Date: 2014-09-21
From: Wadleigh Stream Lean-to

To: Abol Bridge
Miles today: 23.1
Weather: broken clouds

Last night I stayed in the lean to. I settled down there to grab water, have some dinner and figure out how much farther I was going. Obviously I ended up just laying out a sleeping pad and staying despite having a lot of daylight left. Should have saw that one coming because you never want to do anymore uphills with a full stomach and there was a small climb right ahead.The camp consisted of Wing It (the girl), Wing It (the guy), and a flip flopper. It was a weird collection. After the typical hiker chat with people you don't know and we were all content with how the flipper wasn't going to murder us all in our sleep (he was pretty awkward in a silent way), I snuggled up in my sleeping bag and kept up the conversation from there. I fell asleep as they chatted and didn't wake up until around 11pm. I just knocked out and slept hard.Of course none of us got a warning of any kind from the flipper about his inner demon that comes out at night. Honestly, it's like seeing a foreigner come to America that knows all about tipping but won't tip their server. This guy knew he's a bad snorer and he didn't say anything! He had a trifecta of sleep interrupting madness. On tier 1 was his high volume sleep apnea sounds that have no pattern. Tier 2 was sleep talking. He may not have been screaming last night, but his talking was heavily supplemented by incessant moaning. Tier 3 was kicking. For some unknown reason, this guy slept in his boots.Considering how I had fallen asleep with the sun still up, it was disconcerting to wake up in complete darkness like that. Waking up in the back of a trunk would have been less disturbing in the moment. Half a second later upon gaining consciousness, I got my bearings but was wide awake. Seriously was at the edge of packing up an night hiking out at 11:30pm. Even without the dying demon in the corner, I figured if I got started now I would make it to Abol Bridge by noon. That would mean getting ahead of the rain possibly. It could also mean I could catch a ride to town pretty early in the day if I wanted to. And if I did go to town, I would see some trail buddies I haven't seen in awhile. They'd be hanging around in Millinocket after completing their thru hike.But it was almost midnight and I don't know if I have enough batteries in my headlamp. It's pitch black out and sunrise is a long time from now. I stayed put and woke up an uncountable number of times. The boots got me the most. Around 3:30am the flipper actually was awake. I thought he was sleep walking or something until he picked up a flashlight and shined it into my eyes. At that point I thought he was packing up because he was making a crazy amount of noise. I started packing too because this seemed to be a much more appropriate time to night hike out. By the time I was good to go and just having a snack, the dude finished taking a piss and was back in his sleeping bag snoring.I think that's why some hikers get murdered via axe in some of these shelters on the Appalachian Trail.Whatever. I got to the top of Nesuntabunt Mtn for sunrise. The rest of the hike was relatively flat but rooty. Actually was in a fantastic mood despite last night because being up for sunrise always puts me in an awesome mood. Turned out to be a great day too. Surprisingly humid though. That led to me realizing this is the last opportunity to go swimming right off the trail. The timing couldn't have been better so I got nude and took a long swim break in what I think was Rainbow Lake. I had a very gay time with myself here. Starting do early in the day and not passing anybody meant people were hours behind. Couldn't care less if SOBOs came by. Even if they did they probably wouldn't notice . Everyone seems to be only fixated on their feet and I usually have to give them a courtesy yell so I don't scare the crap out of people as I pass them.I got to Abol Bridge before 3pm and ended up jumping into a van that happened to be heading to town as I strolled up.