Ends up that Wedding Walker, Chong and Seeker all made wrong turns at the reroute. Me and Juice were the only two at camp last night. I turned on my Inreach this morning and received a message from Wedding Walker. He made it to Wilson Camp some five miles south of us, and left early to catch-up. I left camp first and Juice was about a half an hour behind me.

I had to retrace some of the miles from yesterday due to the reroute. When we came up the side trail, we headed south for .2 miles. I headed north, through the muddy bog and started my first climb up Mount Barren. It was a good 1000’ climb in a little over a mile. So fairly steep. Once I reached Barren Slide, Juice caught up. The Slide Trail was closed due to a nesting falcon. We headed up another 100 plus feet and reached Barren Ledges and the 2100 mile marker! Less than 100 miles to Katahdin. Thank goodness.

Juice and I stayed and had breakfast and Reset joined us. I met Reset back near The Long Inn Trail in Vermont. Her and Shorts were the two Blue and I swam with in the Waterfall. I hasn’t seen her for over a month. Ends up she and quite a few other hikers had Covid back at Hanover and she was off-trail for a week. She caught up and is making quick miles. We caught up for a bit and off she went.

Juice and I took off and headed down and back up to our next destination, the summit of Barren Mountain. The western end of the Barren-Chairback Range is home to a partially dismantled fire lookout tower (not safe for climbing). It’s too bad because the views are blocked by alpine tree growth. We took a few pictures, ate some more food and tried to get ahold of Wedding Walker. Juice and Wedding Walker have been hiking partners for over three years, doing sections of the AT together. This is their last section to complete the AT, the 100 Mile Wilderness and Mt. Katahdin. No answer, so he left a message and we carried on.

Todays hike was a lot of ups and downs over many peaks. Most of the day was good weather until after lunch. We started hearing thunder and then the sky turned grey and dark. We both put our pack covers on and it started raining. Darn it! I was hoping we could have two days without rain. It was coming down pretty good so we both stopped and grabbed our rain jackets. The trail became more of a muddy mess. To make matters worse, we then had a sketchy river crossing. Juice is much taller than me with long legs and he was able to jump across a Boulder and up onto a rock. My problem is, I don’t have as long as legs and if I miss, I’m going down into a 5’ waterfall. I tried to figure out another way, Juice was going to try to give me his hand as I jumped and I finally reluctantly walked into the River with shoes and socks on. At this point my feet were pretty well soaked from the rain, so it wasn’t a huge deal breaker. My biggest issue is I have another 4-5 days left and only one pair of dry socks! With the weather and rain, the chances of being able to dry out my other two pair of wet socks, are slim to none.

I had planned on meeting Blue today at Ironworks Road but at 4:30pm I wasn’t capable to go another five miles. The milage here is so different than a regular trail day. If I wasn’t having to deal with walk arounds, trying to deal with risky river crossings, putting on rain gear, climbing 3500’ up and 3690’ down in ten miles, I would be able to do the miles. But this terrain is a bit difficult, to say the least. I had to bail on Blue and plan to hike out early tomorrow morning and meet up.

Juice and I arrived at Chairback Gap Lean-2 around 5:30pm. We were the only ones here but there is suppose to be more rain tonight. I’m sure others will arrive. And within 20-30 minutes, both Nobo and Sobo’s were showing up. I decided to stay in the shelter and hold a spot for Wedding Walker. Everyone made dinner and I tried to dry my wet gear out. I’m not sure if anything will dry but i can attempt to. Juice setup his tent, and I hunkered down in the shelter all by myself. Ends up that all the other hikers continued on or tented. Wedding Walker never showed up but two guys from the shelter last night arrived after 8pm. They will keep me company for the night. At 9pm, they were cooking dinner in the shelter. Oh my goodness, this is going to be a long night! Wedding Walker showed up at 9:00pm last night. That was his first and last night hike of his life! I’m glad he’s back and accounted for. All is good in my little shelter. Now I can sleep!

I am so grateful to have someone to hike with. This 100 Mile Wilderness is “no joke” and it is a section thats nice to have a partner. I have commandeered Juice and he has been very helpful and thoughtful about keeping an eye out on the “Old Lady” as he calls me. I don’t care what he calls me, and being I’m younger than he is, I’ll take Old Lady and I call him the Geriatric Guy. I’m sure now that Wedding Walker is back in the picture, the boys will continue on. Being that Blue and I have a campsite in Baxter on Wednesday, I’m gonna need to mosey on. This community of people on trail are truly the kindest and most welcoming hikers I have met anywhere. To the Appalachian Trail. You have raised your hikers well!