Date: 2013-07-07
From: Appalachian Trail Lodge in Millinocket

To: Stealth Camp by Abol Bridge
Miles today: 15.0

July 7th, day 1 sobo. Appalachian trail lodge to stealth campsite by abol bridge. 15 Trail miles, 20 hiking miles.Fuck mosquitos.Lots of catching up to do. The last zero in Waynesboro was uneventful, followed by a road trip with my family down to kings mountain in north Carolina. What followed was a wonderful week of continued eating and laziness, punctuated by an awesome 4th of July and a short day hike to confirm my ankle was all better, which it was.On July 6th it was time to travel north. My day consisted of kings mountain to Charlotte to new York to Philly to bangor to medway to Millinocket, starting at 5 30am and ending at 7 30 pm. Phew. it was a prefect uneventful travel day with no delays and no stressing.Millinocket was nice, the people who run the hostel know what they're doing. I did my grocery shopping at an overpriced convenience/general store picking up 6 days of food as I need to go 120 miles or so to get past the hundred mile wilderness to resupply at monson. The hundred mile wilderness is a neat stretch where you don't go by anything developed except a few old dirt logging roads, so you're totally on your own in the woods.Sunrise this morning as stupid early. By 5am the sun is already over the horizon. we got an early breakfast and the dozen or so hikers piled into the shuttles for the ride to the mountain.The trail starts with a 5 mile climb to the top, at which point the AT begins and you backtrack the 5 miles down the mountain. The climb was tough and very technical, at some points more bouldering than hiking. The views once the trail cut above the tree line were breathtaking, and it was a clear day so visibility was fantastic. At the top there was a group of 7 nobos that just finished their thru, so that was pretty awesome. I had my picture taken with the customary sign, then it was time for the even harder downhill trek through the ripping winds. I made it back to the rangers station at the base at 2 pm, which was good because I didn't have a permit to camp in Baxter state park (10 bucks, I opted not to) and had to hike 10 miles to the edge of the park.The afternoon hiking was mostly good. The grade was steady with the trail mostly packed dirt and pine needles. We got to ford 2 rivers which was fun and felt like the Oregon trail or something. At one point I did lose my glasses though me and woody were able to backtrack and find em less than a quarter mile back.As we were getting close to abol things got bad. The mosquitos were terrible. literally the worst I have ever seen. They bit through clothes without a care in the world. their sucky thing must have been like a quarter inch hypodermic needle. I wasn't worried about the itching or the pain so much as the sheer blood loss. I'm guesstimating I got bit over 150 times in less than 2 hours. If you stood still for more than a second there would be dozens of them on any patch of exposed skin. At one point we saw a big male grouse stand on a branch mere feet from the trail, but there wasn't enough time to stop and get out the camera.Last night when I got into the AT lodge no-key who helps run the place said something about bug spray and I said I didn't have any, hadn't used it so far, and wasn't planning on picking any up. 24 hours later I'm pretty sure I would trade my first born for a can of deet. if I were a citronella candle I would happily light myself on fire. If I had a can of ddt I would pour it in a tub and bathe in it. Fuck mosquitos, the bloodsucking insect that seems to be the state bird of Maine. They flock like passenger pigeons in 1870 and dive bomb like coordinated fleets of little kamikaze planes.Other upsides have been the people. I met and spent most of the day hiking with woody a sobo who was fine starting with 20 miles on the first day. he is hiking with his brother though they don't hike together at all. Woody shared in my mosquito misery and picked up a similar number of bites. I also saw trail lite of all people! he was chilling at the little abol convenience store when I walked up, having flip flopped like I did. Quite the surprise! not long after we found a little patch of woods to pitch tents and hang hammocks to get away from the bugs. Its slightly unnerving hearing their whine all around but I don't really have a choice. also unnerving is the fact that I have everything (even food) in my hammock because there is no way in hell I'm unzipping into that mosquito infested wasteland to bear bag. Hopefully they don't think I'm a delicious taco in the middle of the night.Overall things feel good, though I can feel all these bites itching and I'm doing all I can to resist the urge to scratch. I had some blister growth on my heels which is a disappointment but not critical I don't think. The rest of the body feels good and I have 5 days to do the relatively flat 100 mile wilderness, so I'm feeling optimistic. not optimistic about the super early wake up tomorrow but we'll see.