Day 3

Day 3: Forgot to mention this earlier, when I was on Katahdin I did some Kramers pics
for fun and I decided that Kramers would be my trail name. It was raining when I got up
and was raining all the way to the next campsite. It was very slippery; the entire trail up
to this point has consisted of mud, tree roots, and rocks. I started counting the number of
times that I used the hiking poles to keep me from falling by the time I reached the camp
I had been saved from 22 minor and 5 major.


I had originally planned on a relatively easy day to stick with my long day followed by a
short day plan for the 100 miles wilderness. But when I got to the first shelter it was full
and raining. I got there right around 1:30 and the next shelter was only 8 miles with just a
small 1000+- elevation gain/loss. I had also left my rope hanging from a tree in the
previous shelter and I didn't feel comfortable tenting in the "wilderness" without hanging
my food bag. So I decided to push on and take it easy the next day and hit the resupply. I
made it to the lean-to and there were three guys in there: Lost, Fireball, and Firefox.
Fireball is a cool college kid taking a break before he heads on to a job or graduate
school, he isn't sure yet. Firefox is an older guy about my age who has had a rough time
the last few years and is hiking to scatter his brother's ashes and escape from daily life.
Lost is a crazy wounded veteran. He has been shot, stabbed, blown up, run over by an 18
ton humvee, and a buncha other stuff. All this has caused him to only have about 75%
nerve damage, an unusable right arm, a barely usable right leg, brain damage, and has his
nervous system supported by a battery. The battery pulses every second or so to beat his
heart and diaphragm, but it also pulses the rest of his nervous system which makes him
very twitchy. All that and he is still doing the Appalachian Trail Southbound... talk about
crazy. He was originally going to attempt it with another wounded warrior with no legs.
They made it up to the gateway of Katahdin before turning around due to the guy with no
legs overheating. They were doing it for the challenge as well as to raise money for a
charity, Ride 2 Recovery. He has a blog and website but I forgot to get that info from him
before we got separated. I know he is sponsored by outersports.com and they have
updates on his hike.

I was wearing the full rain suit and still got soaked through. It wasn't a big deal since
while I was hiking I was more then warm enough and I have "Sacred Sleeping Cloths" as
Malia calls them. However, I was wearing my silk long johns thinking that the added
warmth while hiking would be useful. They weren't they tore my legs to shreds I had the
worst case of chaffing I've ever had. I'm getting rid of those useless things asap. I also
had an issue with my boots, I'm using a pair of Keens and they have a stupid lace loop
right below my ankle bone that just destroyed my ankles. By the end of the day I had
open wounds on the outside of both my ankles.
Positive Thought of the day: For boardwalks, when there are those that waded
through bogs.