Date: 2003-09-02
From: Long Pond Stream Lean-to

To: Camp by west branch of the Pleasant River
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: light rain

Well, Another early start¢¦ We started with a good climb up Barren Mountain to ¢Barren Ledges¢, a nice way to jump start the body first thing in the morning, a 1,000 foot climb. We had some good views today, from Barren ledges, 4th Mt, 3rd Mt, and from Columbus and Chairback Mts. We may have seen Katahdin in the distance today, but we¢re not sure, it was too far away. Today was one of those days that your glad your legs are trail hardened, it was a real workout, with lots of good climbs, mixed with little bumps to climb over. It wore my legs out, and after 15 miles I was more than ready to stop (it makes me respect section hikers even more, doing this without the benefit of 2,000 miles of conditioning, having to hike into shape every section they start). Realistically, we had no reason to go on 5 more miles to the next shelter, we had 28 miles to do in 2 days (to our pickup point), so we didn¢t feel the need to push it and do a 20 today (especially the day before a hard climbing day. Tomorrow we climb a gradual 1,000 foot climb up to the next lean-to, then we climb Gulf Hagas Mt, West peak, Hay Mt, and Whitecap Mt (the highest Mt we have remaining [3,700 feet] before Katahdin). No sense wearing ourselves out, tomorrow will be hard enough (plus my feet are wet from the river crossing). Today we hopscotched back and forth with Recycled and his group (Sarge and the other guy I forget), and Stormin¢, Big E, Itchy foot, Eric and Notes. Everyone was in agreement that this was a tough day, but one full of nice mountain views ( the Sun finally came out as we got to Monument Cliff, what a great view, and a great day. Mostly, the downhill, steep over tumbled boulders won¢t stick in my memory as one of my favorite places to hike, it was a tricky descent (but it still gets us closer to our goal). It feels strange having less that 100 miles to go, every day the miles drop so much. 84.1 miles, that¢s what, maybe 5-6 days of hiking to get to Katahdin, and a day to Summit? Wow¢¦ Plus the 3 days off we have coming up, to eat, drink and rest!! It looks like September 12th is a realistic goal for summiting Katahdin, but wouldn¢t it be great to be up there on September 11th (what do you think Ted? Can we do it? Yeah, I know, just get there in one piece¢¦). But enough thinking ahead, I need to get my head back in the here and now. Anything is still possible, I can¢t allow myself to get overconfident, I need to be careful and stay focused until we reach Katahdin. This AT hike, is the end of life as we ¢knew¢ it, but the beginning of life as we ¢know¢ it. We won¢t return home the same people we were when we left. I¢d like to think it changed me for the better, but I also know it will cause unexpected problems. I won¢t want to do what I did before, but I¢m returning to the life I had before. I wonder how I will fit in, or will I fit in? Note: It¢s now 7 months after my Summit date, and I still don¢t fit in, I still don¢t know where I belong¢¦ But it¢s getting better¢¦ I¢m searching for my niche, the place where I fit in, both in my personal life, and my work life. It may be a long search, but nothing worthwhile comes easy. Life is good!