We woke to fog and cool temps and that was pretty much the weather story all morning. We were on the trail a little after 6:30. Our amazing neighbor Susan Adams had texted us to say she had swung by ME 17 on her way to Portland and left us trail magic. Sure enough, there was a bag of sodas right where she’d left it, with everyone’s favorite (including Kleenex’s cream soda!), plus a few extra Cokes. N was especially appreciative as an early caffeine sugar fix really gets him going. We knew Nooga and Blue Sky would be the next ones behind us, so we left two cokes sitting in the middle of trail for them. Susan even told us to leave the cans and she’d be back on Monday to pick them up. Suz, you are the best! We’re presenting you a lifetime pass to the hot tub in our backyard, which we are intending to build as soon as we get home…

As difficult as parts of the trail were yesterday, today’s hike was smooth and gentle. We passed many ponds, even one with a swimming beach, but the fog was so thick we could only see just a few feet from shore. At the Sabbath Pond shelter, we ducked in to eat a snack and use the privy. We found a volunteer work crew busily replacing leaky translucent sheets in the roof with new tin ones. We thanked them for their good work, for without their efforts, there is no AT.

We crossed ME 4 and picked up our pace on the final uphill 1.8 miles to the Piazza Rock Lean-to. We hadn’t been able to check the weather radar on our iPhones, but other hikers told us there was severe weather in the forecast which could start at any time, and we did not want to get caught out in it. (We covered today’s distance in under ten hours, which we thought was great) We arrived at the shelter to find quite a crowd of NOBO’s gathering. Kleenex took a spot in the shelter, and Castaway set up his tent on the ground. We set up on a tent platform nearby. Working as quick as we could, we all finished camp chores and settled down by 7:00 p.m., just before a deluge arrived.

We love our little tent, but it has been months since it was so tested by the rain, and tonight it failed the test. We had bad leaks at the seams, made worse by the fly not being pulled as taunt as it needed to be. We put our sleeping bags away before they got wet, and pulled out an extra layer of clothes and our rain gear to sleep in. If we survive the night, the prospects for several clear cool days ahead look pretty good…