Date: 2003-09-09
From: Rainbow Springs Lean-to

To: Abol Bridge Campground
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

Phew! Can you say cold? We woke up to temps in the mid thirties this morning. Brrr¢¦ But we were still up and on the trail, in our short sleeve shirt, shivering, before 8AM. We warmed up on the first few hills, then the temps warmed up a bit to make it more comfortable. Lots of short ups and downs along the river and pond banks, then up to Rainbow Ledges. We took a liberal dose of breaks along the way, it wasn¢t one of those days that we were trying to hurry, it was the end of the hundred mile wilderness, and we were that much closer to the end of the hike. SO we were in ¢delay mode¢, with lots of breaks. A few views of Katahdin, but the best one was after lunch (lunch was a gathering of hikers on Rainbow Ledges). Just after lunch was a great view of Katahdin, so we all stopped for pictures, then continued on. Another break at the Hurd Brook Lean-to (never too many breaks), then on to Abol Bridge. I was looking forward to meeting Gutsy, she¢s a hiker from my neck of the woods, near Greenville, SC. I¢ve heard so much about her the last few weeks, but never met her. She has a knee injury and got a ride head to Abol Bridge. She¢s hoping to climb Katahdin, if her knee cooperates (or even if it doesn¢t, her trail name IS Gutsy after all), we will all support her in whatever she tries to do. Anyway, Aloha, Wench and I were hiking along and I said, ¢it would be funny if mama and Papa Wench got here early and hiked in to meet us. It was funny, because we turned the next corner and they were there, hiding along the trail with a camera¢¦ It¢s that ¢good timing¢ again¢¦ So we walked the rest of the way to Abol Bridge with them, stopping along the way to enjoy the trail magic they had brought into the woods (and other magic by Don Quixote). Cool.. We got to the trail magic, then the others behind us caught up, and we all sat around for a while talking and eating (we do this a lot). Coffey, Aloha Anne, mama and Papa Wench and little Wench, Hotdog, Old Corpus, and of course our best friend ¢Little Debbie¢. Then, in walked Don Quixote and Gutsy (I finally got to meet her, she¢s a sweetheart!). She thinks that her knee problem is probably torn Meniscus, a very painful problem (I¢ve had it). After the AT, she will get it fixed and hike again (actually, she hiked before she got it fixed, the trail name fits). In the mean time, she has this Katahdin thing she wants to do, no big thing, 5 miles, 4,000 foot elevation gain, she will do it, she¢s a gamer. After our pig out, we hiked out to the road (stopping to take pictures by the ¢Hundred Mile Wilderness¢ sign, then walked down the road to the Abol Bridge Campground. Right before the campground is a bridge over a river, and in the middle of this bridge, you get the best view of Katahdin¢¦. Awesome, I didn¢t want to go on, I just wanted to stay here and look at Katahdin (but after a half roll of film, we finally moved on). Some of us checked in to the campground, and others went to Don Quixotes to stay the night. At the campground, I set my tent up with an unobstructed view of Katahdin, so I could watch it in the sunlight, in the moon light, and at sunrise as first light settled on it. It looks so close, we will be there at the base of it tomorrow. We sat and looked up at it, wondering who was there now, at the end of their hike, and we wondered where the trail was that we would be taking, and which part was Baxter peak. By the way, the view of Katahdin from Abol Bridge is on Postcards, it is so beautiful. Our next task was getting into the car, we put 6 people in a 5 seat car to go to dinner in Millinocket at the Appalachian Trail Caf©, then we returned to the campground to relax, journal and sleep (to dream of the mountain). Tomorrow is a short, fairly easy day, but a big one. We will finally enter Baxter state park, and it¢s the last hiking day before we summit Katahdin (translation: The last day with a full pack). Lots to think about, we¢re summiting September 11th¢¦ Thoughts of those who can¢t be here with us, because of some untimely event that shortened their lives, thoughts of Teds flag flying on Katahdin on 9/11. But now it¢s time for dreams, of tomorrow, of the future. Life is Good!