Date: 2015-09-02
From: Monson

To: Wilson Valley Lean-To
Miles today: 13.7

As expected, the breakfast at Shaw's was big and delicious. It started with eggs, bacon, and potatoes, and included orange juice and unlimited blueberry pancakes (though after the eggs and such I only had about 6 pancakes). There were mostly southbound hikers staying at Shaw's last night, many of which were flip-floppers who came up to do Katahdin now and will hike south to the place the left off. One of those hikers was Haus, who I met back in Georgia. He was a big guy back then and has since lost almost 100lbs. With time to kill till the post office opened, and a lot of energy from the breakfast, Mr Pink and I did some lack-packing. We hiked about 3 miles from one road crossing entry point into Monson to the other without any packs or water. When we got our ride back to the hostel, my mail drop of food had arrived. This food was going to be enough to get me through the 100 mile wilderness, but instead of hitting the trail with 5+ days of food on my back, Mr Pink and I arranged with the Lakeshore to have a bucket dropped off halfway through. Shaw's provides a similar service, but since they go out and give you your food personally, it's a bit more expensive. What Lakeshore does is that they charge you $25 for the bucket, you fill it with whatever you want (I added a soda into mine), and then they tell you where they're going to hide it in the woods. It seems a bit sketchy, but they've had practice at it and never had any complaints. After having a last lunch with Mr Pink, I headed back to the trail and started off into the 100 mile wilderness. It should be stated that the 100 mile wilderness is neither 100 miles (only about 90-something), nor is it wilderness (as pointed out about the food drops). But there won't be any stores to visit or road crossings to hitchhike from. Since I had a late start getting out of town, I'm only about 7 miles in when it's starting to get late enough to stop. A bit tired from one of the recent uphills, I pulled my phone out to check where I am. In doing so it kind of just floats out of my hand and slowly through the air. I just stand there watching as it floats towards the ground, and then smash! It landed face first into the one rock in a ten foot radius. The screen is so smashed up that only a corner of it is displaying what it's suppose to, and the rest is random colors or blackness. In no way does it acknowledge my finger swiping. I will not be able to take any pictures, send any messages, make phone calls, look at maps, listen to audio books/music, study German, take notes for my trail journal (I used pen & paper). This is going to significantly limit my ability to plan for what I'm going to do when I finish the hike. I'm going to have to ask someone on the top of Katahdin to take my picture and email it to me. I can't even imagine what the process of getting this fixed is going to be like. I've walked 2000 miles and this had to happen in the last 100. Well now that I'm in the middle of nowhere (aka the wilderness), there's nothing to do but keep hiking.I got to the shelter just as dark was setting in. There was someone a little ways behind the shelter that was hammocking, but no one else was around. Without any really good flat spots to setup the tent, I decided I'd stay in the shelter for the night. About 10 minutes after that, while I was making dinner, Jade arrived and decided she'd stay in the shelter too. Jade is a young southbound girl who's only hiking through the 100 mile wilderness. She was also a very chatty girl who talked almost the whole time, which I thought amusing because I decided earlier today that tomorrow I would go the whole day without talking at all. I informed her of this plan before bed, and after I shared with her my choose-your-own-adventure story (I think this will be my last, they're getting to be too much effort of thinking out and then writing down at the end of the day), she gave me the maps of the upcoming sections that she doesn't need any more. Fitbit-------------Miles: 18.4Calories: 4700Stairs: 329