Date: 2004-10-16
From: Cloud Pond Lean-to

To: Campsite near side trail to West Chairback Pond
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: moderate rain

So we zeroed at the shelter yesterday. That¢s just the kind of hikers we are, zeroing in the 100-Mile Wilderness, on October 15, the day we¢re supposed to make it to Katahdin. As Freebird said, ¢you¢re the most laidback hikers on the trail!¢ I¢m not sure that¢s true, because I stress about being laidback sometimes, but we certainly do a good impression of it. But it rained yesterday. And we didn¢t want to get out of our sleeping bags. The section hikers are definitely less impressed with us now¢they got out of here at the crack of dawn, and here the thru-hikers are, snoring away in their sleeping bags. We spent the whole day cooking and eating. Not exactly what you want to be doing with food in the 100-Mile, but we¢re sort of thinking through an exit strategy right now. I continue to be really worried about making it up Katahdin. County¢s not¢he thinks we should just make it there when we make it, and we¢ll be able to climb, but I want to get there and get it over with. I want to stand on top of Katahdin. That¢s been my goal this whole time; that continues to be my goal. Even if we don¢t hike the whole 100-Mile Wilderness.How does it feel to be following in the footsteps of Bill ¢Candyass¢ Bryson? Not so hot. But if there¢s yet another thing I came out here to learn, and am learning, it¢s humility. Call us candyasses, if you dare. We¢re hiking Katahdin.And, most importantly, we¢re both ready to be done, at rest, and home. So we¢ll go to Katahdin, hike it¢maybe we¢ll keep going south and do the rest of the 100-Mile, maybe we¢ll do a winter thru-hike of the Long Trail, which County keeps pushing, maybe we¢ll just save money this winter and do the PCT in the spring. It doesn¢t much matter. What matters is the continued experience, the continued journey. So we spent all yesterday laughing, talking, reading, cooking, eating. We got out of our sleeping bags only to get water from the pond. We hoped to have the shelter again to ourselves last night, but Poky and Gabby showed up. We hadn¢t seen them in ages¢not since Virginia, for Gabby, and Harpers Ferry, for Poky. It was nice to see familiar faces. It was nice, too, to feel we still have companions out here. They¢re pushing through, just like we are, but they have a mail drop at White House Landing, so they have less of a food concern. And they¢re not worried at all about the fifteenth deadline, brave souls. I guess I¢m the only one who¢s chicken. They left the shelter before we did this morning, on another drizzly, rainy day. I was tempted to take another zero.But the whole day we kept debating whether to leave or not to leave, and at long last we packed up and set out, at about two PM. We intended to make it to the next shelter, but dark hits sooner and sooner these days. And, to be perfectly honest, I was miserable. My back hurts more and more¢it¢s getting worse instead of getting better¢and I¢m just worn out. Worn out¢that¢s all there is to it. We were rushing to make is the seven miles to the next shelter before dark, and the terrain in Maine continues to be difficult, even if it¢s a ton easier than southern Maine. There were three mountains, no more than 3000 feet, but mountains nonetheless, to get over before the shelter, and I thought we had made three summits when we hit a sign that said it was 1.3 to the last mountain. And it was getting dark, and there was a great water source and a side trail right there, so we just threw in the towel and camped. Those last five miles really confirmed for me how ready to be done I am.I¢m sick of this, sick of the pain, sick of the walking. How can I be so thoroughly sick of it and in love with it at the same time? Am I just wimping out? Am I deluding myself about what this experience has meant? I suppose you can never really know the answer to that question.So we stopped and camped. It started raining again as soon as we pitched, so it was probably a good thing. County cooked some amazing beef-stroganoff-ish dinner for us, using a package of beef we purchased in Monson. I went to get water from the waterfall that crossed the trail. Then sleep.