WhimsySeasons: On July 17

First of all- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANTHONY!! And Happy Birthday to Carrie Beth and myself, we turned 20 and 21 today, respectively. ;)

I took the Greyhound from New York City at 8:20 pm on Monday, through Boston at 3:00 am and arrived in Maine at 11:20 am Tuesday. I expected the Greyhound to drop off at the Bangor airport, but instead it dropped off at Dysart's a few highway stops south of the airport. I ate lunch at the diner, where all around me people greeted each other by name.

I bought stamps and asked the cashier if he could recommend how I should get to Baxter State Park. He told me to wait a few minutes and he would find out. Just then a 60-ish-year-old man came in with a beautiful dog, off leash, who came over to me and was very calm and friendly. The cashier said, "Hey, Cleve, where you going today?" Cleve said he was going to Millinocket and if I wanted a ride it was o.k. So I got in the logging truck with Cleve and his dog (who was bigger than Inkling and liked to stand in my lap). He told me about his wife and his work. I told him grandpa just died and he told me about his gran-dad who died when he was 16. He took me 70 miles north to Millinocket and dropped me off on a corner by a church and some houses. He said, "The Park is up that road there, shouldn't be too far." Then he gave me a big hug and told me he was sorry about losing grandpa. He was not in the least bit creepy or off bounds, just very honest and warm. He gave me his phone number and said if I needed help while in the park to call him and he or his wife would come pick me up.

I started walking, but discovered I was 16 miles from the park and so I stopped at Katahdin General Store, a gas station and called Bull Moose Taxi. A 73 year old man pulled up in his family car with his wife along for the ride. He told me that his step-son started the Taxi business two weeks ago, and he was trying to help out. They took me into the park, commenting all the way about the park. It rained alllllll day on Tuesday.

I checked in at the Ranger Station where I had a reservation at Abol Campground in Baxter State Park. Here are some pictures of my shelter there. At the edge of my shelter there was a waterfall and stream, which I could both hear and see. And it rained all that day and through the night. I walked about a mile total to see a little waterfall up the stream. I will be posting many many pictures of the trail itself, along with the scenic mountain vistas it affords.