Day 177
October 10th
Miles Hiked: Zero
Today Doc and I took a zero to wait on Sponge, Great Fish, and Smilez to catch up so we could all summit together. Mismatch left around 7:30am to hike five miles to the northern terminus. I went to say goodbye to the other hikers I knew summiting today but by the time I walked over to their campground to do it, everyone had already left. I was really excited for Mismatch though.
Doc and I hung out at the lean-to for most of the day, staying warm in our sleeping bags while listening to a podcast, watching an episode of a hiking series called dirty south bounders, eating and I caught up on my blog some. It was productive.
Around 2pm-ish we decided to be active and go to the ranger station to see what hikes and/or canoeing was available in the area. We hiked about 1.5 miles to Daicey pond where the park ranger there let us take out a Canoe for free because we were thru hikers. We paddled around the pond and admired the view of Katahdin, the mountain we will climb tomorrow! When we were done the ranger gave us a ride back to our campground because he knew some people were doing trail magic there and he didn’t want us to miss it. It was so nice! When we arrived, a couple of former thru hikers fed us dinner of hamburgers and chips. I wasn’t expecting to get trail magic ever again at this point but this couple comes up every fall in October to hike in Baxter and cook for hikers.
By this time, it was 6:30 and the sun was setting. It’s been getting dark before 7pm almost everyday for the past two weeks. Doc and I made a fire and waited for Fish and Sponge to show up. I used the fire to heat up rocks so I could stick them in my sleeping bag to keep me warm. I think last night was the coldest night I’ve had on the trail. I slept in all my winter gear including my puffy and I was still shivering! Not going to take any risks tonight. Eventually Great Fish did show up around 9pm but we were all nervous because Sponge should have been ahead of him and gotten to Doc and I by now. With no way to communicate, no one had any idea where she could be. I cooked some left over hot dogs for Great Fish and some for Sponge hoping she would show up. As soon as the fire went out I grabbed the hot rocks and went into my sleeping bag. I couldn’t bear to sit out in the cold without the fire.
I can’t wait for summit day tomorrow!
Happy Trails!
Des Hikes Thru 