Date: 2008-09-17
From: Jo-Mary Road, Cooper Brook

To: Pollywog Stream
Miles today: 23.5

Today was a strange walk, some of it was very easy, other parts were a real challenge, it was another early morning get away, seem to be having no trouble rising out of bed early at the moment. The feeling that this cold all be over soon is bringing me great joy, to be able to do something other than walking each day. Not far after Potaywadjo Spring Lean-to was Pemadumcook Lake, standing on the edge of it was another view of Katahdin. I was much closer now, and looking at the mountain over water was something very different. It seemed so much bigger now, rather than looking at it from the top of another mountain, I was well below it looking up, and it looked very daunting. I tried to see if I could see n easy way up the beast, but no route looked easy at all, it seemed to be protected form all sides by steep rocks that would have to be scrambled over. It was a brilliant blue sky, and a cool breeze danced across my face as I glared out at Katahdin. It was time to put my head down and get some miles today.There was an opportunity today to get a resupply, and with the slow going in the south of the 100 mile wilderness I was very low on food, to get to the resupply I would have to be picked up and ferried across a lake to the camp. It would take up to much of my time I decided, I had Katahdin fever and wanted to get there as fast as I could. There were more rivers to cross over, huge ponds to skirt around, and beaches to walk over, it was a real mixture. Eventually made it to Wadleigh Stream lean-to near the shore of Nahmakantal Lake, there was a section hiking here who had taken up residence in the lean-to, and he seemed total unprepared. Like so many hikers I have encountered he had a huge pack and was carrying an enormous amount of weight. He was your typical American, very round in the midriff, and had taken on more than he was capable of achieving. His feet were all blistered up, and he was hiking some very low mileage, when I had told him how far I had walked he seemed rather distressed, his shoulders dropped and I could see that his moral was very low. It was getting late, and I was determined to move on and make up some more miles, he looked at me as though I was crazy, and warned me to be very careful. I had that touch of thru hiker arrogance and shrugged my shoulders and told him I was getting use to all the risks now after doing it for 6 months. It amases me that even though I am a thru hiker, people who hike once a year for a few days just love to give you advice, I find it kind of annoying. He was telling me not to head on, as the mountain ahead was far too large to be tackling late in the day, and I would run out of daylight before I even reached the top. It seemed to cheer him up a great deal when he was handing out some advice to me about the trail and what I needed to look out for, I bit my tongue and smiled politely and headed on. Climbed up over Nesuntabunt Mtn, it was a most enjoyable climb, seem to circle around the mountain a number of times. Once at the top a short walk out to some rocks for another stunning view of Katahdin. It looks about the same size as it did 30 miles ago, the ATC has us walking around in circles. Descended down the mountain and nightfall was upon me, and the terrain was up and down between small gorges, it was hard to stay on trail and a few times I wandered off. Passed by Pollywog Gorge, walked out to the lookout, but all I did was stare out into darkness. Came upon Pollywog Stream (where do they get all these bizarre names from) and crossed over it, found a nice camp spot on the roadside and stopped for the night. It had been a long day, and was able to get some really good mileage.