We wake up at 4:50. We start packing up at 4:59. At 5:01 the heavens open up and the rains pour down. (Stoves, a Maine native, remarks, “It’s just a cloud!”) At 5:01:01 1/2, the Troverts rejoice at being under the tin roof of the shelter and being able to pack up dry gear. At 6:20 the Gang of Four (minus one) begin the day’s hiking and the rain immediately stops for the rest of the day…

Out of camp we begin a steep 700′ climb up Nesuntabunt Mountain. We don’t mind as we hope the fair trade-off will be to have cell service and a view of Katahdin, only 16 miles distant. Katahdin is in and out of the clouds and mist, like she does not want to reveal herself all at once today. We have no phone service on top to send several days’ worth of Trail Journals reports to the BCM, but find a spot on the way down where we can get a few text messages out to our neighbor Susan to report our progress and seek assistance on finding a place to stay in Baxter SP tomorrow night. We also have a brief note from Castaway confirming he is at White House Landing taking a zero.

The wet roots and rocks are especially troublesome until the first gravel road, but by Crescent Pond, the sun is breaking through and the temperature is starting to drop. As we take a break on the logging road bridge over Pollywog Stream, it’s a perfect autumn morning for hiking, with the wind rustling the first changing leaves of fall.

We eat lunch at the Rainbow Stream shelter, where we are behind schedule for our day’s goal of 19 miles, but the trail, although still muddy and full of roots, allows us to pick up the pace in the afternoon, with Kleenex and X sharing most of the lead. The woods and ponds are quite lovely when we’re not dealing with decrepit bog boards.

After several miles of skirting Rainbow Lake (where in addition to several day hikers we’ve encountered, we meet two young men who’ve come in by float plane to fish the local lakes), we begin the 400′ climb up to the Rainbow Ledges. The trail follows wide expanses of exposed rock until around a corner, there in the distance is the Mighty Katahdin, in a clear view with only a few puffy clouds as a crown, and lit by the full afternoon western sun. It’s enough to take our breath away, and we gaze in awe. We’ve walked 2163.1 miles, now there are only 21.1 more to go. We take pictures, finally get some emails to go, and then just stare, until we realize we still have 2.5 miles to the shelter before dark. Just as we cross Hurd Brook, we are passed by two of our younger shelter mates from last night, Stoves and Flintstone. We are happy to leave the lean-to and its old style “baseball bat floor” to them, as we find spots for our two tents close to the nearby pond. It’s a rush to get water, cook dinner, and eat one of our last meals in the Wilderness, but we get our bear bag hung right at dark. Tomorrow should be a hectic day for us, and we hope the weather holds until Tuesday morning…