Date: 2004-09-20
From: Rangely, ME

To: Poplar Ridge Lean-to
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: clear sky

At 1 a.m. I finally had the pieces of the puzzle put together. Only the one box needs to be shipped out immediately. If I see Chef TB, I'll ask if his friend Ping in Gorham would be kind enough to retrieve and babysit the other bag. I'll have my Mom re-order the New Balance shoes to be sent to Monson. I'll have the kids send one box of meals to Monson and the last one to White House Landing, 70 miles into the 100-mile wilderness. Nuke, bless him, and his wife Darlene are going to hang on to anything surplus and I'll retrieve all from them following my Katahdin summit. Everything is perfect once again. Now all I need to do is stay healthy and upright and walk a mere 209 miles. A dear friend gave me insightful advice the other day: "Glide to Katahdin, don't sprint!".So today I glided a short 10.7 miles. Tomorrow we'll do a shortish 11.0, and the following day 10.6. Depending on how quickly we move through the 100-mile wilderness, I see our summit somewhere between October 7th and 9th. That's getting closer to the October 15th deadline than I wanted, but all we need is one lovely day to summit. Last year it snowed on October 3rd, closing the mountain for six days. It re-opened with 70-degree temps on October 9th, and 45 thru-hikers completed their journeys that day. So all will be up to the weather gods; I¢ll do my part just to get there and hopefully Mother Nature will look kindly upon us poor weary souls.Speaking of Katahdin ~~ we got our first view of her today from the summit of Saddleback Mountain! When asked my emotional response upon seeing it, I answered "disbelief". I'm also trying to keep a grip on our present reality. We've got some tough climbing between here and there. It's actually quite nice to have a huge 100-mile unbroken section at the end. Psychologically, I have only two sections remaining: 100 miles to Monson and then the 100-mile wilderness. That sounds so much nearer the end than if we had 20 towns through which we needed to pass, or around which we needed to circumvent. Only two more maildrops, only one more pair of shoes, only 16-18 more days of brutalizing our bodies, and only a couple more weeks of cold or sleepless nights remain.As the end approaches, I am making a very conscientious effort to absorb the delights which this experience has to offer. Yes, I am lying in my tent, chilly, daring it to rain, reviewing the large climbs we'll be facing tomorrow, and trying to get feeling back into my toes. It's not exactly the Ritz. But I hear the creek babbling a nighttime lullaby 10 feet away, I smell the remnants of the warming fire Ursa and I had blazing the last couple hours, and I feel the comfort of my sleeping bag wrapped around me as it begins to trap my body heat and keep me cushioned in warmth the entire night. Meanwhile the trees are swaying in the winds, the leaves are rustling, the pine needles are dropping -- or is that rain? Shoot! Indeed those are raindrops. Perhaps it will be only a short, light disturbance and all will remain relatively dry.Nuke dropped us off at the trailhead at 8 a.m. sharp as planned. We are so grateful to him for his assistance and look forward to seeing him again soon. Our first two miles were easy-going. We rejoiced to see Keytone, White Patch, and Mousebait on the trail ahead of us, having spent a very chilly night at Piazza Rock Lean-to. (Another big thank-you to Nuke -- we were cozy and warm indoors!)My highlight of the day was reaching Saddleback Mountain (4120 feet). A few years ago this mountain was in danger of being converted to a ski resort, compromising the AT traverse of its peak. A plea went out for financial assistance to help purchase a protected corridor across the mountain. I contributed. And today I walked across Saddleback and enjoyed the 360-degree vista tenfold knowing that I did what I could to help save a spectacular view. At the time I was not aware that it is from this summit that the first sighting of Katahdin is awarded the northbound thru-hiker. Just shy of our reaching the summit signpost, Miles To Go and Mr. Blister (heading south) made us pause by breaking into song. Their minstrel blessing to us was "Happy Trails to You". Both Ursa and I were teary-eyed by song's end.The Horn at 4041 feet also gave us a marvelous view of the Maine mountains. Two miles further we climbed Saddleback Junior. This was a bit of an ugly climb: rough, raggy and old growth. But we got over it and stopped relatively early (3:30) here at Poplar Ridge. We collected firewood and treated ourselves to a lovely and warming campfire. Eric and Jenny, southbound for three days, joined us a couple hours later and kept the fire flaming.I've retired to my tent, the raindrops have stopped falling and I feel it's going to be a nice, warm, restful evening as I lie here wrapped in my fleece liner and sleeping bag. Only a couple more weeks remain. *Sigh*