Date: 2008-10-05
From: Stealth site @ Crescent Pond, ME

To: Stealth site .1 before Hurd Brook Lean-to, ME
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: light rain

Oh my gosh did I discover a gem! This fleece bag liner of Karen's rocks my world. Get this, I woke up SCORCHING and the temps got down into the mid-30's last nite!! Can you believe it? No sleeping pad, remember, I'm not carrying one. I had my tarp close and pine needle duff because it was very windy, but the wind eventually died down. Wow, I can't believe I woke up that hot...amazing. I may have just perfected my system....hmmm...only 2 days left, better late than never! So I got up while it was still dark enough for a headlamp, but with some light. I made my way down to Crescent Pond to look for moose. Was there any? Hell no! All I managed to do was get my camp socks wet...damn it! It was still beautiful though, as the sun came up, mist was rising from the water, which was perfectly still. I took my time packing up, took a moment to sit and enjoy, but still managed to be hiking by 7:38 a.m. There were row boats and canoes placed along the shoreline of this pond, so there has to be a road nearby. I kept stopping and looking out hoping to see a moose. I saw something moving on the surface¢¦was it an antler tip from a submerged moose? (they actually walk under water and eat the grass on the bottom from what I hear). Oh¢¦just a freakin duck. Am I desperate or what? I hiked thru a mossy forest and came to a view point¢¦.accidentally. I¢ve been losing the trail more and more these days. I think it¢s just mental fatigue, but here I was standing on this rocky cliff looking way way down at Rainbow Stream with beautiful trees everywhere. It was sort of worth it. I hiked back up a tiny incline and saw where the trail forked, but I¢d missed it. Duh¢¦In about 1 more mile, close to Pollywog Stream, I stopped and walked off trail a ways to go water the leaves. I literally have my hand on the belt of my hiking pants, which were seconds from being dropped when I hear, ¢Hey!! Is that you Certain?¢ I saw 2 women hiking towards me that I didn¢t know. So, this chance encounter ended up being the highlight of my entire day. It was none other than Vigil Auntie and Y from NC!! I¢d heard of them, but had never met them. What AWESOME women!!! I wanted to just set up camp and talk all day, but we stood there and chatted for probably 30 minutes. They told me they read about 15 people¢s journals last year as they were preparing to do their hike this year (they¢ve flipped from Rangeley, ME, and are headed back there now), and I died laughing because Vigil Auntie said she was always the ¢voice of Certain,¢ meaning she would read my entries out loud to Y and Y had her journals she would read. That¢s too funny. But these 2 had my going man¢¦.they win my award for the most awesome place to spend the nite. They ACTUALLY camped IN the Mahoosuc Notch!!! LOL This wasn¢t exactly planned, but they said it was 8 p.m. and couldn¢t see where to go any longer, so they set their tent up on this tiny angled slab of rock where they had just enough space for 1 sleeping pad, which they both squeezed in and shared!! I am picturing this and just about fell over laughing. The kicker is upon getting up in the morning, they found they were only about 1 TENTH of a mile from the end (where there are 2 stealth sites perfect for tenting or hanging!! Can you believe that? I so so so hope they took at least one picture of this. I have to see it.So this led to a conversation about pissyness and cussing. Vigil Auntie nailed it when she said the sudden projectile cussing that often occurs out here, she has been able to name the source¢¦..¢Trail Induced Turrets Syndrome.¢ HOW HILARIOUS is THAT? She¢s SO right about that too!!! You¢ll suddenly find yourself in a fowl fowl mood just letting it fly, but the ridiculous thing is that you¢re cussing out a rock or root that just made you trip, or you¢re cussing out a climb you weren¢t expecting¢¦.you know¢¦stuff that is SUPPOSED to be out here! Ok, so then I¢ve decided, I think it should be made into the acronym¢¦T.I.T.S.   