Oct 3

The push

Slept in a little bit later today, but still managed to get on trail before 8am.  Just past the shelter, the crossing of the East Branch of the Pleasant River was not nearly as formidable as yesterday's crossing of the West Branch.  A simple rock-hop got me to the other bank.  Hiking this morning was again a joy.  The trail was like a tunnel through the trees.  Rays of early morning light shone through the branches.  My pack finally felt lighter, due to the huge dent I had put in my food supply over these past few days.  Not only was the hiking physically less demanding, but my mind was also aiding me in a fast pace.  I thought about all my hiker friends that were ahead of me.  They've already seen this.  Some of them are already done.  I pictured so many smiling faces, and like a magnet, they were pulling me down the trail toward that final mountain.  I felt weightless.  The Wilderness has been as unforgiving as it is beautiful.  Although I am relishing all the sights, smells, and sounds that it has to offer, I'm ready to be done.  That's a hard concept to wrap my head around.  On one hand, I don't want this experience to be over, but at the same time, I'm tired, and I'm ready to climb Katahdin.  I passed more ponds and streams.  The forest was a wall of green at my sides, with an orange and red canopy overhead, and bits of blue sky poking through.  On a short, but steep climb up Little Boardman Mountain, the forest started changing back to predominantly fir and birch again.  After a few more miles of pond-side hiking, I crossed a stream, walking over yet another beaver dam.  I've been loving the hike this morning, with all the incredible colors and light.  It's been like looking through a kaleidoscope,   with leaves constantly shifting colors as I walked from one bend of the trail to the next.  The trail itself is littered with fallen leaves - red ones, yellow ones, orange ones, and brown ones - in all sorts of shades in between.  I thought it looked like confetti.  Like the woods had a party, welcoming in the fall, and I was walking through the morning after.  Near Cooper Brook, I stopped for water at a spring.  The water was so clear it almost had a blueish tint.  I stopped for a lunch break, just a bit farther, at the Cooper Brook Falls lean-to.  This was an amazing shelter area.  The brook itself runs a few yards in front of the shelter, and the water was up, and it was flowing strong.  I thought this would be an outstanding place to stay in the summer when it's warmer. You could walk right out in front of the shelter and jump into deep pools and slide down rushing rapids.  After lunch, I had 8 miles of flat, easy hiking.  The trail was covered with pine needles.  There wasn't even much mud.  I stopped at the Antlers Campsite for a break.  There's an awesome two-seat privy there too that I had to check out.  This is another campsite I would love to revisit.  It sits right at the edge of Jo-Mary Lake.  It is immaculately maintained, with several tenting sites, and stone-lined paths.  It's early in the afternoon, and I've made it 16 miles to this point.  I felt great, so I kept on hiking.  After a 19.5 mile day, I arrived at Potaywadjo Spring lean-to at 3:45pm.  Awesome pace.  Awesome hike today.  The shelter here was really nice, and the spring was amazing.  It was a 15 feet around, and crystal clear, with water seeping up through sand.

Crossing by Crawford Pond early in the morning.