We slept in again today. I blame it on the Benadryl. Warthog is usually the one encouraging us to get moving. With him being a bit drowsy, we took advantage of the opportunity to rest a little longer.

The blisters got worse. The top one is now a large bubble. You can see light through it and hair follicles that are trapped. The lower one isn’t as bad. He only remembered putting Afterbite on one spot, I wonder if it’s that one.

We only have fifteen miles planned for today, but that has us climbing 5,000 feet. It’s going to be a big day. Warthog already has a strike against him. He’s still drowsy from the medication. I’ll have him take more Benadryl this evening, but he needs to get through the day first.

 

We have just a couple of day until we hit the White’s. I’m nervous for the challenge. I’m grateful though for days like today that are preparing our bodies. My right Achilles’ tendon is always a bit sore and tight. I’m hoping it holds up fine with the tougher climbs and the heavier packs. I really want to get to Katahdin. We are so close!

Today was the eclipse. We didn’t have any fancy glasses. We couldn’t go to any parties. We almost didn’t have a view of the sky either. But when we talked about it as a group, we all said that if we had to choose between viewing the eclipse or hiking the AT, we would choose the AT. Just as the eclipse was at its’ prime viewing time, we were stopped for lunch. We ate at the side of the road because there was a stream nearby. It wasn’t prime lunching, but it got the job done. I thought about looking at the sun, glasses or not. Then the conservative side of me won out. I really like my eyesight. I’ll look at photos online later.

Surprisingly, we didn’t see any nobos today. Only sobos. One older couple was especially fun to see. They were wearing full bug suits except over their faces. They put the suits on under the clothes. The man only had on his shorts. It looked like he was wearing a mesh long sleeve shirt for going to a music festival like Burning Man or something. It was all I could do not to laugh. He even called himself a “spectacle”. I guess if it keeps the bugs away, I get it! I have enough bite (and sting) marks to understand.

 

We were hiking up a mounting (no surprise) to a shelter at another fire-tower. I had to turn on another podcast. This time I chose a photo podcast, the guest photographer being Esther Havens. Esther is a humanitarian photographer. I listened to her podcast and just got chills. Everything she said I had either said myself, thought, or entirely agreed with. She talked about a moment that God reoriented her work. She challenged photographers, humanitarian and photo journalists, to lift up their subjects – to photograph them in ways that give the person dignity. Honestly, I almost cried as I hiked. I thought, “I need to know this person. I need to reach out to Esther.” Warthog second that. It felt like a big moment for me. A moment where God was saying to me, “Put a pin in this… remember this… come back to this. Don’t disregard this.” By the way, Esther is my favorite story in the Bible. She waits, going about her life in a normal way, and then her moment is here. In Esther 4:14, she is being prepared to live out her great challenge “for such a time as this.” I don’t know what God has planned or where He’s pointing me. I just know I need to reach out to Esther. That will come.

We got to our campsite just before sunset. We quickly put up the tent and ran to the fire-tower to eat dinner. We watched it set, the ball of flame that had earlier been hidden by the moon, now hidden by the mountains. We stayed for the next half hour of light, in the warmth of the tower, eating and talking. The views were incredible. When the wind started to pick up and the light started to really dim, we decided to come down. 

Near our tent was a large opening in the trees. Warthog and I walked the camera over to get a few night exposures. The farther north we go, the better the night skies have been. We are getting away from cities. While that’s not so great for resupplies, it’s good for the soul because you get evenings that are clear, that the stars shine through. Evenings where you can actually make out the Milky Way stretched above. Evenings that ground you and refresh you. Getting you ready for the next mountain, the next lesson.

 

-ansel