Maine
Holy crap, were in Maine. At this point we have walked almost 2000 miles and I think that this is the roughest part. Even though we are hiking gods, we get our asses kicked. The terrain is a nightmare. We tear it up for 12 hours a day and we only get 7 miles! It straight up and straight down.
Caving at Mahoosuc Notch! No lie... while crossing Mahoosuc Notch (a tough part of the trail that has boulders that you have to climb over) Velvet found a hole that had ice in it... so we went down to take a look and just kept going. Every time we saw another hole, we sent Velvet in to investigate, then if it was clear, we would follow. We were down there for about 3 hours and when we got out we were filthier than normal! That was fun... the climb up Mahoosuc arm was not!
We kept moving as best we could because I was on a tight schedule. I had to be done by Oct 1st or else I'd have to walk back home! (according to Lori.) the walking was even tougher because a lot of rain had fallen and it was real muddy. (Icky had fallen and when he had put his arm out to break his fall, it sank up to his shoulder. It looked like he had fisted a moose!)
Hurricane Floyd arrived and made the bad weather even worse. We were lucky because we were in Stratton, so we got a room at the White Wolf inn. The people at the inn were unlucky because for 2 days, Icky, velvet and Myself went absolutely stir crazy. More often than not, we were fighting and beating the hell out of each other. They had warned us multiple times because with all the jumping around, we were knocking down thing off the walls downstairs. At one point, we were trying to be real quit, because we didn't want to get thrown out. I forget what started it, but we just broke out into a sick free for all! I threw Velvet into a corner and started beating him, then Icky threw a sheet around me and they started to drag me around the room. I hear some one yell and I see the lady that runs the place standing in the doorway... talk about busted! I don't know how, but I convinced her to let us stay. That's Velvet and I above resting up for the next round.
Velvet seemed to calm down a lot after he convinced Gepetto to buy him a Barley Legal magazine. He would also disappear for 20 minutes at a time!
The rain had washed out a lot of the trail and some of the rivers were impassable for a day or two. Those Bastards had pretty good balance, but I was pretty shaky on those wood planks. They kept their cameras out in case I fell. ( I Never did.)
Also, velvet would routinely disappear for 20 minutes each day... I think he still had the Barley legal. Just an observation.
Maine was all about the river crossings. My feet were always wet. This was one of the rivers that were hip deep. It was pretty slippery and the current was moving good... one wrong move and your a floater.
That's Icky giving the sign at Shaws some love. We got into Monson late one night because I was really in the mood to be in town. I was tired of being wet and filthy. Icky and Velvet were pitching camp in some crappy area and I just had it. I would rather walk all night than sleep there (I don't know why) So I took off and told them I would met them in Monson. I got about a half mile and I heard them yelling. They figured we shouldn't split up, so they came along. It was cool walking on that road in the dark...there was nothing and no one around for miles. Good thing some guy in a pickup came along and gave us a ride, because I doubt I would have made it by morning. We were still making good time so we stayed at Shaws for a couple of days preparing for the 100 mile wilderness.
Oh yeah, I don't know why, but Icky was feeling real lazy at Shaws, so one night he has to pee and he opens up the windows and starts to wiz on the shed outside. (we were on the second floor) I still don't know why, but this struck me as being hilarious... it still does.
We got a ride from Baltimore Jack to the start of the 100 mile wilderness. This is the sign at the start of the wilderness... it warns lamers that they will die! We blew through the wilderness in 4 1/2 days. The southern part was hard but the last part was easy... I finished with a 25 mile day in 8 hours. Icky's parents were in the area and they me us half way through at Jo-Mary road with supplies. (keep the pack weight low and move fast!) That was a good thing because earlier that day, Icky fell into a river while we were crossing and his sleeping bag and a lot if his stuff got wet. We laughed at him and he still helped us across while he was in the river. He was an ok guy, for a hippie freak of course. We also tried to get to the White House (a cool hostel) but we missed our chance... it was do or die. (do or get beaten by my wife!)
There was our first view of Katahdin. I can't believe it took 6 months to get to that sucker. After the 100 miles, we met Lori and Icky's parents in Baxter State park. We had to wait a day to summit Katahdin because the weather was bad. The trail took advantage of one more opportunity to stick it in and break it off.