Date: 2005-08-31
From: Rainbow Stream Lean-to

To: Abol Bridge
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: moderate rain

We had a beautiful tent site on a bed of pine needles situated on a bluff above the stream. We were expecting it to storm all night, and although there was a couple time that I awoke thinking it was pouring, it was in fact just the sound of Rainbow Stream gurgling and rushing below. I was grateful not to have to wake up to roaring thunder and rain splashing up off the ground in the middle of the night. I even dared to hope that the system had moved off and we'd been spared.        Around five AM any hopes of a dry day were shattered when the pre-dawn sky was darkened and a steady rain began to fall. No roaring thunder of flashing lightening. Just a deeply dark sky and what was sure to be a long, soaking rain. There are few things that I dislike more than packing up and starting the day wet. There wasn't a hope of staying dry for even a few minutes.        We crossed Rainbow Stream and headed off after a dismal breakfast in the shelter. Even though we'd soon be out of the wilderness and at Abol Bridge, it was hard to muster much excitement. I tried to think of any jokes or silly things to say or do to lift our spirits, but in between jokes it was tough not to whimper and feel completely pathetic. Not only was I sad because I just plain hated hiking in this weather, but also because these are our last few days and it felt like a shame for them to be miserable.        For a bit the trail was its normal rocky, rooty self with some larger puddles that were tricky to get around. As we continued on, the puddles got larger and larger. Water was running down the trail and eventually it got to where the trail itself was a river. The puddles had turned to knee deep mini-ponds and the trail a rushing white water creek of ankle to knee deep water. At some points I couldn't distinguish the trail from the tributary streams. I would look out across the water, see a few rocks poking up and a tree, there in the middle of the water, with a blaze on it. It became not only ridiculous to try but increasing impossible to walk around or rock hop over the water. Rock hoping or walking around was just to walk through ankle deep instead of knee deep water. The Rainbow Ledges were granite faces with water coursing over them. Fortunately the granite stays pretty sticky in the rain. The bog logs and mossy rocks are a completely different matter though, seemingly completely frictionless ¢ good for aerodynamics, lousy for gaining foot purchases.        We pounded out the eleven miles to Hurd Brook lean-to. Took a short break there to have a snack and rest, The last four miles went fast thankfully, and we were ecstatic to see the sign marking the northern terminus of the 100 mile wilderness. Up a few feet from the sign there was even a cooler with some trail magic!        Apple and soda in hand, we did have an extra spring in our step, soggy as we were. The walk down the road, over Abol Bridge and to the convenience store/campground was somewhat surreal. The wind and rain, walking down a road yet feeling as if in the middle of nowhere was strange. But harder yet to comprehend was that we'd been in this very place four years ago for a canoeing trip on the Allagash. We knew that the AT crossed somewhere around there, but wasn't sure exactly where. This was the last and final place on the trail that we'd been before. The last and final place about which we wondered how we'd feel when we got there.        We felt like hitching a ride in to Millinocket, getting a room and a hot meal and drying out! Despite only 15 miles of the Trail remaining, we were cold and wet and couldn't face a cold, wet night in cold, wet clothes even if it is our second to last night on the trail!