Date: 2019-08-02
To: Hurd Brook Lean-To
Miles today: 25.4
Weather: light rain

The terrain was tougher than yesterday's. No big climbs but the boulders, roots, and short climbs wore on me. Water was fairly regular, if sometimes warm.UNICEF and I tore down our tents and left Nahmakanta Lean-To early. Silent Bob caught up and hiked with us for a few miles. His old co-workers back in Lebanon, New Hampshire have a map on the wall where they chart his progress. He started the trail with a friend and coworker who went by Pukey. I hiked with them both in North Carolina. Pukey was very social, liked staying in town and wasn't in a rush. Bob just wanted to hike, so eventually they parted ways. Bob's a gruff guy who keeps to himself, at least until you provoke him into a rant about one of his bugaboos. He's off-putting when you first meet him - and the second and third time - but he eventually grows on you. He's one of a handful of hikers who've been near UNICEF for almost 2000 miles.I stopped at a beach on Nahmakanta Lake after five miles for a relaxing swim in the cool water while the others moved on to break at a shelter. The lake was deserted but for a duck which glided slowly through the water and methodically cleaned itself. Thruhikers don't pack towels, but I was content to air-dry on the shore. I was utterly alone, likely no one for miles. Just silence, the water, the trees, the mountains, and the sky above.By lunchtime at the next Lean-To I was wiped out from a series of climbs around the lake and up Rainbow Stream. We found Two Blade and Fresh Prints there after losing them for two nights. They, along with Silent Bob, plan to summit on Sunday with us. A Chinese-Canadian northbounder named Hobbit walked through as I was bathing in the brook. There was also a family from Maine hanging out who hike the Wilderness every year. The father thrued in 2006.Two Blade and I chatted as we all walked out. She's eager to finish so she can visit and relax with friends and family. She'll be looking for a teaching job in Philly later this month, hopefully with a charter school.Soon we came across a sleeping bag next to the trail. It's the second sleeping bag I've stumbled across on the AT. Like the bag I found two years ago in New York, when I had foolishly left my own at home, it was a heavy car camping bag, and it was abandoned far from any road, campsite, or person. Unlike the other one, this was dry and neatly rolled up, suggesting that it may have been left recently. We let it be since there was no way to know if its owner went south or north.With about six miles left UNICEF and I stopped along Rainbow Lake. There was no beach, just a collection of huge, half-submerged boulders with waves lapping against them. UNICEF lay on the rocks while I slipped in for another swim. I love the clear and peaceful waters up here. They cool me down and deter the bugs for awhile. It's idyllic. No sign of civilization yet perfectly comfortable.On the way out UNICEF felt a blister pop. It's his first blister since Georgia. His bandages got wet at some point and were useless, so I fished out some supplies for him. "I'm coasting in on fumes!", he laughed, adding a blistered foot to his bricked phone, deflated sleeping pad, and busted water bottle.More climbs over Rainbow Ledges. Ripe blueberries were all over the summit begging to be picked. Two Blade was already on it. We spend a half hour slowly working our way across while consuming hundreds of the pea-sized fruits. While they didn't approach the size of cultivated blueberries, they were so much juicier and sweeter. We kept promising ourselves this was our last one, only to stop again to gather another handful.More tiring miles to the shelter. We've done 93 miles in four days through some tough terrain and it's worn us down. I've been drinking and eating more but still tired. We found the Hurd Brook Lean-To across a boulder-strewn brook. The shelter was empty, but there were a dozen teenage boys from Maine's Camp Kieve gathered nearby. They are the boy counterpart to the girls at last night's shelter. Both groups are hiking 22 days on the AT from the Bigelows to Katahdin. They're only a couple days from finishing. Their counselor is a very upbeat and friendly bearded college guy. He told us the boys are really gung-ho to finish and are basically self-managing by this point.Most of the others chose to tent, but Hobbit dropped by the shelter to chat. UNICEF has traveled in China so they had lots to discuss. Love of dumplings was mutual. Hobbit regretted that there are no long hiking trails in China. It's not really part of the culture he opined. He'll have to return to Canada to renew his visa soon. He started the AT in February. When he reached Vermont in early May he flew west to hike the first 800 miles of the PCT to Kearsarge Pass in the Sierra Nevada, then came back east to finish the AT. After he renews his visa he'll finish the PCT this year too!Two Blade, Silent Bob, and UNICEF have been worrying about getting spots in the Birches shelter at the foot of Katahdin tomorrow. It's the only place to overnight near Katahdin that doesn't require an impossible-to-get reservation, but it's limited to the first twelve thruhikers each night (a thruhiker being anyone who's come 100 miles or more). I was nervous my first time too, but the rangers were very accommodating, making sure everyone found a place to sleep. Still, we'll be up early not only to register for the Birches, but also to partake of the breakfast buffet at the Abol Bridge campstore.