Sand Beach 2144.3 to Rainbow Lake Dam 2166.1 (21.8 miles, 1,140.7 total miles)
When the sky above the beach began to lighten just after 5AM, we all woke up from where we’d been cowboy camping on the sand. Almost immediately I saw a bald eagle fly over the lake very close to us, before finding a tree on the opposite bank to perch on.
I took my time in camp, knowing I needed a late start after my long day prior. I knew even if I left at 8AM, I would be starting my hike nearly two hours earlier than I’d done yesterday.
I made a hot breakfast of a Mountain House egg scramble and coffee, and took my time packing, but so did everyone else. All our sleeping bags and quilts were soaked in dew overnight, but we felt it was a fair trade for having had such a fantastic campsite.
I got out of camp a little after 8, the last one to leave. I made a quick pit stop 1.5 in to use a privy, and then hiked another .7 to my first view of Katahdin.
Wicked and Einstein were there when I arrived at a lake just a few feet off trail to see my first view of the enormous mountain in the distance. Because White Cap had been socked in, I’d missed seeing it in a smaller scale.
It was definitely a goosebumps moment, and things began to feel real then. Though I was very tired, and I could feel it as I hiked. It was also going to be 85 degrees, sunny, and at low elevation, very humid.
I had hiked so fast and hard the day before, I knew I needed a recovery day. Still, I kept up a very good pace the first half of the day. I met a young female NOBO named Sherbet, and saw Nude Beach at a water crossing I fortunately didn’t have to ford, because we were able to walk over a downed tree to the other side.
I passed or leapfrogged all the others except Cap’n Crunch all morning. I picked a beach 9 miles in for my lunch break, and tried to stop as little as possible on my way there.
At a certain point I felt myself getting dehydrated from the heat and being too stubborn to stop and filter water.
I made myself stop then and downed some propel and half a liter of water, which helped. The trail and scenery were beautiful again today, and the trail was fortunately less wet than it had been, though I did manage to slip my left foot off a rock and submerge it in water on my way to the beach.
It was quite flat all the way to Nahmakanta Lake, where I found Honeybadger and Trailer Park, who was one of the hikers I’d met the day before at the fish fry.
Honeybadger and Einstein were definitely getting their trail legs back, and I was happy to see that for them. Honeybadger and Trailer Park had already gone for a swim in the lake, and I started to lay out my wet stuff to dry in the bright sun.
I waded into the water a little, and decided it was too nice to not swim. Floating in the water, thinking about life and feeling the cool water on my skin was definitely a highlight of the day.
Everyone else besides Crunch got there in waves, and I decided to give myself an hour lunch break, something I couldn’t remember doing in weeks.
I had been ruminating and feeling very moody from tiredness all morning, and the fact that I’d never cleared the air with Sunshine and we were now hiking together again. I wanted to talk with her, but didn’t feel like I had enough time, plus we were always surrounded by our new trail family. I did feel myself coming a bit back to life as I ate lunch, though.
It felt incredibly remote at the lake and like true wilderness, until a group of people rolled in who’d clearly driven there on one of the logging roads. Logging roads giveth, and they taketh away.
I ate a lot for lunch, but my appetite was tough to sate now, as my hiker hunger was in full swing. Trying to satisfy that hunger with trail food was like slapping a band aid on it, while town food seemed to be the actual medicine I needed.
Lunch was a really nice break, and at the time I was confident I could crush the last 12.4 miles in about four hours, getting me to camp at 5-5:30PM.
As I hiked around the lake, I found Crunch at another beach where he’d had lunch. I thought his beach was just a tiny bit nicer. He was on the struggle bus as well, having hiked a long day previously.
I knew we had a climb coming up, Nesuntabunt Mountain, that looked tiny until I zoomed in the elevation profile on the guide while I was at the base of it, a couple miles later.
My pace after lunch had dropped to 2MPH, but I thought I could make it up on the next miles. However, I kept having to stop to pee, to make a privy stop, and just to eat and rest. My energy levels weren’t where I needed them.
I spent half an hour hanging out with Trailer Park at Wadleigh Stream Lean-to right before the climb. I knew I might regret the time spent later, but I needed the break.
I also knew I had another 22 mile day tomorrow and a very long day of hiking Katahdin after that. I needed a recovery day, so I let go of the dream of getting to camp at a reasonable time, and told myself to just hike slow and do what I needed to do to get my strength back.
The climb felt harder than I was expecting, and the last .7 was graded at 840 feet per mile, so I was sweating and struggling up the climb.
I recalled other mountains that were just as difficult that I’d flown up before. Funny how circumstances could change, and the miles could be entirely subjective in how they were experienced.
At the top of the mountain, I found Wicked and Einstein, as I was now fully in the back of the pack due to all my breaks. I went to the 200 foot side trail with them, and was greeted by an insane view of Katahdin, just across the ridge from us.
It was monolithic, this sacred mountain, larger than I could have imagined, looming in the distance, only 30 trail miles away. It was breathtaking, even through my exhaustion, and more than a little intimidating.
I wished I had some flexibility in my summit date, but not only did I have the campground reservation, but also a weather window that was closing soon.
I knew doing the extra mileage the day before was going to change my energy levels going into this, but I had no regrets. I’d just have to make the best of it.
It did feel a shame that it had rained so heavily through half our time in the 100 Mile, and now we had to rush through the last 50 more beautiful miles, though we idly talked about coming back to section hike that last 50 and really take our time.
I knew Rosin, Rafter Man, Gumdrop, Woods, and Second Wind had all been scheduled to finish today, and I was happy they’d had such a sunny, beautiful day to finish on. It was very hit or miss on the mountain.
It was 8.4 miles to camp by then, and already almost 4PM. I hiked with Einstein for a bit, before pulling ahead.
The rest of the day was truly full of beauty, but was a mental struggle more than anything. I’d realized I wouldn’t be getting to camp till 7:15 most likely, even as I picked up my pace on the last 4.3 miles.
My shoulders were aching from whatever was going on with my pack shoulder straps, and my left hip started twinging. That hadn’t happened since I’d first started the trail, and was a previous injury that was flaring up from trying to shift the pack weight from my shoulders to my hips.
The trail had been much more rocky and rooty than the day before, and that was tricky to navigate. I stumbled and stubbed my toes, signs of how tired I was.
I got to the .2 side trail to the dam at 7:18, taking that to camp where Honeybadger, Crunch, and Sunshine already were. Einstein and Wicked got there a little bit after me.
We were at the dam on Rainbow Lake, with another great view of Katahdin across the way. I started cooking my dinner, then set up my tent.
Half of us ended up cowboy camping again, but I knew I’d sleep better in my tent, and wanted my quilt to dry out instead of accumulate more moisture.
My hip was in a lot of pain, so I rolled that out with my cork ball, and massaged my legs while watching Stranger Things. I needed a good night of sleep, but my body needed the massage, too.
Seeing Katahdin for the first time in real life, I realized it was an enigma to me of my own feelings about hiking it. It wasn’t my end point, but I think it might not have hit me yet that it would be the end of my northern half and what that really meant. I supposed I would find out.