Date: 2008-08-17
From: Rainbow Springs Campsite ME

To: The Birches ÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ Baxter State Park ME 
Miles today: 21.1

Day 182 Sunday August 17 ¢ The Birches ¢ Baxter State Park ME - Miles Today: 21.1 Total Miles: 2171.0We both woke up about 3:00 this morning after a good solid 6 hours of sleep ¢ got to love tent sleeping! We ended up with the whole campsite to ourselves, so it was a quiet night once we got our feet and legs to quit moaning, groaning, spazing and flinching. Since we were both awake, we debated whether we should get up and start hiking. A 3:00 a.m. start could enable us to pass some hikers and perhaps provide us the opportunity to snag a reserved site at The Birches. Brakeman made the decision to go back to sleep, so that is what we did.After sleeping a bit more, we got up at 5:00 and started our hike towards Baxter State Park. After 8 miles of hiking, we reached Hurd Brook Lean-to. We were 3 miles short of the information board at Baxter State Park, where we could sign in for one of the reserved sites at The Birches, provided there were any spots left. We decided to have Brakeman hike on ahead at a fast pace to see if he could get us two of those coveted 12 spots. He passed 4 hikers (ladies), but they were not thru-hikers, so they would not be trying to secure some of the 12 spots. Brakeman was unable to catch and pass any thru-hikers before getting to the Information Board. As he approached the sign-in board, he mentally said to himself, ¢My heart is going to sink if I open this up and it says all 12 spots are taken and we are out of luck! And my heart is also going to sink if it¢s says we have successfully secured spots #11 and #12, as I have just booked down the trail as fast as I could for 3 miles.¢ Hmm, so either way, it sounded like his heart was going to sink. At 10:15, Brakeman opened the information board and, lo and behold, we got sign-in spots #2 and #3 at The Birches! And yes, sure enough, his heart just sank - all that booking for the last 3 miles for nothing. But we sure were glad we did not get up at 3:00 a.m. to start our hike!But, we were the #12 and #13 hikers to sign into Baxter State Park today, so our thought that there were at least 10 people ahead of us today was correct. What we did not realize was that these hikers also changed their itinerary, hiking into Baxter 12 day ahead of their original plan. They stayed at Abol Campground last night, woke up at 3:30 a.m. and began their hike to summit Katahdin and back down ¢ a long 20-mile day. They were thinking the weather would be nicer today than tomorrow and wanted to capture the moment.Grasshopper arrived at the Information Board just 15 minutes later after stopping at the Abol Bridge campground store for peanut butter and hamburger rolls for our final meals. Luckily as she was packing the rolls in her pack, she turned the package over and noticed the mold growing on the bottom. Back inside she went to grab the one remaining package of rolls on the shelf. We were surprised to find that Brakeman arrived just 15 minutes before Grasshopper, even though she had a grocery store stop. Grasshopper also stopped and talked to the 4 lady casual hikers in the 100 Mile Wilderness as she passed them. They had been dropped into the wilderness via a seaplane! Wow, what a neat way to begin a hike!Had all the thru-hikers passing through Baxter today wanted to stay at The Birches, we would have been in a bit of doo-doo. But we had our game plan if that situation arose. Rather than do the long 20-mile day from Abol Campground, which we thought was too long of a day, our game plan was to wonder around the campground and yogi a tent spot from a family already set up. That way we could do our summit day from the base of Katahdin ¢ just a 10-mile roundtrip. Luckily, we did not have to put that yogi effort into play. Today was pretty neat. As we walked in the state park, three girls out for a southbound day hike saw us coming up the trail. They immediately pulled over and stood along side the trail to let us continue. One of the 3 girls said, "Where are you coming from?" to which we responded, "Georgia". The first thing out of her mouth was "Congratulations, WOO HOO" as all of them applauded our efforts. It was like we were walking through a standing ovation; it was very cool. We are dead tired but it's things like that that can just be complete tearjerkers for Grasshopper. She had the sniffles for the next 100 yards up the trail. Shortly after that group, we passed a group of young southbound guys out for a day hike. They also asked where we came from and we told them Georgia. And then there was a clarification question on their end, "You WALKED the whole way?¢ to which Brakeman replied, "I'm afraid so." The guy responded by saying, "Holy Crap!" (except he didn't use the word 'crap'.) Although this interchange didn't bring tears to our eyes, it sure did bring us laughter and helped rejuvenate our minds and bodies. A pretty funny experience. Except for the congratulations and applause from the day hikers, Grasshopper did not enjoy the 9-mile hike in Baxter State Park. Her memory obviously failed her, as she thought she recalled reading that the 9 miles were like a walk in a city park. Hmm, not so much. Just a tiny portion was like a path in a city park where one could walk or ride a bike. It was most discouraging for her. It was not a bad trail at all, but when one has already formed an opinion of a bicycle path in a city park, it¢s a bit hard to live up to.And although we thought we were done with all of the risky stream fords, we had 2 more during the 9-mile stretch in Baxter. According to our guidebook, both streams were supposed to have a footbridge. Well, if you call itty-bitty 3" diameter tree trunks - 3 of them spread over a 20' gap between boulders - a footbridge, well then we had footbridges. In my mind, we had some itty-bitty tree trunks to cross, 2 of which on the one stream were not thick enough to support our weight alone so we had to do a balance beam routine across the stream, on something much smaller than a balance beam, and make sure we kept out weight spread across all 3 beams. Those crossing got Grasshopper's heart racing! But we made it safely. Oh wait, could this have been why there were signs at the Information Board telling us about high-water blue blazes? If so, they could have been a little more precise and said something like, ¢HIGH WATER BLUE BLAZES ARE RECOMMENDED. FOOT BRIDGES ARE NOT SAFE.