Welcome to Maine, The Way Life Should Be
Last night I was out like a light by 8:00PM, and I did not wake up until 5:30AM this morning. It felt great to get a full night's sleep, it's just what the doctor ordered. I sleep so much better in my tent.
At 5:30AM I heard Cookie rustling around, which was my cue to get ready for the day. After breaking down my tent and partially packing my bag I warmed up some water and ate my standard five packets of oatmeal. By the time I finished eating and lounged around a bit I was walking out of the tent site at 6:30AM.
I spent the climb out of the tent site talking with Cookie about the different expenses that come with the purchasing and upkeep of a 1,500 sq. ft. house as opposed to a 4,00 sq. ft. house. What it boiled down to was that all houses have the same basic expenses, it's just that larger ones have higher basic expenses than smaller ones. It makes perfect sense.
After a snack break at Gentian Pond Shelter we continued meandering along. We were not the most efficient machines on the market, but we were moving north.
At some point I summited Mt. Success, but it was not noteworthy on any level.
The I saw it: The famous blue sign. This sign stated the simplistic yet powerful words:"Welcome to Maine, The Way Life Should Be". After 13 states and 1,894.8 miles, I entered my home state of Maine. It was an odd sensation entering Maine, the final state on trail for us NOBO'. There are no more new states, this is it. My eyes are now firmly set of the greatest mountain: Katahdin. The beginning of the end is upon us. I'm home.
After lunch just south of the junction for Carlo Col Shelter, Maine welcomed us by sending us up Mt. Carlo, then the Goose-eyes. I have good memories from when I hiked this section last summer with the Maine chapter of the AMC. It was a windy day, and the ridge was enshrouded in a cloud. Any moment we became exposed, we were slammed by wind gusts that topped 60MPH, it was strong enough to knock everyone down.
This ridge is quite exposed, which gave me my first good view of the mountains of Maine. After getting my bearings I saw the Presidentials to the south west and Old Speck sat almost right in front of me. I also determined where Mahooosuc Notch sat.
The entire stretch of trail very muddy, just thought I would let you know.
I rolled into the shelter where I am tenting at 4:10PM. Those were a hard 14.5 miles.
The end is near. I've started to think about life after the trail, I've got a lot of things to do. I'm projecting my finish date between July 25th and 29th.
The way life should be.
Kirby
Ga>ME 2008.
