Miles: 2,153.4 — Cold rain, fog, and the last real mountain before Katahdin made for a long, soggy push. I misread Guthook, got us climbing Nesuntabunt at dusk, and ended up nearly blind from rain in my contact lens. By the time we found Pollywog Stream it was pouring, our tents were dripping, and my mind was racing about everything from post-trail life to whether I even wanted the hike to end.
We woke up to rain and decided to sleep a little bit longer. When we woke again the sky was completely overcast. It was 10am. The clouds were about to unleash on us any minute. My tent was wet from light showers that happened in the wee hours of that morning. I shook it out, trying and failing to get water off of the outside. I rolled up the wet sil-nylon and stuffed into the outside pocket of my backpack.
I followed Miles back across Jo-Mary Road and we headed north on the footpath. We cruised through the rain and hardly stopped. I didn’t listen to music or podcasts. We didn’t talk too much. We just walked fast. I absorbed the cold rain into my goosebumpy skin. I smelled the fall leaves turning and that soggy leaf smell that comes with it. The raindrops hitting the dirt contributed their own earthy smell to the mix. We skirted ponds and across one of them Katahdin was normally visible. It was an iconic scene photographed by just about every thru-hiker. The storm, though, completely covered the mountain in clouds in fog. We couldn’t see it.
At Rainbow ledges the wind was blowing, fog surrounded us, and rain fell intermittently from the sky. I tried to reserve a campsite online with the little cell service I had, but accidentally made the reservation for the wrong night. My bare legs were freezing (I didn’t want to get my pants wet in the rain) and I couldn’t stand there and wait any longer. I called my Mom and she handled it. Thank God for Moms.
As the day went on, we reached Wadleigh Stream Lean-To. We stopped and ate some bars. We decided we were both ready to keep going. Our very last mountain (aside from Katahdin, of course) was next. I knew I had enough energy to make it over it. Plus, the further we went today the more relaxed our next few days would be. We pushed on into the dusk, aiming for a tent site two miles further away.
Absent minded with impending thoughts of the end, I forgot to look at the map to confirm. We summited Nesuntabunt Mountain as the sun fell behind the cloudy horizon. As we descended the pouring rain and dark made it difficult for me to see. My contact kept getting hit by rain drops in my eye and I was left blind in my left eye as my contact got washed around under my eyelid. I could barely see anything, and I kept losing the trail. The blazes were hard to see, even with my headlamp on, and cairns were non-existent. I began to get frustrated and exhaustion came over me quickly as I crashed from caffeine and sugar.
I snapped at Miles every time he asked if I was okay. I looked around every corner for that ‘3-mile campsite.’ Turns out it was supposed to be next to Wadleigh Pond Road. There wasn’t any camping near there. I was misled by a misread comment on another waypoint in Guthook. We kept walking. Finally, around 8pm we reached a campsite on Pollywog Stream. We both pitched our tents in the pouring rain. My tent immediately began to drip inside. The condensation in combination with the pouring rain and already soaked sil-nylon just couldn’t hold up. Miles let me share with him. His tent was dripping a bit from condensation, too. We mopped the walls with our Buffs (headbands/neck gaiters) and tried to sleep. Miles slept well, but I hardly did. My eyes hurt from all of the water that had gotten in them with my contacts in and I was thirsty. I didn’t want to go out into the dark stormy night to get water. I laid in bed all night and tried to sleep. I briefly fell into short spells of sleep, but mostly lay awake. Racing thoughts about the next few days consumed me.
What would Katahdin be like? What would going home be like? I spent so much money this year, didn’t I? I’m going to have to go back to working at Starbucks. I can’t bear to go back to Starbucks (the first time I had this realization). I need to make a transient life for myself (first time I had this realization, too). I need to move and be free. How the heck does one make money doing that?!
I had so many thoughts and questions and hopes and dreams and overwhelming feelings (some of which were a bit contradictory). What’s it going to be like to finally be done? Do I even want to be done? Who do I want to be after this? Is this me? Am I going to find some kind of new me in the ‘real world’? What is life? What is my purpose? How can I be independent and stop relying on my parents? What will I become?
You can imagine 9 hours of this, right? It was a long night. I think I also ate four snickers bars and a cinnamon bun during that time. Miles really will sleep through anything.