Date: 2018-08-29
From: Katahdin Stream

To: Abol Store
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: broken clouds

After we ate our dinner in the dark last night we decided our bodies need a break. Katahdin did a number on us. Checkout time for our lean-to is 11am...we¢re using it all! I slept poorly. Primarily because I was unable to lay on my right side at all. That leg just won¢t let me do it. Also, we had a noisy critter under our lean-to. It woke me up twice, and Hugs once.  I was afraid I may not even be able to walk this morning, but I could. Hurts like nobodies business, but I¢m walking.  I was out of my sleeping bag by 7:00 for a privy break. I journaled a little, and laid back down. Sleep took over for a few more minutes. It was nice.  Last night my eyes were burning. I blamed it on the wind and blowing sandy dirt from yesterday. I wear contact lenses so I took them out. I thought the problem could also be from smoke irritation. My fire starting attempt ended in lots of smoke and no fire. This morning my contacts just didn¢t feel right in my eyes again. I flushed them with saline, put my contacts in, and went on about my day.  I made attempt #2 on the fire without success. Rinsed my stinky clothing from yesterday in the stream(no soap), and started organizing. I had a late breakfast of PBJ, cheese, and an apple. I¢m calling it brunch!  At 12:30 we were finally ready to leave the campsite. Our hike was planned for 13 miles...southbound! That means we should be at camp no later than 6:30pm. It feels so strange to be a SOBO now. It¢s also a little difficult managing my Guthook app. I purchased it in NOBO format. Trail terrain was nice this morning. The forest is mostly pine. There were some rocks and roots but otherwise my favorite carpet of pine needles.  We met several NOBO¢s coming in to finish their hike. We congratulated each of them as we passed. Many stopped to share their trail experiences. We told them about Katahdin, and they told us what lies ahead on our flip. Papa Smurf has hiked Katahdin before, he didn¢t need our helpful hints. His words to us were that there are harder mountains than Katahdin in our near future. YIKES! The clock was ticking, but I didn¢t care. It was so nice chatting with everybody. Despite my eyes being on fire the whole time. The trail went down into a wet boggy area for a bit. The state of Maine took good care of us though. We had logs or boards to walk on. No wet boots! For now anyway.  The trail took us past two water falls. Little Falls and Big Falls. We took some photos at little falls and moved on quickly. By the time we hit Big Falls we were hungry, so we decided to take a snack break there. Before you know it we were in the water! I can neither confirm nor deny if a skinny dip occurred, but I will say the cool water felt so good on my injured right leg.  It was there when Hugs noticed green goo coming out my eyes. I removed my contacts right then and flushed my eyes with saline again. It burned. Ugh! This is an infection! Hugs is a provider so getting proper eye drops ordered will not be a problem. The problem is getting to a pharmacy.  With my glasses in place we hiked on through the woods up and over the stream on top of boulders. In little time the rapid stream had become a gently flowing river. So peaceful . As we hiked away from the river thunder could be heard in the distance. Before long it was pouring rain. My eyes were on fire and with our little swim we were way behind on time. Abol store was 0.8 miles ahead. We stopped and called the shuttle driver, Lloyd. He was my angel! Back to Katahdin Inn we went.  Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018)Where¢s your faith?