Date: 2009-08-23
From: Chair Back Gap Lean-To

To: Wilson Valley Lean-To 
Miles today: 15.8

What an amazing day! I can¢t tell you how good I feel right now ¢ physically, mentally, spiritually (quite a far cry from how I felt just a few days ago in the gray, dank, cloudy frame of mind and weather where I was). It is dusk in the Maine woods. The air is completely still. I¢ve just finished another nightly bath, AT-style, and I am feeling really refreshed. The temperature is probably in the low 70¢s, and there are no bugs or mosquitoes to contend with. I¢m at peace being here, alone, with 90 miles of the 100-mile Wilderness behind me at the end of the day - behind schedule even though I did try to hike as fast and as far possible every day. Don¢t ask me where the time goes--I chalk it up to being (the charms of a dear, departed mother), ¢a morning butt-dragger.¢ Nonetheless, my day of hiking began at 6:30 am and ended 12 hours later. During that time, I spent at least five minutes talking with each of 14 NOBO¢s ¢ each as much an individual and unique personality and as interesting as their trail mates, who included: ¢Oblivious,¢ ¢Lulu,¢ ¢Mr. Bojangles,¢ ¢Snake Eyes¢ (and his brother Eric, who came from Jacksonville to finish Snake Eyes Thru Hike with him), ¢Pusher,¢ ¢Left Toe,¢ ¢Hawk Skin,¢ ¢Bon-Bon¢ (a doubly added Audubon lover of birds), ¢Triple C¢ (for calm, cool, and collected), ¢Mountain Goat,¢ ¢Tumbleweed,¢ ¢Bushwhacker,¢ and two who managed to keep their real names throughout the trip Sarah and Mickey. During my hike today, I also had the opportunity to stop and eat lunch with a family from New Hampshire (the father, Brian, who fought in Vietnam) at the top of Darren Mountain beneath the skeleton of an old fire lookout tower, also. I stopped and treated water three times and found that hiking in my boots (hard-top toe protection) works better when I am wearing socks than without socks, a fact I never expected. I had worn my boots five of the eight days I¢ve been hiking because they are better in the mud and for floating rivers (one yesterday, one today) and streams (two today). The sun was out for all but a few hours during the early afternoon, and while I worked hard to maintain a good pace, the temperature was not as hot nor the humidity as high as the previous days, so I felt a lot more comfortable. I stopped numerous times to take in fantastic vistas from the top of Third Mountain, Darren Ledges, and Columbus Mountain, and what scenery to behold! And as if all this weren¢t enough, today is sunny! All of the NOBO¢s who experienced the ¢Trail Magic¢ yesterday were talking about it whenever I passed them. And sure enough, just as they had said, after having floating the third stream, I came upon a log across the trail at an intersection of an old dirt road. Tied to the log was a bandana with a sign that read, ¢Trail Magic 14 Mile East.¢ Following the directions down the dirt road, I came to a cabin in the woods and a guy named Jim, who has twice attempted a Thru Hike but has been thwarted by injuries. He and his friend, Scott (a Thru Hiker in 1992), were cooking hot dogs, brats, hamburgers, and had large coolers of Gatorade, bags of chips, and boxes of confectioneries free for the taking. I arrived there at 3:45 pm and was back on the trail one hour later having had my evening meal (one liter of Gatorade, one brat, a cheeseburger, a half bag of chips, one hostess cupcake, and two Ding-Dongs). With one hour and forty-five minutes of relatively easy hiking left to get me to my destination, it was a most pleasant ending to the day. Days like this more than compensate for the ¢loneliness¢ and the ¢blahs¢ and the ¢what-am-I-doing-this-for¢ days that are also a part of the 2,170-mile journey. This was a good one to put in the book.