Date: 2015-08-22
From: Long Pond Stream Lean-to

To: Pleasant River West Branch
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: broken clouds

Last night, I fell asleep to the sound of the rain beating down on the shelter roof. It was amazingly pleasant. I love that.I woke up to pee around midnight and had to slither out of my sleeping bag. I only had about a foot and a half of space for the night. The shelter was packed, and I was crammed between the wall and Silent Force's raft air mattress. EVERYONE HAS RAFTS. They take up about twice as much room as my Thermarest.I returned from my pee trip and crawled back inti my bay. As I tried to fall back asleep, my feet were throbbing. THROBBING. Even though I haven't been hiking as many miles lately, my body is still sore. I am so tired.It was a slow day of mountains. There were SO MANY mountains!The first was Barren Mountain I took a very spectacular fall going up the first ascent. It really was a good fall. I slipped on a bit of ledge, falling and scratching the back of my leg. Then I somehow flipped over and fell like two feet, landing on my hands and knees in the dirt. Thanks, trail.I had made cold oatmeal for breakfast, but it really was not appetizing. I choked down a few spoonfuls then decided it wasn't going to happen, so I ate the CLIF bar that was to be my morning. But then I had to eat the oatmeal for my snack. Blegh. I added more fruit to it, though, so it was more palatable.Today's trail made me a bit MAD. It was SO WET. I didn't hike a trail. I hiked a river. I slogged through mud. I slipped and slid and tripped on roots.Around 9, I stopped to rehydrate my lunch of rice and veggies.Silent Force caught up to me, and walked behind me for most of the rest of the day. I know him well enough now that it only occasionally drives me crazy to have him behind me. We talked about how many pairs of shoes we had gone through, and where we had bought them, and the condition they had been in when we abandoned them, as we hiked along.It was so WET today.Before Fourth Mountain Bog, there was a sign asking hikers to please stay on bog bridge, so as not to harm the vegetation. I found this laughable today. There was NO OTHER OPTION unless you wanted to be up to your butt in big water.My tailbone still hurts sometimes when jarred or when I have to lift myself up high. Not fun.It was so freaking wet today.It was long and slow. So slow. So long.I stopped on Monument Cliff to eat in the sun and enjoy the view. Silent Force also stopped to eat, and to catch some phone signal. He had been hiking with a friend for the first few months, and had been hoping the friend would catch up by Katahdin. Turns out he might summit the day AFTER my new trail family. What a bummer.I stopped for water half mile later, rock hopping over a stream. It wasn't the easiest crossing. I was a little stupid and crossed AFTER collecting water. My pack was heavier and more unbalanced... but I crossed without slipping OR falling OR soaking my boots. Hooray!Also, I hate AquaMira. This waiting bit is crud.Although I did not enjoy the wet, the forest was green and vibrant and beautiful today.The rocky descent down Chairback sucked. Ughhhh. I hate HATE HATE IT. I almost ended up off the trail. Oops... too focused on not dying to properly follow the trail.Around 2:00 I got very tired... I just didn't have any energy. I sucked down some Powerade and had a snack but it didn't help that much.I think part of it is just mentally knowing that I am almost done. The hike is exhausting. I am grumpy in the morning when wet. When the sky is overcast and the trail is gloomy and difficult, I kind of feel like I just want to go home. But when the weather is nicer and the sun peeks through, I feel quite a bit cheerier. I am still so tired, though.Also, I am always hungry Despite some terrible, horrible parts of the day, the last half mile was an incredibly nice and smooth ramble by the river.I caught up to Silent Force at the crossing over Pleasant River. Moxie the ridgerunner was there, eating a huge, red, juicy tomato. She dropped it, dunked in river and ate it. Weird. No cares about Giardia, I guess. She told us about a campsite not listed in book. A campsite with PICNIC TABLES. It was across the river, which we would need to ford.We had to decide... Hike off the trail for a picnic table? Or camp right on the trail next to the river? But the table campsites turned out to be close to the AT so we went for it, leaving a note on the trail next to Moxie for the rest of our trail family.I crossed the river in my socks, hoping to rinse them out a little. My socks are like toxic waste.We also left stick message ("AUSSIE LEGS + ISO") with a large arrow at the trail intersection so they would find us.We were worried when they didn't arrive soon. Hoped moxie would spread wordbut eventually showed up. Then iso and thunder chickenCleanned up in river, hot.sun shining downScratches from fall feel like sunburnThere is a nice privy here. It smells nice and terrible at the same time, like someone had an air freshener in it. ALSO, IT HAS TP.Everyone arrived and we are sharing a nice, big, sunny campsite. We Thunder Chicken, a 17-year section hiker, tagged along with Iso. She was in the sardine can shelter with us last night. She plans to finish Saturday, which is her 40th birthday.We gathered around the picnic table for dinner and discussion. It was like real, fun, family vacation camping.Iso is wonderful and gave me a Snickers. It was worth brushing my teeth twice.THERE ARE NEVER ENOUGH SNACKS.I gave Firebear my book to take to her tent tonight since we can't pass it around the shelter like usual.I love my trail family.I am thankful for a picnic table and social hour. I am thankful for rivers and sunshine and a place we can all enjoy it together.