Date: 2014-08-26
From: Stealth campsite at mile 2144.2

To: Hurd Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 22.5
Weather: broken clouds

My pursuit of ABear continued this morning when my alarm went off again at 5:00 am and I packed up and continued my mission a few minutes before 6:00. I knew he'd stayed at the Wadleigh Stream Lean-to last night, less than three miles up the trail, so I was eager to get there before he left. An hour later, I arrived at Wadleigh and found Toto, a hiker I'd met in Massachusetts, milling around. He said ABear had left five minutes ago, so I continued down the trail, even though I'd drunk the last of my water on the way to Wadleigh. After 20 minutes of furious uphill climbing, I finally spotted that familiar blue shirt. When I got closer to him, I hiked as silently as possible until I was right on his tail, at which point I said, "Man, you're a hard one to catch." We shook hands, and he was clearly happy to see me. As we continued up Nesuntabunt Mountain, he filled me on on trail news, including that Thor the Red had decided to summit a day early, on Wednesday, so he can make it home on time for the opening football game this weekend of his beloved Georgia Bulldogs. That was sad for me to hear, because I was really hoping to summit with him, but at least I'll get to see him at the Birches Lean-to tomorrow when he returns from the mountaintop.At the summit of Nesuntabunt, we took a short side trail to a rock outcrop with an awesome view of Katahdin, now just 16 miles away though over twice that in trail miles. Within 10 minutes, the entire bubble I expect to summit with on Thursday congregated there, including ABear, Toto, Lotus, and Rambling Rose.I first met Lotus under a pavilion in a park in Pennsylvania and hiked with her off and on before she got off the trail for a few days at the Deleware Water Gap to spend time with her family. I met Rambling Rose briefly several times, most recently in Vermont, but got to know her much better today. She hiked the PCT a few years back and ties herself in knots doing yoga exercises at shelters, as she did tonight. I'm really excited with the group of fellow thru-hikers I'll be summiting with on Thursday. But the consensus during dinner at the shelter tonight was that we're more excited to be leaving the 100-Mile Wilderness after three miles tomorrow morning and arriving at Abol Bridge, where there's a restaurant and a general store. Once I caught ABear today and the grueling chase through the HMW was over, the extreme fatigue I'd been ignoring took over, and I was unable to keep up with his pace. I treated the rest of the day as a recovery day, moving along at a moderate pace and stopping to swim several times in the lakes the trail has been winding its way through for days. I must say the lakes in Maine are nothing short of spectacular, and with the heat wave we've had through the HMW the ability too cool off periodically has been a godsend. I mentioned in a previous post how both my shoes have rips in the seams by the toes. When I saw ABear's and Toto's shoes today, I felt much better about my own. ABear had a rip across the top of his right shoe from side to side such that the sole was the only thing holding the shoe's toe on. I watched ABear sew up the rip tonight after dinner using dental floss and a needle he borrowed from Rambling Rose. And one of Toto's shoes had a rip along its side such that several inches of sock are visible.Lately we've been encountering loads of southbound flip-floppers, former NOBOs who jumped up north because they couldn't finish their hike before Katahdin closes in mid-October. I frequently ask them where they flipped from and have been surprised to hear some have as far to go as Central Virginia to finish their thru-hike. Given my current state of mind, I'd most certainly get off the trail if I had that many miles in front of me.Fortunately, I have just 18.6, which I'll do over two days. Tomorrow we'll hike 13.4 to the Birches Lean-to after stopping of course at Abol Bridge for some requisite junk food, and on Thursday we'll complete our journey with a 5.2-mile hike up Katahdin.