Day 114: Almost a Marathon Day!

Start: Stealth Site (AT mi 2136.9). Stop: Rainbow Stream Lean-To (AT mi 2163). Today’s miles: 26.1 miles. Total AT mileage: 1138 miles.

I got up at 5:35 and was hiking by 6:06am. 10 extra minutes of sleep and only one minute later for leaving.. not too shabby. Because I knew the terrain would at the very least start off “easy” I decided to eat my Probar breakfast while walking, so I wouldn’t disturb Babbit and friend any longer than necessary this morning.

I was doing well, walking and eating.. that’s how you know the trail is actually easy, I didn’t choke myself! However, half way through my probar I got nauseous. That’s weird. I went for another bite and literally gagged. So, I put the rest up and drank some water. I just must not be that hungry. So strange.

The weather was noticeably less hot than yesterday, and it didn’t feel humid at all. It is such a relief! I made great time all morning, like I was set on cruise control. When I felt my stomach starting to complain, I originally went for the rest of the probar, but then my stomach lunged.. so, I ate some sour patch kids candy, instead. The burst of energy from all the sugar seemed to help and it didn’t make me want to retch, so I took it as a win.

I ended up keeping my phone in airplane mode but decided that since today would be my longest day, mileage wise, on trail to date, that I’d listen to an audiobook. I listened to “After You” by Jojo Moyes.. she wrote the book I love “The Giver of Stars” and I hadn’t realized that she’s the writer of the book “Me Before You” which was turned into a movie with Emilia Clarke.. anyway, I loved that movie.. and this audiobook picks up where the movie left off, so as I was walking I was picturing the characters from the movie. It was awesome.

Back to normal stuff, I saw a snake and actually managed to get a picture since he didn’t sneak off quickly with my scream. Actually, he didn’t seem to care much at all about me.. lol it still boggles my mind that people choose to have snakes as pets (I’m talking to you here, Ken). Like, why? You just like nightmares every night?

I stopped for lunch on a fallen log just after 12 noon.. peanut butter and jelly on a tortilla. It’s way easier to eat than the tuna. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stomach another packet of meat. Only 3-4 more months of dealing with trail lunches to go! I sat for close to 35 minutes, slowly eating my tortilla and munching on chips, entranced in my book.

After fueling up I hit the trail, and to my complete shock: I went up another mountain. I wasn’t expecting it, as the elevation map looked flat overall.. but there it was, right smack in front of me. As I started climbing up roots and rock steps, I rechecked the map. I’ll be damned. If you zoom in, there it is: Nesuntabunt Mountain, elevation 1,522 feet. When you ate lunch at under 500 feet of elevation, this comes as a punch to the gut, and even the spirit a little as dramatic as that sounds.

Since I wasn’t expecting it, I had half a liter of water on me. I’ve noticed I tend to chug my water, especially when going uphill. So knowing I *couldnt* just chug when I wanted to, or else I’d be stuck hiking miles with no water.. I was annoyed with myself. Even still, as I turn a curve and walk out on a rock slab with a view.. I realize the mountain i was seeing in front of me across the lake was Mount Katahdin. Oh my God, she’s a beauty.. jutting up out of the ground-standing higher than anything else around me for miles and miles. Just. WOW.

I was grateful for that moment to distract me from the lack of water situation. I continued on and once at the top I drank the rest of what I had and started making my way downhill, looking for the next water source. According to my maps it would be a pond about 2 miles ahead. Ok, I got this. I had already hiked close to 20 miles at this point, it was just after 3pm and I still had 3-8 more miles to go.

I was hoping the terrain would have stayed the way it had been earlier in the day, but after the descent of that mountain, the roots came out to play. Even when it was technically flat trail, the roots were everywhere causing my feet to throb with every step. When I made it to the pond I filtered water while sitting in the sun on a big rock slab. My feet were just so achy.. I sat for maybe 15 minutes and had to force myself to get moving again. Each step hurt, and my book finished so I had little to distract me from the pain. I thought about turning on some music, but I didn’t want my battery to drop any lower. Ugh.

I passed up the place I could stop at 23 miles to keep hiking to Rainbow Stream Lean-To. I decided that the only way I could stop to camp before that shelter was if I happened to pass TieDye or Poptart stealth camping.. AND there was a place for my tent, too. It was sad but good that neither of my friends appeared, because at 6:35pm I showed up to the lean-to making this a 26.1 mile day! ALMOST a full marathon! Because I was so close, 0.1 away from a marathon, I almost hiked across the creek to set up camp down trail a little bit, but it was getting dark and there were no spots on the app suggesting anywhere to camp, so I made due being 0.1 short of awesome. Such is life.

I found a flat spot up the hill from the shelter and set up. Then had to force myself to go do the rest of my chores: bathe, filter water, eat dinner.. it all felt like so much more work! But I did it. The water was warmer than expected, but the air temperature was definitely cooling off more. It’ll definitely be a better night of sleep! I ate some ramen and my stomach felt like it wouldn’t tolerate much more. I hadn’t been queasy since probar breakfast, but I wasn’t about to risk it happening again right before bed.

So, thanks to my long day today.. I’m on track to summit Mount Katahdin on the 29th! Tomorrow will either be ~15 miles to Baxter State Park border and camp there to do 20 miles on summit day, OR ~25 miles to Birches inside BSP and only 10 miles on summit day! It’s out of my control to which option I’ll have given to me-I’m praying on the 25 tomorrow and 10 the following day, but either way-I’m summiting that mountain Sunday!!