Date: 2017-06-06
From: Katahdin Stream camp ground

To: Rainbow Ledges
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: light rain

Hikers! Hikers everywhere!After our nine exceptionally quiet and isolated days on the IAT, the preponderance of other thru hikers around us today served as a reminder of how important the social aspect is to the enjoyment of our bizarre pursuit of thru-hiking.We'd had a tiny taste of this on Katahdin and again on our zero day on Millinocket, at the AT Hostel, but today really brought it home when we rocked up to Hurd Brook lean to, found a bunch of other hikers in attendance and quickly were chatting as if we'd always known each other.The infectious energy that comes from this had always been why I've particularly rated American hiking as being as much about the community as it is about the trails. Its absence on my Israel Trail hike earlier this year -- and even on the IAT -- was noticeable.Skippy John Joe exemplified it in a different way when he'd explained how his nobo hike had been essentially alone -- he started in January -- which is why he ended up naming and animating all his pieces of gear, such as Phoebe foodbag and Pauline pole. He was aiming for his sobo yoyo to be much slower and more social.We had a hint of it today when random newly-arrived hikers joined tables with us for breakfast at the AT Diner, purely based on the shared pursuit of thru hiking.As we headed to Katahdin Stream campground with Ole Man, who ran the hostel, we farewelled three new hikers -- knowing what they were about to face -- and instead met two of yesterday's summiteers, Dot and Gazelle, who were setting off for the following section, the 100 mile wilderness.Today was a bit like the first day at a new school, meeting lots of new people and making assessments about which ones are likely to be your friends and which ones you'd be best to avoid. It says a lot about the nature of thru-hikers that just about everyone was in the first category.We already knew that the first section of trail was going to be the polar opposite of the Katahdin trail, and so it proved. The start of the AT was a pleasant romp on good trail past a series of picturesque forest scenes.So picturesque, Scout said, that they "could have been on a beer advert", which is apparently the acme of outdoors scenery.Gazelle romped past us and then another hiker, Frankenfoot, did too. "We're going to be the Bryson and Katz of sobo AT17," I thought to myself as they headed off in the distance.There were plenty of distractions from this, including little and big Niagra falls and then the pleasant riverside walking on what had clearly once been a tote road back in logging times.It was almost a surprise to realise we'd made it so quickly to Abol Bridge, the last tiny pocket of civilisation before the 100 mile wilderness. It was definitely a surprise to find the restaurant shut, since we'd been using it for motivation. The main store was open, however, and they explained that things didn't really get going until school holidays, which were due to start in about 10 days.As we hiked on towards the wilderness, we encountered Frostbite, Gazelle and Dot heading back our way."It's the last ice cream for 100 miles," we were told in response to our quizzical looks. We had to admit that was unassailable thru-hiker logic.We then entered the woods and soon encountered a sign announcing the start of the 100 mile wilderness and describing the lack of facilities in drastic terms for anyone foolish enough to carry less than 10 days of food."Well, I'm carrying two and a half days of food," quipped Scout. A little over an hour later we arrived at our first official AT lean to, at Hurd Brook, and found quite a tally of hikers present. These including the talkative Hard Drive, who we'd last seen on the summit of Katahdin, and a host of other new faces.Partly because the start of the day was so easy, several of us headed on. Scout and I stopped at the awesome Rainbow Ledges, where we found a pair of magnificent campsites, complete with a grandstand view of Katahdin.Frankenfoot, Dot and Frostbite kicked on to a lakeside campsite but I'm still feeling the effects of Katahdin and was happy to call it early.And it would be difficult to beat this campsite. What could make this even better? Oh yeah, Frankenfoot had carried in from Abol Bridge a six pack of a local microbrew and had generously offered me one.Life is good.AT fact of the day: Our first real AT lean to was not one that was very amenable to sleeping. Quite apart from the presence of a hyper squirrel, the floor was of the so-called baseball bat kind, made up of long round logs rather than the usual flat planking.