Things are well. Glad to be in to town once more, though it will be 24 hours or less. Life has been treat u4s well aside from 4 days out of the 5 of rain. After the first few hours, you are hopeful for better weather, but you truck on anyways. If anything, surely makes you appreciate the sunshine when you are chanced to peep it through the copious foliage overhead.
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| up on top of Mt. Katahdin; a scared shrine to NOBOs; we SOBOs wonder more about Springer in GA. |
Anywho, how are people out there? Almost that special, free time of year known as July 4th...mmmMmmm; sounds sweet!
Hard to believe it has been 2 weeks since I left Indiana on a Greyhound bus bound North to some place named Maine. Quite an interesting place it is here. People are genuinely nice and the 2 towns I've been in so far (Monson & Stratton) are quite small; under 600 and 400 people respectively. The industry of lumber and paper has been somewhat lost to Chinese companies, though local wood is harvested and trucked north to Canada, or to the coast to go overseas.
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| 3 lovely friends I made and hiked with for 5 days (Mckenzie, Michelle, and Erin) |
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| my typical camp set-up, as long as it's not raining, then I'm in the lean-to |
So, what else? What of my actual Leave No Trace project? Progression has been slow as I first learn the in's and out's of trail life, but I have managed to procure numerable pieces of insignificant trash. Some along the trail (so easy to to spot the not among the green forest floor. Shelters are a magnet for loose bits of trash. Luckily, I have spotted no human waste carelessly heaped aside, though if I look diligently enough, I'm sure I'd have a bit 'o luck. :) We are afforded some comforts of the greater society in the backcountry privies - "maintained" by the Maine AT Club. That is encouraging for bodily business.
If ever a person wanted to gain more of a routine, the AT is the place. You wake up and first thing, before sometimes the bathroom is, pack up your sleeping bag and liner, deflate and fold your Thermasrest, and then perhaps a body function. It is becoming a normal part of the morning. Breakfast follows - which usually lasts as long as it takes for you to cram something simple and easy down, then pack your pack to get ready to hike. Because it starts to get light around 4am up North here, we are up between 5:30 and 6:30 (depending on our miles to hike that day and the weather), and on the trail less than 40 minutes later.
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| a wonderfully relaxing and often refreshing Maine lake - of which there has been many |
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| Rainbow Stream lean-to in the 100 mile wilderness. nothing like flowing water in the eve to soothe the tired hiker |
I quite enjoy this, though it took some getting used to: the rain this week and 2 back-to-back days of 20+ "flat" miles. On to Rangeley, Maine next. About 100 more miles in Maine and then New Hampshire; where the White and mighty mountains are a-live.
Happy life and freedom to all on this 4th; think of something that makes you appreciate Freedom! (shout-out to you Luke Mehall for inspiring the truer meaning of the 4th).
Happy walk-about,
Al
As of June 14:
shower count: 2
laundry count: 2
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