Date: 2004-10-07
From: Wadleigh Stream Lean-to

To: Hurd Brook Lean-to 
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Mt. Katahdin from Rainbow LedgesStart: Wadleigh Stream Lean-to @ 0838Finish: Hurd Brook Lean-to @ 1628Miles: 19.6Weather: Indian Summer. Sunny/Partly Cloudy. Warm temps in 60¢sBreakfast: Mountain House Granola, Snickers, 12 brownieLunch: Snickers, fudgeroundDinner: Bacon Cheeseburger HH(minus the beef), 2 fudgerounds, 2 SnickersTrail Conditions: Moderate climb up Nesuntabunt Mountain and lots of rinky dink hills w/ lots of rocks and roots up to Rainbow Stream Lean-to. Walking was flat and fast rest of the dayAnimals: Birds, Squirrels, ChipmunkPeople: Patrick & John For the last four nights I have woken up at precisely 3:57am and been wide awake. Lord willing I want to begin my walk to the summit of Katahdin at 4:00 am on Saturday and catch the sunrise from the Tablelands. That will be weather permitting of course. I guess in my subconscious I must be totally geared to that time to keep waking up like I am.For the past week since I started the 100-mile wilderness I have been having the most intense dreams that I can ever recall. In one way or another they have all been related to hiking, associated with the AT, or related to climbing Katahdin.I have been thinking about the end of this trip a lot this past week, more so than yesterday and today more than any other time. I have primarily hiked the 100-mile all alone. I have had shelters to myself nearly every night and walked alone everyday. The times I have seen other people hiking I either walked on by or conversations were basic and brief. I am very glad to have walked this last leg alone as I have. It hasn¢t been a total pacification by any means, but the solitude has been refreshing.Tonight is my last night in a shelter along the AT. Tomorrow I walk into Baxter State Park and Katahdin Stream Campground. My Mom and Dad and Ben have driven out from Michigan. I have no idea if they¢re in this neck of the woods yet or not, but the plan is they will hike south along the AT from Katahdin Stream Campground and as I hike north we will meet somewhere in the middle.I am so excited and eager to see my parents and Ben. I have all these ideas coursing through my head about what it will be like to see them on the trail tomorrow. The most far-fetched is just dropping my poles and running to them like in a bad Bo Derek movie. All I know is that tomorrow I will see them and the thought of that brings a huge smile to my face. The A.T. in full Color ChangeToday was my last long day of this trip. It didn¢t get very cold at all last night, relative to the 20-degree night I had just slept through. I tossed and turned a lot throughout the night and I reluctantly woke up shortly after 0700 this morning. I was in absolutely no rush to go anywhere and was completely confident that I could make camp by dark as long as I left no later than 1100.Patrick and John were out of the shelter early and on their way to the same place I am resting tonight. I had the shelter to myself so I spent some time journaling and then just stared of into space for a good twenty minutes, my mind devoid of everything. Finally I came around again and tore open my package of Mountain House Granola and set to scarfing down a quick breakfast. I packed up my gear in the same methodical way I have for the last 2,000 miles and began the days walk.I really wasn¢t in a hiking mood at all for the first 8 miles. It seemed like it was just going to be one of those days where the time and the miles just drag on and on.The day started with an 800 foot climb up to the summit of Nesuntabunt Mtn. I felt so lethargic and I was resting every few steps huffing and puffing. After an arduous 2 miles, which should have been a breeze, I hit the summit and took a short side trail to an overlook of Katahdin.Today was much warmer than any other day this week and temps got into the mid-sixties. The high temperature, high humidity, and minimal winds made Katahdin appear to be nothing more than a giant silhouette in the distance, defined only by it¢s ridgeline. I stared at it for a while and watched low level clouds rake across Baxter Peak. Much like Mt. Washington, Katahdin seems to be able to generate it¢s own unique weather patterns simply because of it¢s geographical location and height in relation to the land around it.After my rest I moved on along. The trail was loaded with a lot of rolling hills that took you up and down 50 to 75 feet at a time. The trail was packed full of roots and rocks that I was constantly stubbing my toes on and tripping over. That always seems to get real old real fast. Finally after what seemed to be eons I got to Rainbow Stream Lean-to and parked it once more. I sat for about 20-minutes, thumbed through the register, and got moving again.The rest of the days hike went by much smoother and I fell into a great rhythm and really cranked out the miles. The trail paralleled the Rainbow Dead Waters and Rainbow Lake for 7 or 8 miles, so the scenery was nice and the terrain was very flat. My pace quickened to nearly 3.5mph and I just glided along the trail.All was going well until at long last it finally happened. I was attacked by a squirrel! I have yet to comment on the squirrels in Maine, so now seems more appropriate than ever. First, these are not your ordinary gray squirrels that run around suburbia eating the crumbs from Hostess Cupcake wrappers that your overweight neighbor pitched out his car window while driving. These frisky little red tail squirrels are hell spawn and I swear they have over populated the forests of Maine.For the past month I have heard them hundreds of times each day chipper and bark at me as I hike by, or at each other. At first I thought it was cute and funny. Now I just wish I had a pellet gun. I¢ll be walking down the trail and all of a sudden they just start making a racket at you. Sometimes they¢re close by on the ground other time they¢re up in a tree. Sometimes they have even followed me a ways down the trail chattering at me. There have been times I can¢t even sit in peace and quiet and have a rest break without them bitching up a storm. I am dead serious, they are pesky little vermin.So as I was innocently walking down the trail today, one of the wily devils sitting a few inches off the trail, actually lunged off the log it was perched on and clung to my boot as I walked. I jostled my foot and sent it flying into the brush. I couldn¢t believe it. I am now a proud survivor of a random squirrel attack.I regained my composure after my brush with death and pressed onwards toward the end. The trail took a small climb up Rainbow Ledges and I got my fourth view of Katahdin, this one being a mere 25 miles away. Katahdin from Rainbow LedgesThe winds had shifted throughout the course of the day and the head of a new front was pushing in. Unlike the haze Katahdin was in this morning it was crystal clear and dominate on the immediate horizon. I stood atop Rainbow Ledge and snapped a few photos. I studied the mountain again as with each viewing more and more details reveal themselves. After more mindless gazing I moved on.It was all down hill from the Ledges to the shelter. The shelter I am at is very old school and was built in 1959. It has a ¢baseball bat¢ floor which means is doesn¢t have flat planks to sleep on but rather the floor consists of uniformly sized pine tree branches that have been shucked and used as the floor. Needless to say it is not the most comfortable design. However, I have yet to sleep on one of these floors and now is as good a time as any considering it is my last day in the woods.I am spending the night with Patrick and John again. They seem like nice kids and we chit chatted and bantered some. They¢re asleep and tuckered from the days hike. I¢m running on pure adrenaline right now. I don¢t even know how much shut-eye I¢ll be getting tonight. Hopefully some, tomorrow is going to be a big day.