Date: 2008-08-13
From: Rainbow Stream Lean-To

To: Abol Bridge Campground
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: overcast clouds

As it turned out, the weather today did bring a decent amount of rain ¢ which I was not expecting. Found out later today (when I got to Abol Campground) that tomorrow and Friday are still supposed to be nice. I¢m still on track to climb Katahdin on Friday, 8/15.I don¢t understand why most of the other thru-hikers are in such a hurry to get to Katahdin and finish their thru-hike. It¢s no longer a race this year ¢ there are now many hikers who have already finished before now. If anything, I¢m taking it relatively slow to enjoy the last few days. And, I want to climb on a clear, dry day if possible. It¢s hard enough to accept the hike is almost over. I started out at 8am. Came upon a bridge consisting of two long logs, about 6 inches in diameter, about three feet above the water. They were positioned next to one another. Besides being wet and slippery, the two logs sprang up and down walking across them. If I¢d crossed on them yesterday they would have been totally dry. But the rain this morning made them both wet and a challenge. I¢ve always had a difficult time with balancing myself above water, and getting older hasn¢t helped. Once again, took it steady but cautiously and didn¢t fall into the water. Today was a bit warmer than yesterday, even with the rain. It was also humid and the flying insects were out ¢ even though it was raining. Used up my remaining deet and plan on buying more at the Abol Campground Store this evening. The AT follows Rainbow Stream for about two miles. There are a lot of cascades, sluices, and waterfalls. Fortunately, the crossing over the stream was at a calmer spot and was no problem. Rainbow Stream is the outlet for the large Rainbow Lake. The wind really kicked up, causing waves and whitecaps.Looking at Katahdin from the ledges you can see why the base and middle portion of the mountain can be clear but the top portion socked in with fog. From where I was standing it looked like the clouds were covering up the top of Katahdin. If you want a clear view from the top of Katahdin when you climb you pretty much need a sunny day. Otherwise, on a cloudy day, the clouds will often hang around near the Katahdin summit. On top of Rainbow Ledges, I met a female hiker, all alone, who was tucked away under a rock (pretty much) reading a book. The rain didn¢t seem to bother her. I asked if she would take a picture of me with Katahdin in the background. She obliged and it looked like the rain didn¢t even show up in the photo. That photograph goes to Trail Boss. We talked briefly. Her story: she is a southbound thru-hiker who is re-evaluating doing the hike. More and more I seemed to be running into folks like that ¢ hikers who were beginning to realize the realities of the hike. It probably comes up with everyone in one sense or the other. Both southbound and northbounders. A couple of speedy northbound thru-hikers caught up with me (what else is new) and told me about a fire that had started on one of the mountains we had already passed. Word was that part of the trail to our rear had been closed while the fire was being brought under control. I thought that I had smelled some type of smoke yesterday but hadn¢t paid it any attention at the time.A number of years ago there had been a large forest fire on the trail down in Virginia. The trail was shut down for several days (maybe longer?) while the fire was fought. I read about thru-hikers who wouldn¢t stop and would hike around the roadblocks. It seems that sometimes we can get hungup with the trail and maybe lose touch with priorities?Hurd Brook was full of large boulders that I was able to rock-hop. This would definitely be difficult in high water, but today¢s rain was not yet enough to raise the water level much. There was another hiker at Hurd Brook Lean-To when I stopped for a break. He was also heading to the campground there for the night. For some reason he thought that Abol was some sort of small town with several stores. Don¢t have a clue where he got that idea. There really is only the small country store and the campground. They do have showers at the campground, but they charge extra to use them. When I got to Abol Bridge mid-afternoon, the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out. At the campstore I bought two days worth of food. One day to get me to Katahdin Springs Campground and the second day of food in case I had to wait another day to summit. Also bought some milk, couple of microwave cheeseburgers, a bunch of Slim Jims, and five Hostess Cupcakes (don¢t laugh ¢ everything was eaten by the following morning). Then went over to the picnic table in front of the store and began eating. Next to the table is a pay phone and I called Trail Boss. Gave her my journal entries for posting. Trail Boss and I made final plans to get me home after climbing Katahdin. Basically, I have three options ¢ a bus, a train, or a plane. Without any doubt at all I am NOT going to ride a Greyhound Bus all the way back to Washington, DC. The cost for the train is decent ($130) but the train schedule is really limited on when I can leave. And I would have to travel overnight in a uncomfortable seat (no pullman cars). I know you are probably thinking that after sleeping all these nights on the ground the train seat shouldn¢t be an issue. Wrong! When this hike is over I am going to immediately start living my life the way it was meant to be lived.So, I will fly home. Hitch to Millnocket and spend a night there. Then a cab or hitch to Medway and a Cyr Lines Bus (which is really nice) to Bangor. Then the plane home. The entire trip can be done in about 8-10 hours. Because I¢m not certain which day I will fly back the plane ticket isn¢t going to be cheap. I accept that as part of the cost of a thru-hike.I had planned on spending the night in my tent at the Abol Campground. But they wanted (I think) $10 just to set up your tent there. The Campground appears to be primarily designed for large RVs to hook-up. But because of the high cost of gas I didn¢t see a lot of them. Anyway, I wasn¢t in the mood to pay the $10 so I just retreated back on the trail a bit and stealth camped in the woods for the night. That was fine for me.The campstore had a radio and I got updated on the upcoming weather. Friday still looks really good for summiting. During the afternoon I met about six other hikers at the store. Most were planning to summit also on Friday, in two days. But there was a couple who said they were planinng to actually hike through Baxter State Park and summit tomorrow. That¢s a very rough 15 miles to do in one day. Maybe they are on some kind of schedule. I woke up around 4am to the sound of rain hitting my tent. There wasn¢t supposed to be any more rain. It turned out that there was only about 10-15 minutes of the rain and it never rained any more after that. I had a hard time falling back to sleep. Guess I¢m starting to get a bit worked up about the next two days.Mt. Katahdin Viewed From Rainbow Lake