And folks, I had a BIG case of T.I.T.S. last nite with that bear bag situation. I would have been completely embarrassed if anyone had walked up on me, because I was just standing there yelling and cussing (Marine Corps style¢¦so you know that¢s BAD) at the rope!!! (Please tell me I¢ll miss this someday). Well, we all had to hike our own ways, and I really mean it, meeting these 2 great women was the joy of the day. They are only in NC, so that¢s close to home for now at least. I can¢t wait for Karen to meet them. The sun was out for awhile today, but it was cool again. Funny thing, when I got to Pollywog Stream, there was a great campsite there. I was headed there originally, and Vigil Auntie and Y were originally headed to Crescent Pond, but we all ended up at the other¢s place for the nite. We did talk about how after the Whites, the thought of double digit days is daunting for some reason. They said they¢re proud now if they do a 10-miler, and I told them I hated even doing double digits now. So nice to be ¢gotten.¢Next was a gradual 3 mile climb, which paralleled beautiful Rainbow Stream. The last 53 miles of the wilderness is so full of great water¢¦streams and lakes and ponds. There were watery rock chutes, water falls, clear pools with sandy bottoms too. I met Hell on Bad Wheels (TX), who is hiking for the Gilda Radner charity. He¢s had knee surgery times..hence the name bad wheels. He told me the news that Mt. Katahdin had been closed for several days due to snow and ice. Oh man¢¦that¢s a really scary thing to even have to think about. I eventually got to Rainbow Stream Lean-to, which has a great location, but the place was trashed with a pair of jeans, trash, and it was just sad to see.   There was also a hilarious totem pole/log there, with a face and all sorts of things carved into it. It¢s a pretty scene here, and you go across Rainbow Stream on 2 logs, right in front of the lean-to and then end up hiking the better part of the day with Rainbow Lake to the left. It¢s fine and all, but when you spend ALL day with a lake to your left, it really makes you feel like you¢re getting nowhere fast. I arrived at the Rainbow Lake Campground around 12:30 p.m. and decided to eat lunch. It got very grey and cool and I thought today was supposed to be sunny, but it sure looked like the skies were going to open up any minute. There¢s a spring here, so I walked down to it, but I couldn¢t tell where it actually started, but did see a big pool of semi-moving water. Problem was that it was all full of leaves, so I opted to walk 10 feet further and just get water from the lake. It was crystal clear water and I always smell my water for funky smells, but this water smelled better than the stuff I get at home. My feet were already killing me, and I felt tired today, still fighting my pissy mood too. Then I heard that haunting call of a loon, and that always snaps me back to a more amiable mental place, because these birds have the coolest set of calls I¢ve ever heard. I headed on and it was a total of 5 miles along the lake and then the trail curves off to the right, and I finally saw the end of the lake, which looked like a little Carribean bay, perfectly clear water, you could see the rocks in the bottom¢¦.so wished it was a hot summer day so I could have gone swimming.I started up and away from the lake and it started sprinkling, so I stopped and got the rain gear out. Of course, the moment I got all geared up, the rain stopped¢¦.WHATEVER!!!! Not that I needed the reminder, but yup, I still don¢t enjoy higher mileage days, and I do consider (notice my definition of high mileage is changing?) double digit days as high mileage at this point. I can¢t help it¢¦.Vigil Auntie and Y were so right¢¦the Whites ruin you for double digits. It¢s like mentally you just can¢t imagine them again after going thru the Whites. I was thinking though, about what has been the biggest surprise about this whole hike for me. I believe it¢s that I sort of expected it to just become easier, and honestly folks, it has never gotten easy for me. Every single day has been challenging for me. I thought I¢d get to some magical point where I could get up and command the trail (it sure seems like some people can do that, but at what cost?) and I thought I¢d be able to hike 18 miles and have tons of energy and go, ¢Oh..that was fun and easy.¢ Nope¢¦never has that really happened. I took a short break before the next climb, and while sitting there for about 2 minutes, I heard a red squirrel, some type of bird call, grouse mating call, a loon, and something scurrying in leaves right near me. I was like, ¢Wow!! Where else can you sit for this short amount of time and hear this much life happening around you?