Trailing Towards Maine: Day 152: The Countdown Begins...

Woke up early with lots of condensation on the inside of the tent. Huge temperature drop after the sun went down yesterday, and we were by a lake. It got pretty cold last night!

The food was already cooking when we got over there just before 7am. Cereal, fruit, bagels, more candy bars, coffee, juice and ham/egg/cheese English muffin sandwiches. It was a great breakfast. Everyone was around the fire eating as much as we could. A few hikers left before 9am, but Boss, Uncas, Prophet and I ended up hanging around until 11am. Then it was time to hike.

We said humongous thank you's to the guys and told them we'd never forget them - that may just be our last trail magic of the trip! With full bellies, we left and were glad it was going to be an easy, flat hike all day. There would only be two small bump hills, and they'd be in the first two hours. Boss and I played a little music with his speakers, and we made it up and over the hills. It wasn't raining (yay!) - only a complete cloud cover with cool temps. Soon after Boss got stung by mud wasps on BOTH calves, we got to the next shelter and had a mini lunch break (he is ok). Neither of us was too hungry after the extended breakfast a few hours earlier, but we snacked. Uncas, Rich, and Bloodhound were there, too, and we all watched a crazy chipmunk run around the place. We would throw rocks, and it would chase them, thinking it was food.

Back to hiking, and my stomach began to cramp up. Ugh. I haven't had stomach problems the whole trip, so I can't complain, but it sure didn't feel good down there. Luckily, it was an easy day. Of all the 16-mile days to feel sick, this one wasn't bad. I hiked on, thinking that walking might help, but I couldn't walk it off. I ate something, but that didn't seem to help either. I just kept going.

The scenery was pretty boring except for the few times we popped out onto a pond. The ponds are really nice up here. Finally, we made it to Pierce Pond and took the packs off. It was gorgeous on the lake, and there was a tent sight right on the water. Delightful sunset through the clouds during dinner. Backwards, Prophet, Uncas, and Stryder are all here now, and everyone is in their sleeping bags kinda early. The fire has died down, and (luckily) so have my stomach pains. Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow feeling like normal.

Only about ten more days.......
(15.9mi 3st)