Date: 2018-05-09
From: Devils Fork Gap

To: Big Bald Road
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke up early, had breakfast, and got ready to go. Papa Big Swig drove me to my starting point at Devils Fork Gap. Even though it¢s not that many miles, it still took an hour to get there. Driving AROUND mountains just takes time. It¢s been on my mind that I need to get more miles in if I¢m going to make it to Katahdin on time. So I decided to hike 22 miles today. No putzing around! From the gap, I started my hike going up. It wasn¢t a big up, and soon I was ridge hiking. My favorite! I passed a few hikers who were still breaking down camp. I should have kept walking but you know me, I had to chat a little with everybody. It¢s what I do! The trail winded down to a little waterfall. It was nice and cool there. I stood for a while just listening to the water. I love the sound of flowing water.  It¢s so soothing. Soon I started hiking my way back up the trail from the other side of the waterfall. I hiked alone the next 5+ miles.  A lot happens in 5 miles. For example those ginormous bumblebees! They are still very busy. It has become normal for me to have a Bumblebee buzzing around my head about every 10 minutes. I¢ve decided they have work zones. It¢s the strangest thing. These bees fly around in circles, that¢s why they circle my head.  They go around 2 or 3 times before I¢ve walked out of their respective zone. Then 5 or 10 minutes later another bee does the same thing until I¢ve walked out of its zone and so on. There¢s always only one bee at a time, and they always fly in circles. The other thing about these bees is their buzz! It¢s soooo loud! They sound like the Stearmen Fly-in. That¢s a big deal event in my hometown Galesburg, Illinois.  There¢s an Asian hiker I¢ve noticed the last couple of days. We played leap frog a few times, and ended up having lunch together at a shelter. His English is very broken, and my Japanese is nonexistent! Despite the barriers we managed to have a pleasant conversation.  His trail name is Sunrise. He¢s here for 6 months to hike. After Trail Days he¢s taking no zeros and hiking about 16 miles a day so he¢s sure to get to Katahdin He gifted me a piece of Japanese oregami paper. When my hike is over I¢m going to try to make a crane out of it.  There were two local gentlemen at the shelter as well. Both were very nice They are retired and it seems they frequently enjoy little day hikes. One of them suggested I take a blue blaze to High Rock for the view. I know time is an important factor, but I¢m doing this to soak up every ounce of beauty I can, so I took the blue blaze. It was beautiful, and really didn¢t cost me too much time.  On my way to the blue blaze one of those beautiful orange birds flew right in front of me. It landed on a low branch right there on the side of the trail. I grabbed my phone, unlocked it, and took aim. Just as I was ready to snap the photo it flew down the side of the mountain to a different tree. It wasn¢t too far down there so I dropped my pack and poles and went down. I took careful aim, and it flew off again!  It just wasn¢t meant to be. Lesson learned, a little ways down feels like a long ways back up! Just a little more time was lost.  I walked on alone for a long while after the blue blaze. There were a lot of butterflies today. Suddenly, like in a movie, a swirl of 10 or 15 butterflies came up and around me. They were all black with royal blue edges on their wings.  Just as quickly as they came, they were gone.  I was getting close to Big Bald when Honey Bear came up from behind me. I have not seen her since the smokies. It¢s funny how some people stick with you. She said she had been thinking about me and wondered how I was doing. We talked about feeling a little pressure to put in more miles. She had recently talked with stripes who said during her thru-hike in 2016 she knew people only at Standing Bear during Trail Days who still made it to Katahdin.  I¢ve got hope. Big Bald was my tallest climb of the day at  5504 ft elevation. I love climbing a bald!  It¢s like climbing up a huge grassy field. I took my time to see the view from all the way around the top. So beautiful! There was about 5 other hikers up there doing the same. When I was coming down off of Big Bald I still had 6.9 miles to make 22 miles today. It was after 6pm and I would have been hiking until after 10 o¢clock. I had cell service so I called Papa Big Swig. We made a plan B. It took some creative driving on his part, but he got me.  I think tomorrow I¢m going to have to climb Big Bald again in order to get back on track. That¢s ok with me.  I only hiked 15.4 miles total. The saying on the trail is ¢last one to Katahdin wins¢. I think I could win this!  Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018)Where¢s your faith?