Since we didn’t make our goal out of town, we needed to push hard for the next few days to make up for it. That meant an annoyingly early wake up. We were shooting for a 5a, but didn’t actually move until a half hour later.
I like it when we camp at shelters or official campsites because they have a privy. Things tend to get urgent in the morning. It’s like clockwork. Urgent or not, I still had to wait my turn. There was someone in the privy when I walked up. It was girl we’ve leapfrogged for a few days. We haven’t really connected. We are both in our own tramilies. This morning, I got a good kick out of watching her leave the privy. I think I learned something about her… she might be a bit of a germaphobe. It had been a warm night and the morning was also warm. Yet, this girl was in her full rain gear, hood up. She came out, turned to close the door using her foot to slowly shut it instead of her hand. Then she was working on the outside lock by using her elbow. That’s when I stopped her. I’m not sure she saw me there. It seemed like a lot of work if she did. To be honest, I don’t really blame her for being grossed out. Privies are disgusting. I usually gag or dry heave a bit when I’m inside. I try to move quick so I don’t absorb too many germs, but the reality is you are in a cesspool. I guess more accurately, you are hovering over a cesspool. I just don’t suit up before going in. Either way, it gave me a good laugh early in the morning.
I needed the laugh too, we had a tough day ahead of us. We were conquering the Bigelow Mountains, which meant a day of 5,100 ft of elevation gain and sixteen or so miles. It’s not the toughest day we’ve had, but it was still rough. We were tired. Very tired. We had to take several breaks throughout the day. The first summit let us see Katahdin for the first time. Well… maybe barely discern it in the distance is probably more accurate. It was extremely exciting.
Several peaks later and miles and miles of exhaustion, we dragged ourselves into our campsite for the night. We were on a lake. Snow Monkey called out to us to come see the incredible sunset. We almost didn’t, we were so tired we didn’t want to walk the twenty feet. Then I realized the whole reason we were out here was for these moments, these perfect sunsets and other moments, so we went. The four of us sat on a large boulder looking over the lake to the mountains that were outlined in the fire red that a sunset can bring. It was a warm night, so we stayed for a while.
