Date: 2004-08-16
From: White House Landing

To: Rainbow Stream Lean-to
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: overcast clouds

We started the day off with a big breakfast at Whitehouse Landing. And what do ya know, we don't get but a mile down the trail before a Trail Angel named Strider is waiting to put on the biggest feast you can imagine: hot dogs, hamburgers, fresh corn, fruit, sodas... Well, we couldn't let him down so we ate second breakfast like a pack of ravenous hyenas. Dave and Miranda caught up today at the trail magic. It turned out to be a big group.There happend to be an incredible lake right next to the trail magic, so I slipped away for a dip in the cool water. It was a beautiful day and he lake had a sandy beach...and there were clams at the bottom of the crystal clear water. I wanted to cook them up bad, but figured we were already full and would have to carry them too far in order to eat them for dinner.Oh, I saw another bear today, the first one here in Maine. I was hiking by myself for a hour or so along a good size stream. I spotted it up ahead of me about a hundred feet. I kept hiking, hoping to get a closer look. Surprizingly, it did not notice me until I was very close, maybe 50 feet. I guess the sound of the stream kept it from hearing my foot steps, but I'm not sure why it didn't smell me earlier...I mean come on I stink!! Anyway, it bolted off into the forest as soon as it saw me. It was a smaller sized black bear, somwhere around two hundred pounds. This was the first bear (not a cub) I have seen while hiking by myself and I was surprised that I wasn't scared or think once about the encounter being dangerous...in fact, I'm sure it scared the crap out the bear! Just a few minutes after seeing the bear, a hiker named Just John came racing up. We hadn't seen him since back in the Shenandoas! He was hiking like a bat out of hell. I mean, he we nearly running. He tripped a couple times, but kept on going. I was excited about seeing someone I hadn't seen for so long. I said, how's it going John! He said, great good to see you, but just kept on going at his 4 mile an hour pace. He seemed a bit flustered like there was something very urgent happening. Before he was out of sight I asked him why he was in such a rush. He said, "I've got to get off this damn trail. I'm done!" I didn't ask why...I already knew why. A lot of people I've talked to feel like that. The trail just seems to go on forever. And even when you are as close as we are to finishing, it still involves days of hiking! He is a strong hiker than us and will probably make it to Katahdin a day or two before us. I am just surprised he feels such a sense of urgency. I want to slow down so it never ends. I could live out here if someone payed me to...any one out there want to sponsor me for the next 50 years? I could live like a king on just 20 or 30k a year. Any takers?So we got to Rainbow Stream Lean-to near sunset. Probably the last 2 miles or so the trail ran along a beautiful stream, still swollen with all the rain from hurricane Bonnie. The lean-to is located right next to this same stream; we have the sound of the water to fall asleep by. We also have an overwhelming emergence of stone flies to deal with. Dozens of stone flies are crashing into our headlamps and falling into our macaronni and cheese. It is too much work to keep them from landing on our Mac 'n Cheese or to pick them out of it, so we are just eating them like they are an exotic delicacy. Uuuuumm, protein. I am in heaven eating stone fly mac 'n cheese in the dark by a beatiful stream in the middle of nowhere...it doen't get much better. Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net