Day 51 (August 14)

I woke up this morning to a puddle in my tent and the sound of running water along its edge. It rained all night and until this afternoon -- about three inches total. I packed up in the rain and got a ride to Millenocket with two other hikers whom I have been hiking and rafting with. I'm staying in a hostel tonight. There are probably a lot of thru-hikers here; they come out of the woods when it rains this hard. It's so nice to get dried out. We will catch a shuttle back to the base of Katahdin and summit tomorrow. It will be a long, 20-mile day: five up and down Katahdin and another 10 from Abol Bridge to Birches campground -- a section we planned to do today. Then, I'm taking the bus down to where Kim and Jim will pick me up. First 600 miles just about completed.

Photo of some old guy with Katahdin in the background.