A beautiful day, spirits were high as we climbed up from Rainbow Stream toward Nesuntabunt Mountain. We passed a couple of great snack-lunch-rest spots, one was a little ourcropping with our first great view of Katahdin (so far away!), and one, an overlook of Polywog Gorge. The climb up to the mountain wasn't bad, and our clothes, wet from the day before, hung on our packs to dry. We climbed down and skirted Cresent Pond, where two anglers lazily floated in a dinghy. We passed a boat landing as they pulled in their boat, and said hello. As we descended to lower ground and approached the Wadleigh Shelter (which was a bit overrun with litter), the trail grew muddier and swampier, our feet got soaked, we were ofter - again - up to our knees. It was not good for morale. We skirted Nahmakanta Lake, and trail conditioned worsened yet. Spirits were no longer high. At one pint the trail simply emptied us out into a muggy, mosquito-filled swamp. Are we lost? No, that's the trail, see the blaze? We tried to go around but eventually just walked through it, up to our knees in muddy water, boots sliding, schlorping into the leafy decay underneath. We climbed out of that and had to soon ford a branch of the Nahmahanta stream, which was a little unnerving but not too bad. It was waist-deep and moving fast, but a log lay across, that we were able to hold onto and make our way across safely. We climbed out of the rushing current and soon after found a trail intersection with a business card pinned to a tree, with a hand-drawn arrow. It indicated White House Landing, a hostel that caters to AT hikers. We found a blue-blazed trail that leads to a boat dock (through bogged-out logging roads and more buggy woods) where we blasted an air-horn that was hanging from a tree, waited on the dock, and were picked up by Bill in a motorboat, who, with his wife Linda, runs the little paradise White House Landing on the other side of the lake. As we approched the dock after a very short ride, we saw Kaleigh and Brian waving and shouting hello. They'd beat us there by an hour or so. We secured a room in the cottage, near the bunkhouse, with a double be. At this point, we were fully exhausted and not in a great mood. But this is hiking - it's hard! We had missed dinner at 6 (too bad, Kaleigh said the burgers were awesome), but whipped up some dehydrated meals that tasted like the inside of a burrito - no matter, it was filling. We hung a few things up to dry, took a shower in the shower house (amazing), and hit the bed hard. Big day, lots of tough miles. The trail is testing us. Keep stretching, keep smiling! Short day tomorrow to Antlers Campsite. -Ups
16.5 miles. Sunny & warm.
The trail is not making me weaker, it is making me stronger.
Bug bit. Swamp rock leg scrape. Sore legs. Maine!
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