hike alone all day, which I appreciated. Lately we catch up often and will hike close together for a few miles on occasion. This would bother me if it were a stranger, but I have known him long enough now that it doesn't make me uncomfortable.I did appreciate being alone all day today, though. I like that solitude. Soon, I won't have my daily lone hike to cleanse my soul and soothe my heart.There were many climbs today. Some were steep, but they weren't killers. They didn't make me want to cry.On one of the first ascents, Silent Force passed me, saying, "I used to hate the rock steps but I don't mind them anymore."I agree wholeheartedly. After some of the southern mountains I have had to climb, I know that there are horrible alternatives to rock steps. Like sheer walls of jagged rock, and slippery slabs of ledge, and barely navigable knots of roots.The trail was nice today! No miles of pudding and ankle-deep rivers! The MATC (Maine Appalachian Trail Club) does an amazing job out here.I stopped for water early in the day at Sidney Tappan Campsite, which is located near a nice little spring. While I waited for my stupid AquaMira to react, I signed the register in the privy.That's right. In the privy.I have no idea why the MATC found this rather unhygienic measure necessary, but I was rather amused by the idea of the trail register in the privy (I suppose that they might as well put one there... shelters have them, so why not campsites? It will stay dry enough in the privy.) so I decided to take a look. I seized the opportunity to use my red panda stamp. Soon there will be no more trail registers to use it on! So sad! I often get complimented on it. Thanks, twin!Whitecap was the last big climb of the day, and the last BIG climb before Katahdin (crazy, right?!). I had been planning to eat lunch at the summit, but I was getting so hungry... A mile from the top, I decided that I really did not feel like CLIMBING A MOUNTAIN with a rumbling tummy. My legs ached with exhaustion. It wasn't worth it to make the push in misery.Instead, I sat on a stump on the edge of the trail and broke out my food bag. I enjoyed delicious rehydrated rice and green beans, which I mixed with a pouch of chicken. It was quite tasty. Of course, I spilled pouch chicken liquid all over myself when I went to mix it all together. Gross. Like being coated with mud and sweat and bits of trees aren't enough, I got to smell like processed meat all afternoon, too.Of course it was a relatively easy climb, not a beast like the expected.And the summit? Beautiful.The view, mountains and green wilderness reaching out on every direction, made me feel so small. Maine is huge. The world is huge.Silent Force was stretched out on a plank bench at the summit, drying his socks.I ventured off-trail to enjoy a view to Katahdin, directed by a white "K" and arrow painted on the rocks. There it was. The greatest mountain. WAITING FOR ME, like it has waited for so many hikers throughout the years.I returned to the summit just as Iso appeared. We discussed how it was the last big climb. I said that I didn't know how I felt about it. He said that he felt like things were winding down. I don't know, though. I'm not quite there yet. Almost... but there are still many days left. I think that Wednesday will be the day I start to feel it, when the end will feel more real.On my way down, I ran into a group of very talkative day hikers (wilderness my butt, we saw day hikers last night, too).One of them pointed out Katahdin in the WRONG direction to fool me... I didn't find this funny.Otherwise, they were very nice and we enjoyed a nice, (too) long conversation. They had apparently met Twiggy Ninja earlier in the day, shown her Katahdin, and she had cried. I DID NOT CRY. They congratulated me on the impending end of my hike. Then I carried on, down the mountain!I crossed dirt road just past a spring at the foot of the mountain. A sobo hiker (I believe named Sensodyne) was going the wrong way for water. I redirected him, and he said that it might rain, and suggested I put on my pack cover.Maybe it is just because I talk to people at the end of the day when I am tired and grumpy, but I HATE when people tell me what to do, or explain my future with certainty. Kimchi, a flip-flopper.who I met yesterday responded to my comment that I was sad about the end approaching, told me that I would make life like the trail, surround myself with people, blah blah blah. How the heck can she know that? I would like to think it's true, but it might not even be possible.It's like all the poor southbound hikers who tell me that the trail ahead is terrible or rough. And then I hike it and it is like a dream. Those poor fools... they have no idea what they are in for.Top of whitecapThe last stretch of trail today was wonderful. The forest floor was covered with a soft, cushy carpet of needles and squirrel middens, bits of pinecones littered all over. Vibrant green moss spread in all directions. Behemoth boulders punctuated the landscape like sleeping giants with moss-green blankets tossed over their shoulders. It was so flat, I could see multiple white blazes flashing through the trees ahead of me.I thought about my newly-formed trail family and was saddened to remember all the people I may never see again. So many faces I met on this trip that I wish were on schedule to summit Katahdin with me. Chris, Coco and Magnus, Funk... there is no way they can catch up now.I got to camp early and dried out my tent and cleaned up and ate snacks. It was rather nice.Everyone else arrived shortly afterwards. We all packed into the shelter (except Iso, he always tents) in anticipation of rain.The river water is kind of brown... I will drink it anyway. So much delicious but questionable water has been through my body over the last month.Thunder Chicken arrived late! Apparently, we convince her to speed up. She does well keeping up with us and our superior trail legs.We discussed the ending and plans after Katahdin. What trail? How to get back? When to start?Mom and Dan are supposed to bring a cake. When Iso asked, "Is it chocolate?" I was pleased to answer, "YES!".Iso requested a bucket party tomorrow. The buckets filled with our resupplies await us about five miles north. So we will convene there in the morning and have a grand time refilling our food bags.I realized this morning that I sill have $20 in emergency funds stashed in my super glue tube that I can use to buy snacks at the store at Abol Bridge (the end of the Hundred Mile Wilderness).Early arrival at the shelter means that there is time to relax and hang out and talk... Muddy Duckling and Firebear are cheerily singing things I don't know, including ABBA and Australian Christmas carols.Very hard to read when the Aussie legs never stop talking, haha. I love them, though. I have the rest of my life to read and only a few more days to enjoy their company.My feet throb. I am tired. It is still early. I am like an old person.I am thankful foe a bucket of food waiting for me. I am thankful for premature congratulations to boost my hiker heart towards that final goal. I am thankful that I have made it so far in good health and hope the rest of the journey will be the same. I am thankful for easier trail, and a view of The Mountain. Twiggy Ninja wrote that she cried in the shelter register. I wrote that I did not cry. Silent Force and the Aussie Legs followed suit.