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| Grains and oats lunch by a raging river en route to Abol Bridge... only place the bugs left me alone thanks to the breeze coming off the water... AWESOMENESS |
The
trail is marked with white hashes called, "Blazes." They are typically 6 feet up a tree and
they are 2 inches wide, 6 inches in height. Sometimes they were accompanied by white arrows if there was
a fork in the trail or road. And
sometimes, locals ignored the fact that hikers were trying to not get lost in
the woods and would draw white arrows for out-of-town truckers to know where to
turn. Well shit, fuck, damn...
that doesn't help my situation when I'm trying to find my way now does
it?!
I left the Abol Bridge Camping area,
crossed a bridge on a concrete road remembering that my ginger bearded buddy said,
"Yeah, the trail is over the bridge and to the left." What do I see after I cross the
bridge? A white blaze on the back
of a road sign with a white arrow pointing to the left. Well geeeeee whiz, I guess I better go
left. A mile later I had not seen
another white blaze and if you go that far without seeing one, you need to go
back. AWESOME.
Oh but hang on a second, Mat. BREAKING NEWS: Your breakfast burrito wants out and it
wants out now. I saw a privy about
50 feet off the road and ran to it.
I opened the door and it had at least 100 of those giant
mosquito-looking things with the bigger wings. NOPE. I backed
up to see if they would leave the privy or if I was just going to have to drop
trough in the woods. I noticed
someone had left a spray can next to the toilet so I'm thinking, "Sweet.
Bug spray!" Negative. As I jumped in to grab the can and the
burrito was about to say hello to the back of my pants, I saw it was
febreze. Really? Out here? Fuck it.
I sprayed the nasties with a cloud of
flowery death. They laughed, but
moved enough for me to sit down.
Oh, sweet baby Jesus. I
came out looking like a drunk Doc Holiday searching for a fight. I later learned those privy invaders
were actually mosquito killers and harmless to humans. Can we find our way to the trail
now? I hiked back to the sign of
lies and heartbreak to find a piece of the arrow was now dangling in the
breeze. Tape. White tape. White tape that happened to be 2 inches thick, much like the
blazes. Hmmm. I must calm down and charlie mike
(continue mission).
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| Abol Bridge Campground (shot from the bridge going south) |
As I self-debated on how much further
the trail entry point would be, two haggard-looking older men popped out of the
wood line a quarter mile down the road about 100 feet apart. Yahtzee. As the first man came near he asked where Abol Bridge was
and if there was food. I directed
him and he assured me the AT south was right behind him and we parted
ways. Day 2 was a real dozy and
I have a long way to go before Sun down.
I found a shelter shortly after entering the forest and decided to rest
as another hiker came up from behind.
"Thru hiking?" he asked.
"Yeah, you?" I replied.
"Yeah, what's your trail
name?"
"I don't have one yet. You?"
"Smurf. I wore too much blue when
summiting Katahdin."
"Ha! Gotchya."
Smurf and I chatted a bit about gear
and then I took off, telling him I wanted to get to Rainbow Lake to camp. Rainbow Lake would become the ultimate
mind-fuck. I hiked for several
more hours trudging thru thick, dark mud, tree roots that seemed to grab my heavy
feet and of course I was escorted once again by those needle-nosed air
savages. I must be getting close
as hour 14 of hiking approaches.
I could now see the lake. I could hear people’s voices. That must be the campground! The trail goes straight to the lake
then takes an abrupt turn. Now I'm
walking beside the lake. Then I'm
going away from the lake and up another muddy, rooty, mosquito infested hill. Then back towards the lake. Then away. Then back at it.
Then away. Now the Sun is
sinking and I keep snaking to and from the lake. The voices fade. Where the HELL is the Rainbow Lake Campground?
I'm looking for signs, tents, human
fucking beings, it's getting dark and now clouds are rolling in. I go towards the lake, then away, then
I start to whimper. Yes, I whimpered
for the first time since I was 5 years old. Sand was all up in my vagina. I'm carrying way too much weight to be going more than 20
miles in the mud. Charlie mike,
Mat. Get there. Maybe I should just pull over on the
side of the trail. Oh wait, I
can't because there's a foot of mud in every direction. Thanks a lot hurricane Arthur.
I finally find a clearing with a hill
that's not completely saturated. I
keep going. Why? Because I'm from the suburbs and I'm
under the impression that a campground will have a sign or an iron grill or SOMETHING.I go a little further
and realize I'm either lost, Rainbow Lake Campground doesn't exist or.... it
was that fucking clearing. I
backtracked... again... and set up my tent. Another man came in to camp and was followed by Smurf. Yeah, this has to be Rainbow Lake. The trail around the lake resembled the
"Swamp of Sorrows" from the Never Ending Story. Only add mosquitoes.
It was a race to set up my tent to
avoid another down pour from that bitch, Mother Nature and another onslaught
from the skeeters. I jumped in my
tent and zipped up. I can finally
rest. I thought the day would
never end. Raindrops hit my tiny
tent. I eat more grains and
oats. My heart rate is still
jacked after an hour. Why won't my
heart rate slow down? I know I'm
stressed, so I breathe deeply.
Still pumping too fast. Is
this what a panic attack feels like?
Maybe it's because my head is on the downside of the hill? No. My body is trying to heal. I haven't worked my body this hard in a long time. I fell asleep to the thump of my heart,
wondering if this adventure would get easier at some point.
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