“We are a posse”
Allow me to lead with the banjo music this time, with a deep track that may be recognized by Boomers and Gen Xers alike, from radio and cinema respectively.
Garfield started singing this song a week ago, right after our last zero day during the most recent downpour, and I instantly joined in on the lyrics, not quite certain where I had learned this deep track so well. It soon became an earworm for me, and those are dangerous on the trail. Since I was deep into battery rationing — down below 5% at the end!—, this song has been rattling around my brain for quite some time, with little to push it out successfully. Is there anyone, perhaps a child of the 90s, here who can name the movie it was in, without cheating? (C’mon, trivia, movie, and music fans from the Class of ‘97! — here is a hint:, there was a finely-tuned scene in a highly-textured film that perfectly matched every lyric on screen, at least until other sounds covered the lyric, “And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete.”)
Well, you may imagine we do little other than “play solitaire with a deck of 51” on our off days, but these are actually very busy days, at least for me. I was sneaking my rosary in between two long phone calls yesterday in the above pic (in my medium-sized loaner clothes while I was also doing laundry). I was indeed so busy during the downpour in Stratton that I couldn’t write to you. This time around, we double-zeroed, to prep for the hundred mile wilderness and to heal some strains from recent falls. (I’m good, as the learned and unlearned say.). Yet I’m only now, at 11 pm on my third night in Munson, ME, able to write to you.
Here is the update: we have made it through the hardest stretch on the AT (the southern 80 miles of Maine)! Thanks be to God!
There have, though, been some very beautiful parts. For example, each new 360-degree view surplants the previous one as the most beautiful. The following views almost made the Saddlebacks worth it, even though I warped my bag, tore my bag and lost a river-crossing shoe while I was butt-scooching down their scary descents.
There have been plenty of beautiful views (thanks to Oatie for the following vid; Oatie and Garfield for various vids / pics.)
The best part, above all, has been the camaraderie. I’ve really enjoyed Oatie and Garfield’s company. Garfield declared, “We are a posse!” It is true, in no small part because Oatie and Garfield have made it work. I knew it was true before they said it, by the way they each hang back to keep me going, the way they wait for me, the way we tackle the scary parts together, the ways we jaw together and entertain each other on trail, at camp, and in town, and finally the way we simply care for each other. It’s so much more fun to take the trail on as a group that’s not overly concerned about mileage, while also putting up respectable mileage.
They chose to finish Oatie’s final section to Katahdin with me, even if it takes them a few extra days to do so with me! This truth became very apparent when we exited the terrible terrain (which these ridge runners take better than me) for a smooth downhill. When Garfield said I should lead, I told him he’d regret it, for I can make time on good terrain. (I also had hoped that I could show myself as respectable on at least one stretch.). They had seen me ridge-run once before, so they knew what was coming. Once I started running, Garfield soon passed me and the chase was on. For three miles I ran after him up and down hills on good terrain. I could stay close, for awhile, but I could never catch him. He finished the fourth mile way ahead of me. Oatie, who was intentionally hanging back, overtook us both and finished the four-mile section first. (We all choose to mosey and talk together on the following miles!). That’s when I really knew they had always been choosing to forego miles to be with me. Thanks, guys, you are the best! I’ve come to learn that, in addition to ridge running together during 50k races in the hills, Garfield has also trained for a half Ironman that was canceled and Oatie has run a 100-mile marathon and more recently run 60 miles to celebrate his sixtieth birthday. Yes, they have some skills, strength, and stamina. Yet we all struggled on our recent 16-18 mile hike, and we may have, if unplanned, ended up at the same distances on most days, given their desires to call grandkids and arrive early to tent sites each night. Thanks be to God, they can also content themselves with picking a pint of blueberries at the top of a mountain while they wait for me.
Well, I’ve found the answer to my prayers for the perfect hiking partners for the hundred-mile wilderness and the frightful Mount Katahdin. As for Katahdin, M Poppins said she crawled like a baby on it for forty five minutes. A young woman, covered in aggressive snake tattoos, whom I was seeing for the second time after she summited and hitched back to finish a section here, said of Katahdin, “It was amazing — my stomach dropped!” …. So, it’s a great moment for the best hiking partners, D.g.
The hundred mile wilderness leads directly into Katahdin. We start tomorrow, with three fords harder than the previous ones. There can apparently be some mud pits without any bottoms, although we have a great weather forecast to dry them out. We will take it all on together, and I’m so grateful for that. I may get WiFi again in Baxter park in nine-ish days. You can follow the dot on Garmin: Share.garmin.com/5O2G4 (pw, 1230)
Pray for us! I say Mass for you, readers!