Date: 2007-08-03
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Washington Mt. Road
Miles today: 11.0

The outer edges of a large electrical storm is skimming over our campsite, and every time a flash of lightning illuminates the outside of my tarp, my sphincter contracts. Yes, over four months of living in the woods, and I STILL have a profound fear of lightning. I'm assuming that, at this stage in the game, it's not a fear I'll get over! That's why NOAA is one of my closest allies on the trail, and I will go to compulsive lengths to plan my days of hiking around storm systems. Despite my fear, I do see a powerful beauty in these storms. I love the way the thunder rolls off of the ridges, and how the lightning clearly defines the silhouette of the forest.Speaking of frightening things, I had a bit of a scare earlier in the day. Coming down off of Beckett Mountain, I got dizzy and rubbery in the legs and gravity literally overcame my physical strength. Sitting on the ground, I dug the most fat laden and sugary food out of my bag an inhaled it. About 15 or 20 minutes later, I felt much better though I walked slowly and made it a short day.I stopped at the Cookie Lady's house on Washington Road. The Cookie Lady, Marilyn Wiley, runs a blueberry farm and allows hikers to tent on her property.   The rest of my day was spent eating and trying to re-fuel my depleted body. I had a Coke, six pieces of pizza, Thai Noodles, a tuna steak, pretzels, electrolyte drink mix, chocolate, and some other odds and ends out of my food bag, and I felt full for the first time in a long while. Apparently, my little "episode" earlier in the day was a result of not having enough fuel in my body (though I had eaten a lot of food the day before). With the increasingly difficult terrain, I'm going to have to pay closer attention to my daily caloric intake. Going hungry out here can have some pretty serious consequences.The Cookie Lady and her husband, Roy, are delightfully accomodating people. We helped with some of the blueberry farm chores, taking turns mowing down the grass around the blueberry bushes. The "hiker toilet" is situated in an abandoned house and is flushed by pouring buckets of water into it, since the house has no running water. It's a primitive set-up, but is definately one step above a privy... or a tree, for that matter. It makes me feel almost civilized.   Almost.....Here with me are Iceman, Buffalo Bobby, plus Lightweight and Pop Eye who were lured into staying by a combination of the approaching storm and the prospect of ordering pizza for delivery to the farm. The Cookie Lady's yard looks like a tent city.We got to meet yet another southbounder, Smokey, who was collecting blueberries to take to Upper Goose Pond Cabin for their infamous blueberry pancake all-you-can-eat hiker breakfast (of which I partook this morning). The northbounders seem to have quenched their thirst for information of the north, so Smokey was spared the million and one questions that the other southbounders have been fielding the past few days.There are more southbounders to meet. Most of them started in early June at Katahdin, and those of us who started in Georgia will be passing them for the next couple of weeks. Their numbers are smaller, since starting in New England is a less common approach to a thru hike. It's certainly less social and some of the southbounders we've met have seemed to be starved for socializing. Their vivid descriptions of the Whites and Maine really have me excited to see what's ahead.