Date: 2015-07-19
From: Little Bigelow Lean-to

To: Caratunk
Miles today: 21.7

Today was the fastest day I have done in literally months. It would have been perfect if only the weather had stayed dry. The morning started off fine, with clear blue skies and sun filtering through the trees. It was so strong that I had to put on sunscreen. That only lasted for an hour or two though. Then it drizzled, rained, drizzled, dried, drizzled. It was wet enough that the trail was muddy and I could glide along at points. I got absolutely drenched through when I had to walk through some over grown bushes. There were also a few board walks which were like walking on ice without ice skates. I packed up my wet (again) tent and left about 6.45. Everyone in the shelter had already left, about an hour beforehand. We were all racing to get to the little ferry across the Kennebec river, as it is only open from 9-11 and 2-4. No one wanted to get stuck and have to wait until 9am the next day. Fortunately, the trail was extremely friendly despite the weather. It started off with a gentle slope down, and then was flat for almost the entire 21 miles. It was actually incredible how flat it was. I felt like I was practically running compared to the speed that I did yesterday. It was just so fantastically flat and there were hardly any rocks or roots. It was the trail of my dreams. Unfortunately, that's probably the only flat, nice part of the trail for the next 150 miles. The day seemed to fly by, as I was nearly flying by the trail. I listened to podcasts and tried to ignore the rain. I had to stop several times to put on/take off/put on my rain gear. The instant the rain stopped, I had to take it off because I was just unbearably hot each time. I passed by a few SOBOs, and even one NOBO. I didn't stop for lunch, but I stopped to grab poptarts and snacks from my bag. During that time, I was bitten by the mosquitoes. They love me even more in the rain. I have at least 4 new bites for today. I made it to the second shelter about 1.15. I knew that I had about 3 miles to go to the ferry, so I blasted on. It was a bit trickier after that point, as the trail got rockier and I had to climb and balance on a bunch of roots. There was also a small section that was seemingly built with sharp stones around the edge of an extremely full pond that is just incredibly sketchy. I made it to the ferry crossing about 2.35, where I met up with the group from the shelter, including Seeker and Heatpack. They were waiting to be ferried across. The ferry is a 3 person canoe, which is controlled by a guy who said he has done more than 10,000 trips. We all had to sign a contract just in case anything happened, and we had to wear life jackets. I went across with Mini Sticks. She used the oar at the front, I sat in the middle, and the ferryman sat at the back. Our packs were placed in the boat too, and only got drenched at the bottom. I clung to the sides of the canoe as it swayed strongly in the waves. The river was flowing fast, and the wind was blowing against us. It seemed to take a very long time to do the short ferry crossing, fighting against the current the entire way. I didn't feel comfortable until I was back on land, standing on my own two feet. I am quite worried about the rivers and streams I will have to ford tomorrow. It has rained all day, and extremely heavily in the past hour. I really, really hope that I can cross everything safely. After crossing the river, I made my way up to the road. The rain started again. Buster and Seeker were trying to hitch hike. I decided to just start walking and try to get a ride on the way. I was right, and I got picked up by the Sterling Inn shuttle, which is exactly where I was heading for anyway. The Sterling Inn is a large hostel and B&B. It has a lot of rooms, and it seems to be clean and well managed. I took a wonderful, warm shower and changed into my dry clothes. It's kind of amazing how much I have to scrub at my legs to get all the mud off these days. It sometimes feels like it's ingrained in my skin. Later, the big group of us 10 NOBO hikers got the shuttle to a bar/restaurant. It was fine, but pricey, and there was no pizza. (Everyone had planned to order pizza.) It took a long time for all the orders to come out, by which time I was absolutely starving. My burger was extremely mediocre. I wish I could have gotten pizza. Now I'm back in my bunk and wishing my stuff would dry. Everything is drenched, and when it's drenched it smells particularly bad. Tomorrow is supposed to be a better day, and I really hope that's true. Everyone is eagerly looking forward to finishing hiking. It's still hard to think that I will be done in about a week. It just doesn't seem real at all. Did I really walk that far? How was that even possible? What am I going to do when I stop walking? Did I achieve everything I set out to do on my hike? Am I going to be ready to finish?