Date: 2019-07-29
To: North Pond stealth site
Miles today: 3.8
Weather: moderate rain

At sunset UNICEF and I reached a stealth site by North Pond four miles into Maine's 100 Mile Wilderness, headed for Katahdin. It was the end of a very long day. I had started before 3am at home near Philadelphia. For the last two months, since returning UNICEF and Fast Lane to their northern Virginia trailheads following our reunion at Devil's Backbone Brewery with Go-Gurt and Scrub-a-Dub, I've kept tabs on my old tramily through occasional texts. As they came through Pennsylvania I came out to meet them. First, Food Truck and Clammy at Port Clinton, where my young sons and I waited in the old railyard as they bounded down the steep trail. To everyone's surprise they were followed twenty minutes later by Fast Lane, who hadn't seen them since taking off a few days in Maryland. They had even tented at the same shelter the night before, unaware of the other. We grabbed breakfast, took them to Walmart to resupply, watched them explode their packs in the parking lot, and took them right back to the trail. Clammy was intent on hiking fast through the mid-Atlantic. Fast Lane was decidedly less hurried.A few days later UNICEF came through. He had already resupplied when I found him at Cabela's south of Port Clinton. He had taken a week off to visit a friend in DC but had hiked big miles since. Although not fast, he'd gotten into the habit of hiking dawn to dusk, and never zeroed or even stayed in town, so the miles piled up. Still, he was in no rush, so after lunch we drove up to Pottsville to tour the Yuengling Brewery. Since I was driving he got most of our free samples and probably doesn't remember the few miles he later hiked to Windsor Furnace shelter! He had stories: the day before a hiker named Scout had stolen cash and credit cards from a woman's purse at the Port Clinton barbershop, a business that is very hiker-friendly. This same hiker also had a habit of stealing from other hikers; when UNICEF caught him going through his pack the guy claimed he thought it was a hiker box! That evening at the park pavilion in Port Clinton, which is open to hikers as a shelter, the woman's husband came around to confront Scout and retrieve the stolen cash. Threats were made, the police were called, and soon UNICEF and the other hikers were getting dragged into it. The guy even came back later that night. Needless to say UNICEF was happy to put that town behind him. As if that weren't enough, a creepy hiker who goes by Air Quotes, among other names, was hiking in his bubble and acting erratically. With the tragedy in Virginia still fresh, it was putting people on edge. I discovered he was the same guy I tented with my second night in Georgia. He called himself Frog at the time, was meditating when I met him, and quoted Wittgenstein over the campfire. His manner was disconcerting even then.Finally in early July I drove to Boiling Springs to see Belch and Gina, who I last saw in Damascus. These two have been through a lot, before and during their hike, but were still plugging away. They were cautious about taking too much time off once they get to New Jersey, their home state, fearing they wouldn't get back on trail. Gina had less than two months before her leave ended from her teaching job and they were trying to pick up the pace. A month later I learned they did end up leaving the trail, having too little time left to reach Katahdin. 1300 miles is quite an accomplishment though. I hope that despite (or even because of) the obstacles, they got what they were looking for from the AT.Which brings me to today. After leaving my house at 3 in the morning I drove ten hours to Monson in north central Maine. It turns out New York traffic is almost bearable at 5am. Not so much Boston traffic a few hours later. The last couple hours were spent on rural highways through small towns in Maine, passing logging trucks. Not until the last few miles did I start climbing above a few hundred feet elevation.UNICEF spotted me as I pulled in to Shaw's hostel. He ambled over in his low-key manner like he couldn't believe I'd actually showed. He'd been relaxing since yesterday, enjoying his first hostel stay since Hot Springs, 1800 miles ago! A trail angel recently pushed him to accept $50 so he could stay in a hostel. If he'd experienced Shaw's early on instead of the hard floor at Laughing Heart, he might have tried a few other hostels along the way. He waxed on about Shaw's bottomless pancake and bacon breakfast for days after.Hanging out in the hostel were Two Blade, a teacher from Philly I first met in Hot Springs; Silent Bob, a New Hampshirite who I knew as Bash or Dr Farts when he was hiking with Pukey in the south; and Fresh Prints, a bartender from Camden. Silent Bob had lost forty pounds from when I last saw him. Fresh Prints lost thirty pounds over his hike, though he looks like he's always been slim. Two Blade, like most women, lost little but redistributed the weight to muscle. UNICEF, already a lean climber, said he lost only two pounds. He was noticeably thinner, though, so it must have moved around for him too.A dozen or more tween girls piled out of a shuttle and started setting up tents at Shaw's. High season for youth group backpacking. And time for us to get going! I found Hippie Chick, the owner of Shaw's along with her husband Poet, and arranged to leave my car for the week. UNICEF and I then stopped by the AT visitor center to sign in for summiting Katahdin. It's a way for hikers to avoid overcrowding, especially the Birches shelter at the base which has only 12 spots. We're shooting for August 4th, which gives us five full days to reach the base - still a challenge, since that's 112 miles away.We got dropped off at the trailhead late in the afternoon with three section hikers - a father with two teen sons. We headed into the 100 Mile Wilderness with 6 days of food. A foreboding sign warns you to carry at least 10. It was a relatively easy three miles to the first shelter, with a confusing stream crossing right before. The shelter occupants called out to guide us across. Inside we found Deadweight and Ditzy from San Antonio. Southbound from Katahdin, they were on their tenth day in the Wilderness. They'd intended to thruhike, but were now planning to bail in Monson. They came totally unprepared: cotton clothes, dual burner campstove, and fifty pound backpacks. Their feet are killing them. They thought they'd be doing 24 miles a day out of the gate (in Maine!). Thoroughly chastened by the reality of the trail, they plan to learn from these lessons and try again next year, northbound from Georgia instead.We continued hiking another mile around North Pond and found a couple of previously used stealth sites by a dammed stream off the pond. We discovered bedrock lay under a thin layer of duff when we tried to drive in the stakes, so we went stakeless and flyless. Over dinner - noodles for me, cold snacks for UNICEF, UNICEF explained how he's enjoyed hiking his own hike the last couple of months. But he's also looking forward to going home and back to rock climbing, piano, and his routine. We soaked our feet in the stream and scanned the pond for moose before bed. I didn't encounter one the last time I went through Maine two summers ago. Maybe this time?