Day 10, First Rainy Day

July 23

104.1 down, 2082.5 to go
It rained all day. We stopped at Wilson Valley Lean To from rain and decided to spend the night, after only nine miles in for the day. We will get an early start into Monson. We only have 10.4 left in the wilderness! NotYet fell on a rock and slid and landed on his elbow, but he is okay. Our backpacks are lifesavers!

We chatted with a couple today from Kentucky, who are celebrating their 40th year as newlyweds! (How sweet!) Their accents were so thick I had to have NotYet translate.

Today, we realize more than ever that this experience is what we make of it. We will have plenty of rainy days, especially this fall. It's how we think about them that matters.

Setting up tent in the shelter, a big no no. But no one was around yet!

All's well, we are dry after a long day of rain!

Day 9, Climb Every Mountain

July 22

95.4 down, 2090.5 to go
Today was rough! We went over four mountains with amazing views, but tough climbs. Chairback Mountain was one. Seemingly harder for us than the previous day. We are so glad to be finished for the day at Cloud Pond, or Crowd Pond (named by the NoBos who stayed there last night, a trickle of them are starting to come through more everyday). There are none here tonight, however! No sign of Karma, we must have passed her. There is a raccoon in the tree, who does not seem to like that we are staying in HIS home! So loud. Birds are chirping. Off to bed!

Climbing Chairback, trekking poles put away

Day 8, Moose of Maine

July 21

84.2 down, 2101.7 to go
Today is the first day of our second week! It's gone by so fast already. We started the day with the dehydrated eggs and bacon we got from the marathon runner at Antlers a few days ago. The eggs were foamy and delicious. We started on our White Cap Climb, which we had heard was the hardest climb in the wilderness. There were four "mountains" to climb up and back down, for a total of 7 miles, with a lot of "stairs," which are really rocks placed strategically on a steep uphill. The view from White Cap mountain was beautiful. It was nice seeing the opposite of what we saw from Katahdin. We finished all the hills and got to where we were going to stay for the night, Carl's Lean To, and felt so great we decided to keep going. We must finally be getting into shape and used to our packs. Today, we saw a moose eating right off the trail at Gulf Hagos Mountains. He stayed for a while eating just looking at us. We are trying to make it out of the wilderness soon, ready to be done! NotYet says the air today is "crisp and cold and breezy like fall." As I (Billy) was writing in the journal tonight, NotYet was pumping water and I turned around in the tent because I heard a noise outside...a moose was staring into our tent from four feet away! Needless to say, I FROZE. Unlike I thought, he didn't trample over the tent and tear into it with his teeth and eat me whole...He just walked away. 

Climbing the stairs at White Cap

View at White Cap, Katahdin behind

Day 7, Bear in the Water

July 20

71.4 down, 2114.5 to go

We started around 8:00 this morning. On our hike today, we heard a noise from the trail, sounding like someone running through water. We stopped to see what it was from the trail and past the trees we saw a bear getting out of the water. He must have enjoyed a swim.
We ran into Karma again around lunch time.
We are staying at Logan Brook. We talked to Steadfast, a NoBo. He is a Christian man doing this hike to raise money for cancer research. His 17 year old daughter passed away around  6 years ago to cancer and his wife currently has cancer. We enjoyed some good conversations with him before heading to bed. Today ends our first week on the trail -- it's been amazing!

Day 6, Imaginary Hostel

July 19

59.7 down, 2126.2 to go

Written by NotYet:

I woke up at Antlers Campsite this morning and looked out at the lake. It was slightly hazy and so calm and peaceful. The birds were singing, the bugs were buzzing and the air tasted like blueberries. This was the kind of place you wouldn't think existed anymore, or that you could only read about in books. The only reminder of the technologically advanced world we live in was the distant sound of a jet overhead. As far as the eye can see, everything was a natural shade of green, blue, grey, or brown -- truly awe-inspiring. I wish in had more food, I would have stayed longer. 

Today started off nice. Woke early and spent the morning enjoying the sun and peninsula at Antlers. Officially half way through the wilderness! We met a marathon runner who gave us his extra dehydrated eggs and bacon to take with us. We will use in two days before White Cap, a hard climb. NotYet got study pretty bad by hornets on his wrist yesterday, his arm is swollen. He had dug his poop hole in a hornets nest! They were NOT happy.

We left in the morning with the plan of staying at a near hostel and getting a ride into town for some Benadryl. We met two men on the trail who gave us some meds -- what a blessing. When we got to the road for the hostel, we looked in the hide book and realized we were looking at the wrong page...there was no hostel. After the giant letdown of the imaginary hostel, we had to sit down for a bit before continuing on. Karma came at just the right time. We enjoyed talking with her for a few minutes before hiking again.
We continued on 3+ miles to Cooperbrook. We got in early, at 2:30, since we only did 7 miles. We spent the afternoon chatting with JustDave, a NoBo, just finishing. And a sweet couple who were both widows. They gave us marriage advice. Each had been married twenty years before. We made it to bed right before dark clouds rolled in.

At Antlers Campsite, our favorite spot so far

Cooper Brook Falls

Day 5, Antlers

July 18

51.8 down, 2135.8 to go

It poured down rain all night with thunder and lightening. Glad we put the rain fly up after all! We woke up at 6:40, on the road by 8:59. It took us a while to pump water for the two of us. The hike was pretty level, we were able to do 13 miles. We met ItsAllSmallStuff, a sweet 66 year old man from Texas, doing a flip flop hike (start your hike NoBo and go until halfway, then switch to SoBo). He said, "at my age, I stop when I need to." 

We were teased along the way when we came up to what looked like our first trail magic! No way -- free trail mix?! There's a note..."to Sam. Congratulations! You're almost done." Ah man, so sweet that Sam's family cared enough to have trail magic arranged in the wilderness, but come on! What a tease for the rest of us, and right around lunch time too! 

We are camping at Antlers, right on a little Peninsula. We are the only ones here so we ended up bathing a bit. Not enough to feel clean, but refreshed. It started pouring down right as we got to our campsite so we put up the tent frantically. As soon as we finished setting up the tent, it stopped raining. Eating dinner in the tent, I told NotYet to enjoy the meal and take small bites. He said "Believe me, I'm  enjoying the big bites."

Ethan's trail name is officially NotYet. Just a few days into the trail he still hasn't had a name and people kept asking, he would say, "NotYet" and it stuck!

Day 4, The Little Things

July 17

38.2 down, 2146.7 to go

Used coals from fire last night to make lukewarm coffee and oatmeal, what a treat! After a few days in, it really is the little things! We are trying to wean off coffee by the time we are done in the wilderness. Save money and its extra weight..never thought you'd see the day, eh?! Don't worry we will start back up when we get home. Started out making great time and stopped to watch loons swim on lake. Time went by fast. Day started out drizzly off and on, reminded us of Washington weather. Sun came out in the afternoon. Huge uphill climb, strenuous! Saw Karma again, she is staying at the same campsite as us, Wadleigh Lean To. Turned on phone surprised to see we get a little service. Got in the tent just in time before the rain started dumping.

Pollywog Gorge

Taking a break at Pollywog Gorge, Ethan got a lot closer to the edge than I was willing.

View of the valley