¢ It was pretty amazing.Next was a 1 mile climb up and then back down and I finally started my final climb of this hike (other than Mt. Katahdin that is), 1 mile up to the Rainbow Ledges. It wasn¢t that bad of a climb and it ended up on a perfectly smooth rock slabby trail, like someone came out and edged it, green moss, red plants¢¦.just your typical beautiful higher elevation scene. I got to the top of the first of 2 humps and saw a sign saying Mt. Katahdin was a mere 20.6 miles away¢¦.REALLY?!!!!! I went over the hump and then looked to the left and got my first REAL cloudless view of Mt. Katahdin and it took my breath away. First (and to my horror) the top of snow covered. This mountain is HUGE and my first reaction was that I felt completely intimidated by the thought that I¢d be climbing to the top of what I saw. It was as if it was saying to me, ¢I see you¢¦.come if you dare.¢ I felt overwhelmed and then was struck by a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, because I wondered if the snow could cause them to close Katahdin before I get a chance to summit. I sort of wondered if I should expend a little time thinking about this possibility, but at this exact moment, I was absolutely hypnotized by the site of Katahdin and couldn¢t seem to hike away.I got pretty choked up, but finally tore myself away and moved on. The trail dips down and then back up to the second hump of Rainbow Ledges, but there was no view on this one. It was then 1.5 miles down and V8¢s magical elastic mile was so applicable today. Finally I heard a strong brook and knew it had to be Hurd Brook, and the lean-to is on the other side of this brook. About .1 before the brook there was this great little place that was perfect for hanging, so I called it a nite. This would be my last nite solo camping out here and I surely didn¢t want to spend it at a lean-to with a bunch of other people. I got to camp at 4:58 p.m. It felt like such a long day, my feet were really hurting and I was just tired. I was determined not to have a repeat of my ultra-pissy camp nite from last nite, so I took my time, and it ended up being much better. I hung my rope on the 2nd try, and because I know my days left to site a moose are numbered, I am trying to let the moose know how much I love them by hanging my hammock over a pile of scat. I¢ve also posted Howard out on a rock right next to my hammock¢¦.he will stay there all nite and summons his people (if he knows what¢s good for him). So dinner tonight, I¢d been saving my Loaded Mashed Potato, because I generally like this meal. Well people, I think I am the only hiker that has managed to increase my pack weight by cooking a meal. How¢d I do this one? Well¢¦.after all of these nites, I still don¢t know how much water to heat up, I almost always end up with soup, so I decided I wasn¢t going to eat soup tonight. I put a little less water in, heated it up, added my potatoes, and to my horror, I realized I had WAY too little water to really mix them up properly, so then I started adding my cold water, because I had no other way to heat up more water¢¦.my cookpot already had the potatoes in it! So I add a little more water¢¦.then a little more and finally end up with cold instant potatoes that were about the consistency of Elmer¢s Paste, that goopy stuff we all sniffed (and sometimes ate) in elementary school during an art project. Yeah¢¦um¢¦.I couldn¢t stomach it, so I ate less than half of it and ended up scooping the rest into a zip lock baggie and putting it in my trash bag. So now, I¢m carrying around fully hydrated instant mashed potatoes, and these weigh more than when it was in powder form. Ugh¢¦.I¢m obviously digressing, losing my edge or something.   I still kept my sense of humor though. So I¢m laying here listening to the rushing sound of Hurd Brook. It was a cool 48 degrees at 5 p.m., so now it¢s 7:30 p.m., and I¢ve gotta get wrapped up. Even with gloves on, my finger tips are ice cold. Tomorrow, I will enter Baxter State Park, I will arrive at the base of Mt. Katahdin, and Karen will be waiting for me there. I can not process what is about to happen. It¢s surreal. 18.7 miles to go!!!!~Certain