Date: 2019-08-07
From: Unofficial Campsite MM2102.1 (ME)

To: Wilson Valley Lean-To (ME)
Miles today: 14.2

When I had cell service yesterday, it said there was a 50% chance of rain today. I woke up to sounds of raindrops on the tent. I woke up SC and we closed our respective sides of our tent. I looked and it was 3:21am. It took me a while but I managed to fall back asleep. I woke up again and it was 4:45¢too early to get up. I fell asleep again and had a dream that I went to the Y to pick up my middle sister¢s kids (which has never happened btw). The girls were there but I couldn¢t find their brother. The Y was closing for the night, so I went to the front desk to tell them there was a missing child. I finally found him under a bed. ¢I took a nap!¢ He announced triumphantly. I then went outside to sit and watch some water fountains, but apparently it was part of one of those giant swing amusement park rides. I closed my eyes and tried to enjoy the ride. I woke up and it was 5:21, the latest I¢ve slept while in Maine. No moose this morning. We got going about 7:30 and walked south to the stream to get water before starting up Third Mountain. As I am coming down Third on my way up Forth (apparently they got lazy naming the mountains around here), I saw a familiar face! It¢s a guy we shared a shelter with in Virginia, just before we did Dragons Tooth.  He has been doing the trail in sections and is finishing up his last section at Katahdin! A little while later, more familiar faces. It¢s the 3 May flies we met at the Holy Family Hostel in Pearisburg, VA. After Forth Mountain, we walked through a beautiful bog. It had pitcher plants. I don¢t think I¢ve ever seen pitcher plants in the wild. These were even blooming. All day it threatened rain and there was lots of climbing. Once we came down Barren Mountain, things got a little calmer terrain-wise. Even so, I managed to have fall #6. My right foot stepped on a loose rock and went forward while my left leg bent under me. I fell to the right and I¢m sure I¢m going to have a bruise on my right arm where I fell into a tree. Fortunately, nothing is seriously injured. We stopped by a lean-to for a break and to sign in. There were rumors of trail magic south of the lean-to, but we passed the next road with no signs of anything. Then 2 nobos passed saying that we had to go to the trail magic. Then we got to a logging road and followed the sign. We get to a hunting cabin and a dog comes out to meet us. Then a couple of guys appear on the porch. They give us soda and potato salad and make us cheeseburgers. I also have a beer. Another hiker shows up and they do the same for him. As I sit there, I feel my left knee stiffen up from the earlier fall. The trail angels bring me one of those instant ice packs. About 7pm, it starts to sprinkle, and we have 3.3 more miles to the shelter. SC and I decide to leave. I¢m moving slowly because my knee hurts but it loosens up as I walk. The trail angels try to tell me to stay. If I can¢t walk in the morning, they can get me into town. But if I¢m fine, we have almost 14 miles to do to meet SC¢s parents tomorrow. I told them we would be to the road by 2pm. I won¢t be able to make that. I¢ll also feel silly if I stay and everything is fine in the morning. I¢m hoping we can stay in the lean-to so we don¢t have to pack up a wet tent in the morning. At least, this is how I justified leaving and pushing on to the lean-to. I told SC to go ahead and find a place for us in the lean-to and I would be there as soon as I could. We left just after 7pm and I turned my headlamp on at 7:45. The first 2 miles were slow: 1mph. It hurt to bend my left knee. Fortunately, the trail was well marked. Unfortunately, there were several boulder fields which are usually tricky, let alone at night with a bum knee. After 2 hours (2 miles), my knee apparently warmed up or something because I was able to walk normally. The terrain also improved, and I picked up speed. The whole way I¢m thinking that we should have stayed with the trail angels or I should have told SC to come back to find me once she got set up at the lean-to. Around 9:30 it started to rain. Just before 10, I heard SC ask if it was me. Apparently she had been sitting there in the dark for about an hour. Her headlamp wasn¢t working and there was a short reroute because of a beaver dam. She had done well following the white blazes that mark the trail because the white almost glows in the dark, but the reroute was marked with pink survey ribbon that she kept loosing, so she just sat down and waited for me. I led the way through the reroute and on to the lean-to. We had only been about .2 miles away. We see a tent set up with a huge tarp over it and gear out in front of the lean-to, so we found a semi-flat spot and did a quick pitch of the tent and threw all our stuff in there. It¢s 10:45 and we finally have everything set up for sleeping.