Stats: Monday night 8/29, MM 2183.9
(109.3 new miles, 2192.7 total miles)
I’ve been meaning to finish this for a while now, sorry it’s
taken so long. Can’t leave the hike incomplete so we’re going back to the
100-mile Wilderness.
On Wednesday 8/24, started out with a very full pack. As
predicted, it was very heavy. Started out with the usual ups and downs, rocks
and roots everywhere. Very tiring and also humid. But still quite beautiful, and Maine is very green with lots of small lakes...and rocks. Hiking with Gray Ghost, we
keep each other going. After 19 miles, stopped at Cloud Pond Lean-to, camped in
our tents.
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| You do what you can do get a signal |
Thursday we passed a bunch of section hikers and a group of
10 who were resting at a campsite. They were an older group, going northbound
like us, exhausted at the side of the trail. The terrain was rough and hard, and
it’s hard to explain how it was. I kept trying to think of the end and seeing
my honey in a few days, helped keep me going. Stopped at Carl A. Newhall Lean-to
after 17 miles, looked around for a bit before we found a spot for our tents. A
big group was there so not as much room for camping.
On Friday yet another almost-naked hiker. Saw a guy in just
underwear approaching – yes, white
briefs – he said, “Can I pass?”, and seemed a little annoyed like we were in
his way. All he was wearing were the briefs, boots, and a pack. Caught us
off-guard, we didn’t know what to say so we didn’t say anything. Kind of
shocking. He does have the right of way coming up hill, so we gladly moved over
to let him go by. Saw other people later in the day, he said the same thing to
them.
By this point we were finished with all the big hills,
hooray! Another 19 mile day, and we figured about 3 more days to go about 54
miles to the base of Mt. Katahdin. Camped at Cooper Brook Falls lean to. There
was a river going by the shelter, some people were swimming. We didn’t b/c it
was a little cool, still humid, and no way to dry off. Cooler at the end of the
day, no towel to dry off with. In the damp weather, things don’t dry overnight.
We started out early on Saturday, not sure how far we’d get.
After about 10 miles or so we passed a guy on the side of the trail going
through his pack. We asked him, “How’s it going?” He said in an angry tone, “Not
good, I’m extremely malnourished and somebody robbed me.” We tried to talk to
him and ask questions, but he was very agitated and wasn’t making sense so we
left. We called the ranger and told him about the guy, maybe he could help.
Five miles later we were the exhausted ones on the side of
the trail taking a break – it was only noon and we’d already gone 14 miles. The
guy caught up to us and passed by, talking to himself. After coming back to us
a few times with questions (“what time is it”, “how far to a shelter”), he went
on his way.
We saw a sign for White House Landing lodge and decided we
were done for the day. We hiked down to a lake, where a boat picked us up and
took us across to the lodge. While we were eating lunch, a woman came over and
said a guy was at the dock yelling that he needed a ride – sounded like the
same guy. He was yelling things that didn’t make sense (like he was being
poisoned by salt), and about being picked up. The owner of the lodge went over
in his boat to talk to him, then came back and called the rangers, who ended up
taking him to a nearby town so he could get the help he needed. We all felt bad
for him, but there wasn’t much we could do.
We found out later that others had seen him on the trail
acting a little strange. He had a sad personal story and may have had other
health issues, so we were glad the rangers took him into town.
We had a quiet and restful rest of the day. The lodge was
very nice, right on the water with a cafeteria so we had a good dinner. Then we
got a peaceful, good night’s sleep.
Only 2 more days and 40 more miles to go!!!!
Sunday we hiked 19 miles to Rainbow Lake campsite. The trail
was very muddy and messy because we had a little rain the night before. Met a
father and daughter (about 18 years old) going out for the first time, heading
southbound. She was preparing to do the AT next year and wanted to test out her
equipment. Gave her my number in case she wanted to call and ask any questions
about the trip. She said her pack weighed 50 pounds, advised her to get a
shake-down of the pack (like I did in the beginning) because that was a bit
heavy.
She reminded me of myself at the beginning – excited,
enthusiastic, bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Now I’m at my last day, exhausted,
and can’t wait until it’s over. What a difference a few months and a few
thousand miles make!
We saw Amber, the marine woman I hiked with 3 months
earlier before she had a fractured foot and got off the trail. She was coming
southbound and I didn’t recognize her. She was with a hiking partner, they started
at Mt. Katahdin and were going southbound. What a surprise, and good to see her
back on the trail.
We also had our final trail magic from people who were there all weekend - we caught them right as they were packing up to leave.
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| Last night in the tent |
Our final day we hiked 21 miles to Katahdin Stream Campground
where Mary picked me up for our last night before the big climb. On the way
there, we saw a restaurant so stopped and had a burger and a few beers. Ran
into Moonboots, and there is the Fugitive again! Have been seeing him off and
on for months, turns out we were finishing on the same day. Other than that,
don’t remember much about the last day except that it was the last day I’d be
hiking with old clothes on and my full pack…FINALLY!
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| Gray Ghost |
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| Mt. Katahdin, top fogged in |
We got into Baxter Park late afternoon and signed the sheet
that we planned to climb the next day. Talked to the ranger, he told us the
weather was going to be great the next day. Another blessing!
Ran into Pockets, Snake Charmer, and Waterfall, they had
just hiked to the top that day and said the weather was horrible – sleet, rain,
wind, fog. They couldn’t wait to get down, no view at all. Felt bad for them,
especially after hearing we were going to have such a good day tomorrow.
We also checked in with the ranger station to sign up as
thru-hikers who were finishing the hike. They gave is a number – I was #493 for
the year. As I thought, the numbers were higher this year due to the two hiking
movies that came out, A Walk in the Woods and Wild. I am so thankful to be
counted as one who finished.
Mary arrived to pick me up around 5:30, straight from the
airport in Portland. I was so glad to see her! We drove into Millinocket,
closest town and an hour away, and stayed at cabins where Mary made a
reservation. We stocked up and packed for the hike, had a good dinner, and went
to bed early. We had a bit of a sleepless night, both of us were excited about the
big finish.
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| Morning of the last day |
Since I already posted about the last day, you know the rest
of the story. To this day, I am still amazed I hiked all that way.
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| On the way home! Very happy! |
Also, what I didn’t know at the time was that I had lyme
disease, probably from the bite on my leg mid-July where my leg turned red.
Makes it even more amazing that I had the strength to finish, only by the grace
of God.
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| Home sweet home |
More on that in my next and final blog…stay tuned...
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