Date: 2018-07-23
From: Poplar Ridge shelter

To: Carrabassett River campsite
Miles today: 13.1

Was moving really slow this morning. When you wake up to everything wet and damp it¢s hard to be motivated to do anything. Had to ford my first Maine river today! When I was coming up to it, a SoBo was right in the middle of it hobbling over the rocks. He shouted ¢Don¢t watch! You¢re about to get a front row seat of me eating shit!¢ Lol. He made it across successfully though and completely dry. Then he looked at me and said ¢Now I get to stand here and watch you try to cross!¢ Oh god. The pressure. I looked like a handicapped giraffe, all hunched over on my trekking poles trying to find some balance on the slick rocks. I did it though! Even with the audience. Apparently, that¢ll be my first of many river crossings. For some reason Maine doesn¢t do footbridges like all the other states do, so you gotta get across on foot no matter how soaked you get in the process. There¢s a couple rivers where if it¢s rained a lot recently it¢s supposedly pretty dangerous to cross. The guidebook recommends the ¢buddy system¢ for those crossings, so hopefully I get a buddy!I stopped at a shelter for lunch, so that I could try and be dry while I ate. Everyone seemed to have the same idea because there was about 6 other hikers here eating. I didn¢t notice it until I stopped moving, but I have this terribly painful chaffing rash between my thighs. I sat my pack down and started hobbling around the shelter. There was an older couple there in their 60s doing some southbound, section hiking. The woman was really tiny, but wore this giant rain poncho and a purple visor that stuck out nearly a foot from her forehead. The man was tall and had these thin framed, purple glasses that curved up into a point on the ends. Like the ones I imagine librarians wore in the 50s. He honestly looked and talked like a cartoon character. He asked me why I was walking funny, so I flashed him some rashy red inner thigh and said ¢It¢s my pants, they¢re soaking wet!¢ He looked at me with the most serious face and said ¢If I had a nickel for every time a woman said that to me, well, I¢d have one nickel¢. Lol! I just about died. He was legitimately crazy. The rain slowed down as the day went on and eventually stopped. The descent down to the campsite I was headed to was long and sketchy. I was thankful I didn¢t have to do it in the rain because it would have been bad. I passed another older couple on the way down, only to see them hobble into the campsite an hour later with the woman holding her bloody knee. It really was a sketchy climb down. Glad I got to camp by 5pm because I was able to hang up my tent and clothes and give everything a chance to dry before it rains again later tonight. Apparently tomorrow is supposed to be kinda nice, but Wednesday and Thursday are thunderstorms again. At least that¢s the word on the trail. I can¢t check the weather or do much of anything on my phone anymore while in the woods. AT&T doesn¢t exist in Maine, so cell reception these days is rare. Every time I tell someone on trail that I have AT&T they just look at me and laugh. Jokes on me I guess.Tomorrow I pass a road that leads into Stratton, ME. I definitely need to do a small, quick resupply, but it¢s tempting to wanna stay overnight. Maybe even two nights! I don¢t know though. I feel like I used to be able to handle bad weather on the trail so well, but lately I¢ve become such a pussy. Doing a bunch of hostel hopping. Washing my clothes once a week. What happened to me! Lol. I guess I¢ll see how I¢m feeling tomorrow. Fingers crossed for sunshine.