Date: 2004-08-01
From: Pamola Motor Lodge, Millinocket, Maine

To: Baxter State Park, Maine
Miles today: 9.9

9.9 miles todayBaxter State Park, MaineI woke up at 4:48am. I had to remind John Galt that he was in the double bed with Stumpknocker and not that bartender from last night.I didn't like these sleeping arrangements, but there were only two double beds and four of us hikers.John Galt is NOT someone I would like to wake up next to in the morning.Coughdrop and Hippie had the other bed.I got up about 6am and took a shower and checked The Weather Channel out. Hippie and I went out on the porch so we didn't disturb John Galt and Coughdrop. Then we went down to the small breakfast the motel put out. We checked out of the motel and drove to Abol Bridge and John Galt dropped Hippie, Coughdrop and myself off. He didn't hike today. He drove over to Katahdin Stream Campground and spent the day studying for a test he has to take in a couple of weeks.We decided to do the 10 miles from Abol Bridge to Katahdin Stream instead of climbing Katahdin today because it was raining and we wanted to do Katahdin when the weather is better.I ran into Redbeard there before I started hiking. He's summiting tomorrow, so his thru hike will be over. It's a great hike up to the summit of Katahdin, but because it means your hike is over, it was my least favorite day on my nobo thru hike in '02.We left Abol Bridge and about 5 minutes later, we ran into a young bull moose. I was only about 15 to 20 yards from him and got some nice pictures. It was a warm day, but not too bad. There were a few bugs, but they weren't too bad either.I ran into Poptart, the ridge runner. He was not the Poptart from '03 or '04. Trek had gone through this morning before we got there.We took about a 40 minute break by Nesowadnehunk Falls. I walked out into the rushing water and was surprised by how fast the water was running near the top of the falls. It was hard to keep my feet planted on the bottom of the river.We hiked on to Big Niagara Falls and took about a two hour break. We layed in the sun for a while. It had cleared up nicely today after some morning rain. After a while, I started getting too warm, so I went swimming. Hippie came in and was getting wet slowly because of the cold water. I was able to grab her arm and help her get wet faster. I'll probably pay for that sometime.We finally hiked on after a fun afternoon there.We got to Katahdin Stream Campground after a real easy day at about 4pm. We found John Galt studying and we went over to a picnic table and made dinner. We spent a couple of hours there and finally had to call John Galt and tell him we were ready to go to Abol Campground here in Baxter State Park. Katahdin Stream was supposedly full although it wasn't even half full that late in the day.Just before we left, a hiker that I knew from the trail in Tn. stopped by to talk for a little while. His name was Stick and he's doing a flip too.I set up my tent and watched Coughdrop teach John Galt how to set up his new hammock. Hippie and I are planning on getting up at 1am and hiking to the top of Katahdin to watch the sun rise. We don't have an alarm clock and I'm tired, so we'll see how we do.Another great day on the A.T.