¢As we entered Katahdin Stream Campground, the hikers that we thought we were going to pass were all sitting underneath the pavilion ¢ Forest Gimp, Pipper and Stripe. They were all quite tired from their 20-mile hike, but I think quite pleased to be done. Sitting with them was a hiker who is hiking for a cause and has numerous sponsors, including a hiking shoe company. Due to the need to summit with one of his sponsors, he delayed his summit until tomorrow. When we chatted with him in Stratton about hiking for a cause and having sponsors, he was not overly positive about the experience. He said that he felt ¢owned¢ and tied down to obligations. Well, yes, I think that comes with the territory. And then we were rendered speechless when he told us that he has ¢175 play miles¢, as the badge we earn at the end of our hike is called ¢2000 Miler¢. He explained to us that means he can skip 175 miles and still be classified as a thru-hiker. Hmm, not so much, buddy. Different hikes; different agendas. Whatever. We made our way to the Rangers Office to sign in for tomorrow¢s summit. We are #107 and #108. Although our numbers have gone up, we are very pleased with our status of being here. Had we not had the 19-day medical leave, we would have been around #64.Sitting outside the Ranger¢s Office was Rabbit. He also pushed a day ahead to summit today. He was quite tired and melancholy. Although he did not have many words to share with us, he did offer us a beer ¢ he had picked up a 6-pack of beer 9 miles down the trail at Abol Creek Campground! I can only imagine that the beer was quite warm, but he was enjoying his celebratory drink by himself. We declined on the offer. He¢s been wanting to be done for quite some time, so his day has finally arrived for him. Good job Rabbit!After talking with the ranger, we decided to come back down the Hunt Trail, which is the official AT, rather than the Abol Trail. Although the Abol Trail offers better views, a southbound hike is not recommended on it as it is quite steep and full of loose scree, which has caused numerous falls and broken legs and is easily knocked on hikers below. So I guess we'll skip that event since we've racked up enough doctors bills for this adventure already. We've borrowed daypacks from the ranger's office. Tomorrow morning when we head out, we'll leave our backpacks at the ranger¢s office. Grasshopper is going to take her hiking poles since they collapse. Brakeman is going to leave his behind because once they are collapsed they are impossible to extend again. We're going to head up with about 2 liters of water each, which will hopefully suffice, and tons of food. The Ranger told us that the two footbridges were washed out during the recent rains. The logs that are in place now are not the official footbridges. Ah, glad to hear that, as we did not think they qualified as a ¢footbridge¢. Upon arriving home, we would learn that one of our hiking buddies, Apostle, actually created one of the rigged footbridges. Thanks Apostle! We also learned from the Ranger that a thru-hiker a week or two ago, fell off one of the rigged footbridges, slashed her head open and had to be rescued and taken to a hospital. The next day, with a swollen eye and stitches in her head, she completed her summit of Katahdin.We spent the late afternoon and early evening sitting in the sun, along a grassy bank overlooking the creek. Why? Because we don't remember the last time we sat in the sun. Brakeman is guessing the last time was perhaps Pennsylvania or New York. It¢s been a long rainy green-tunneled hike. We enjoyed our time creek side, freshening up, filtering water and eating dinner. As we relaxed in the grass, we saw another hiker arrive ¢ 5 Bags!   We jumped up to meet him. We had not expected to see him. When we left him in Monson, he said he was running out of time to complete his hike before college. Today, he told us how he pulled every string possible to get registered for college, so that he could complete his hike. To still make the aggressive timeline, I think he said that he had to hike the 100 Mile Wilderness in just 4 days! We'll be summiting with him tomorrow, along with his parents. So very sweet that he was able to complete his hike! Our chat was short-lived as when he walked through the campground, some campers offered him hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner. Priorities ¢ off he went to collect his last Trail Magic. Drats, we missed out on that one! I wonder if they¢ll call us over for dinner if we walk by them?   Nope, we tried. No dice. Double drats.Just when we thought we missed out on the last of the Trail Magic, we headed back to The Birches and shortly thereafter saw the 4 lady casual hikers that we passed today in the 100 Mile Wilderness, head towards us. They had decided that they needed to do something special for all the thru-hikers that they had met, and came bearing cake and ice cream! They were afraid that ¢the thru-hikers would not want them at our shelter¢! How silly!! Anyone who brings us food is always welcome! The cake was decorated with 'Congratulations and Happy Birthday', as one of the thru-hiker¢s birthday is tomorrow ¢ his summit day. What a sweet birthday present for him. What a sweet last offering of Trail Magic for us! Thanks ladies!!Except for our late afternoon creek side rest, it was cloudy and gray most of the day with a few sprinkles. We thought it would eventually rain, but it never did. We¢re hoping that the gorgeous, clear weather sticks around for tomorrow!   We're planning on an early start. Brakeman wants us up at 4:00 and on the trail by 5:00. We should be at the top by 9:00 and back down before any afternoon showers arrive. There is a 50% chance of afternoon or evening thunderstorms or showers tomorrow, but we should be well out of that window. Hopefully we'll have a clear day, and if not, at least a dry day. Well, I think that's it from 5 miles shy of the pretty little sign atop of Katahdin. Of course, we've got to get the 5 miles back down - I think they need to install a zip line - and this grand adventure is over! Then it's back to a climate controlled environment, flush toilets, running water, dry underwear and socks, showers, stocked refrigerators and food cabinets. Ohhh, is life going to be good!!!! Goodnight.