I slept quite poorly for the first half of the night because of my ever deflating mattress. Then I moved six inches up so the root digging into my butt was instead in the gap at my upper thighs. I still had trouble sleeping but did have some marvelous dreams involving flying and eggplant.
The hike to Abol Bridge took about four hours. Trillian and Fresh, Ratman and Joker, had all arrived before me. Trillian told me that she and Fresh were hikers 11 and 12 registered for the Birches campsite, and 12 is the limit. So I took the blue trail 4 miles to the Birches where I was supposed to be able to find a ranger to help me find a place to camp. There were two people already camped there, a father and daughter. The father looked familiar and he recognized me. He is Pooch and his daughter is Echo; we met apparently in Pennsylvania. They are super friendly and we had a nice catch-up.
They directed me to the rangers cabin. The ranger seemed surprised that I had no backup plan for not getting into the Birches. I told him that Pooch and Echo were both in hammocks on the edge of their pad and would be fine having me pitch my tent there, but that 12 person limit is apparently very firm. The ranger told me there was a SOBO hiker on Katahdin today who had reserved a shelter site at Katahdin Stream Campground (where the ranger cabin was), and he didn’t think the hiker (Zack) would mind me piggybacking on his reservation.
It was 2pm and since I had taken the short trail to the campground, I still had the nine miles from Abol Bridge to the campground to hike if I wanted full credit for an AT thru hike. So I spent four hours walking south to the Abol Bridge parking lot where I’d left my car, and drove the car back to the campground. That way I can get on the road as soon as I come off Katahdin, instead of having to walk back to Abol Bridge.
Zach showed up shortly after I installed myself at his picnic table. He was totally chill about my staying, and we chatted for the better part of an hour. He worked in the coast guard, but quit when promotions led to the work becoming less rewarding and more paperwork. After the hike he plans to write. He has already written a novel and hopes to polish it up for an agent search when he finishes his thru hike.
Off to bed now, planning an early morning to get on trail at first daylight.
Mile 2175 to mile 2192.7=17.7 miles