WhimsySeasons: On July 19

Today's numbers:
Miles hiked: 9 miles
Time on the trail: 8 hours
Weight of the pack: 45 pounds, then 40.5 pounds

The night before I had put all my food in a friendly family's Prius so that it wouldn't be eaten by bears. But this was a mistake, because it meant that I couldn't leave until they awakened so that I could get my food. Since I got back from Baxter Peak so late (after dark) I didn't eat dinner, so I had to take the time to cook breakfast. Anyway, even though I was up at 6 am, I didn't leave my shelter until 9 am. I knew that I had to walk 2 miles back the road to Katahdin Stream Campground, then I would have 9 miles to hike before the Abol Bridge Campground where I wanted to stay. This time I had my back-pack. I was nervous about getting there before dark since the day before took soooo much longer than I had anticipated.

But I got lucky and Ranger Bill gave me a ride to the Ranger Station in Katahdin Stream Campground. He weighed my pack, 45 pounds. He told me packs should be between 20 and 30 pounds. So, we emptied it and studied the contents and he gave me advice. We took out some things, then we weighed it again-only 40.5 pounds. Time to hike!

I started the trail at 10:30 am. I hiked quickly all day because I was afraid that starting so late would not get me out fast enough. I knew the day before I started at 8:30 am, and it took twelve hours to go only 8.5 miles. (Daylight here now is from 5:15 am to 8:20 pm.) But today I finished 9 miles in 8 hours, mostly through beautiful pine forest with shade and little wind and with only a few stream crossings. The trail goes along the banks of the West Brand Penobscot River for about 3 miles, and it is beautiful. I could see it from Baxter Peak because it is so wide. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. But I didn't stop to take many pictures the way I did the day before, because I was afraid of not getting to the end by dark. I didn't see anyone else hiking in the same direction I was, I saw maybe 10 people going the other way.

At 6:30 pm I arrived at Abol Bridge Campground & Store, on the banks of the West Branch Penobscot River. (Okay, something you should know. From Abol Bridge the trail goes 100 miles, it's called the Maine 100 Mile Wilderness, before the next town. It crosses a few logging roads, which may or may not be in use. That means that you have to carry your food for that 100 miles, and because of weight I am limited to carrying about 10 days of food at once.) I decided that I wasn't ready to hike 100 miles in 10 days, starting the next day. I was pretty spooked by hitting sunset the first night in the woods and not being off the trail. I decided I could camp that night, rent a canoe the next day and think about it, but the woman in the store told me the closest canoe rental was 15 miles away and on a Friday they might all be reserved. So, I tried to use the camp store's phone to call Bull Moose Taxi again, but the phones were out. Instead I hitched a ride with two guys, both named Dustin, in a logging truck. They took me to Millinocket to the Katahdin Inn & Suites. I decided to stay two nights, do laundry, journal, eat, sit in the hot tub, and decide what to do next. By the way, this is absolutely the most accommodating hotel ever! The woman working the front desk knows everything, from how to mail boxes, to where to find the closest ATM, to giving me a needle and thread to fix my shorts.

I think that I could go 10 miles a day for 10 days, but I don't want the pressure of always hurrying so much. I feel like there is too little margin of error if it took me 8 hours to hike 9 miles today to expect to average 10 miles a day with no problems. So maybe I will skip to the bottom of the 100 mile wilderness. I don't know...possibilities abound. But I decided that pushing through the hike end to end without pause is not what I want to do. And I don't know that I could finish it before winter, even if I walk as fast as I can. I know I'll get faster, but it still seems crazy. Thank you to all of you readers who gave me permission from the beginning to make this my own journey, whether that meant thru-hiking or not. Thank you all for your continued support. I'm frustrated about becoming one of the statistics of people who plan to hike and don't finish, but I'll get over that. I want to slow down, take pictures. Who knows?

Here are pictures from the hike between Katahdin Stream Campground and Abol Bridge Campground.

You don't need a map to hike the Appalachian Trail because it is marked with white blazes to show you where to go. See the white blaze on the tree exactly in the middle of this picture? That's where the trail continues. This was a scary stream crossing. The water was fast and up to my knees. I want to say here that I love my hiking poles, it is only because of them that I made it across. If you ever have a shadow of a doubt about the merits of hiking poles, use these, they're wonderful. I have two Black Diamond, women's hiking poles.