It rained really hard last night but I slept in the shelter. No wet tent to pack up but I had a lot of wet clothes. I’m down to my last pair of socks and underwear. My skirt is soaked, my rain jacket has moss growing on it and I have web feet. Not really but I should by now.

Juice was up and rearing to go. He slept in his tent while Wedding Walker and I were slumming in the Shelter with the Men from India. At 6:15am Juice announced that he was hitting the trail. He’ll wait for us slackers at the River Crossing. I left five minutes after Juice while Wedding Walker was still eating breakfast. But I had a more important meeting than a river crossing, I had a meetup with Blue.

The first mile was the typical bog with lots of mud and muck, especially after our rain from yesterday. Maines never gonna dry out. Once I climbed up to Chairback, I came over the windy knoll and entered a rock slide. At this point, I should be ready for this but I hadn’t read ahead and was taken by surprise. It was a couple of football fields worth of boulders with very large slabs of granite. It took me close to a half hour and then I was back to mud, muck and roots.

I should’ve calculated the slowdown with the boulders but I had told Blue I’d be there by 9am. By 9am I was still over a mile or so away. After passing through the road construction and the rerouted trail, I arrived. Juice had been there for 5-10 minutes so he making virtually the same pace as me. So I’m not such an Old Lady after all. Blue had fruit, sparkling water and my provisions.

t this point, I was pretty darn cold with wet shorts on. Blue said we could head to the car and she could make me hot tea and I could warm up a bit. Grand plan. I talked with Juice and being Wedding Walker still hasn’t arrived, he’d stay out till 11am.

When I returned from my warmup, Wedding Walker still hadn’t arrived. Hmm, that’s odd. He’s a bit slower but should’ve been here by now. The West Branch Ford of the Pleasant River is a hundred feet wide, and usually shin deep. Today due to all the rain and water releases, it was thigh high and running quite swiftly. I watched a few hikers ford it and you can tell the current was swift and moving. I waited a bit longer for Wedding Walker but finally needed to head north. I bid my farewells to Juice and hope to see them again.

The rest of the day I hiked solo. Irish followed me for a bit but finally passed me and took off. We usually bump into each other so I’m sure I’ll see him again before Katahdin. There were a few Nobo’s that I talked with and towards the afternoon, I saw another 5-6 Sobo’s. They were all headed for the Shelter.

I had several water crossings, lots of ups and downs but nothing too steep. The trail was a mixture of ferns and firs with tons of mushrooms. I saw two snakes today and a ton of red squirrels who chirp a lot. The birds would squawk whenever I walked by. And more Moose Poop, but no moose sighting. The day was long and I didn’t get to camp till after 6pm. But on a high note, it did not rain! That’s a hallelujah.

I’m looking forward to seeing Blue again tomorrow. She’s planning to meet me at the road crossing. It sure is nice having a support system that cares for you, drys out my clothes and gives me real food to eat. Around 7pm I had company. Three Nobo Hikers are stealth camping with me. They are young kids in their early 20’s and doing 20-22 mile days. Oh joy, how I would love to do those kind of miles again. Or maybe not. All they are doing is complaining about all their aches and pains. I’ll just stick with my 14-15 mile days.