Date: 2003-09-24
From: ME 15- SOBO

To: Bodfish Pond Rd.
Miles today: 15.5

Date: 9.24.03Starting Location:Bodfish Farm RoadDestination: ME 15 (SOBO)Mileage: 15.5!!   Ok..so it turns out that the 100 Mile Wilderness is kind-of 100 miles of wilderness! There are old logging roads that cut across it, so there is some access, which allows the Shaws to offer two slack-packing options. Today, we had the opportunity to slack-pack fifteen miles, southbound, back into town. 15.5 miles would be the biggest day I have done on this trip, but I am anxious to try it, so we sign up. After a big home-cooked breakfast, a crowd of us lounged around outside waiting for our ride to the trail. We were messing around, laughing and taking pictures, when I asked one of the guys to take a picture of all of us girls together. "This is what the AT Woman looks like", I said. Man, talk about a group of strong, amazing women! This is a group that I am proud to be a part of!    After good-bye hugs, and choruses of "Hike safe!", we loaded into the back of a pick-up truck and took off. We huddled down into our jackets as the fall air swept by us. Tearing around corners we barely had time to notice the towering pine trees with shafts of sunlight streaming through them. This was going to be a perfect day for a hike!   Keith Shaw, Jr. dropped us off a mile and a half from the trail, and the group of us started up the road. We spread out quickly, only to come together at the many river and creek fords we had to do today. I would be hiking along, enjoying the pine-needle carpet of a path, when I would look up and see people. Knowing that they were congregated to figure out a way across the water, I would start taking deep breaths and urge myself to stay calm. I hate fording rivers. Really.   Nothing that we forded today was particularly deep or swift, but all of them were stressful! I quickly decided that I would rather hike with wet boots then try to rock-hop across, or ford in my bare feet. As a result, I spent all day squishing, but I didn't mind.....too much.    The trail today was beautiful and varied. It smells like Christmas everywhere we go because of all the pine trees, and the chatter of small red squirrels can be heard most of the day. Much of the trail is very muddy and full of roots, but since my boots are already soaked, I don't worry about trying to keep them clean. Instead, I just concentrate on keeping my feet on the ground and the rest of me upright! Of course, given the mud and slick rocks, I did have several mud-butt moments today, but all in all, I was proud of my performance.    After lunch, I became aware that there was no way that I was going to make it back to the road before dark, so I warned Bumpkin that I would be night-hiking. I came prepared with a head lamp, but I really wasn't looking forward to using it. Bumpkin had paid for dinner at the hostel, and she had left her car parked at the trailhead, so I told her to go on into town when she was done and to come back and get me when she was finished eating.    As the sun started to set, I heard big crashing noises in the woods to one side. I knew it was a moose, but I couldn't see it through the trees. I just hoped it wasn't a male, because they are rumored to be very agressive this time of year. The sun set quickly, and I waited til the last posible moment to pull out my headlamp. I knew that I would see better without it until it was really dark. Plus, I think a part of me was hoping that just this once the sun wouldn't set at all and leave me three miles out in a dark, unfamiliar woods! Alas, you can count on the sun rising and setting, regardless of your own personal wishes! It got really dark, and I got really slow. Not normal Anna-slow.....REALLY slow! The trail with its myriad of rocks and roots became a dark hazard-filled maze. I couldn't see the white blazes on the trees, and it didn't take long for me to become totally disheartened. I wasn't afraid of the dark, and I wasn't afraid of the boogey man. I was afraid of tripping and hurting myself, and I was afraid of getting lost.   It was just little ole me, alone in the night with just a tiny headlamp to light the way. (Can you hear the violins?) I had just worked up a good bout of self-pity, and was truly on the verge of tears, when I caught sight of a figure sitting on the trail in front of me. Bumpkin!"What are you doing here?", I cried. "I got tired, and needed to rest", she repied. Yep....she is a big ole liar! She could have been out of these woods hours ago, but she wouldn't leave me to night hike alone! I cannot describe the feeling of total gratitude that filled me. Can you see how lucky I am?   After a very scary climb down a little cliff, and crossing a rushing stream, (neither of which is my favorite thing to do in the daylight, much less in the dark!), we took off down the trail. With Bumpkin going ahead and locating the white blazes, we started to make pretty good time, and the next hour and a half flew by. We climbed up on this ridge and found ourselves on a wide, flat rock with nothing above. One glance up and I asked Bumpkin if we could stop for a second and look at the stars. We lay down on our backs on the cold, flat rock and looked up to see more stars than I have ever seen in my life. You could see the black and grey waves of color that distinguish the Milky Way, and I could even pick out the few constellations that I know. When I joked about sighting a rare, blinking satellite star moving across the sky, Bumpkin said that it was probably eqiuipped with thermal equipment, and that they were looking for two hikers lost in the dark. We lost it, and! peals of our laughter rang out over the mountains. Following that with a detailed account of her fall into the river this afternoon, we both lay on that rock and laughed until we cried.It might just be my favorite AT memory of them all.    After a while, the rock's chill started to seep through our clothes and we had to get up. The rest of the hike went by quickly, and at 9:30 we finally arrived at her car. Flatlander was there waiting for us cause it seems that her hiking partner had left her and hitched back to town by herself. Pretty uncool, huh?! So we scooped her up and headed back to the Shaws.(end part one)Love, Anna aka Mud Buttwww.trailjournals.com