June 14, 1998, Carl A Newhall memorial shelter

Hey Mom and Dad:

Looks like I'll be stuck here for a while. Been here for about 24 hours now. It's been raining for 36 hours or so. The little stream that I never thought would be uncrossable last night when I went to get water, is now a raging torrent. It rained very hard last night and so now I'm STUCK. I see myself consuming more and more food without going anywhere. Rodents ate the majority of my peanut butter and the weather soaked some more of my food. I've got 40 miles until Monson, Me where I'll have to buy a loaf of bread and p–butter to make the next 30-mi. to Caratunk where (hopefully) sits my 1^st mail drop.

Its still pouring intermittently which doesn't bode well for me getting outa here today. I'm sitting in the Carl A Newhall memorial shelter [78.6-mi. from Katahdin], alone, waiting out the used–to-be storm. I'm dry and warm in my sleeping bag with my wet clothes drip drying next to me. It's tough for clothes to dry when the humidity is 100 percent even though they are all nylon clothes and hold very little water. I'd really like to get MOVING, but to ford that river would be dangerous. There's a spot down stream where it levels off enough for the current to be bearable, but at the edge it's thigh deep so I imagine the middle would be up to my chest. I can't afford to soak the rest of my food.

So far the hike has been fun, very enjoyable. Was pretty easy going until yesterday, day #5. From here on through to VT I'll be in the mountains. Yesterday was tough, I only went 10 mile, but over three peaks: White Cap 3,644 ft. [72.8 mi.], Hay mtn. 3,244 ft. [74.5 mi.], and Gulf Hagas mtn. 2,683 ft. [77.7 mi.], and I did it all before noon. Going over White Cap I was in shorts because it's really not that cold out, but the exposed top of the mountain with the wind whipping at some god awful speed (60 mph or 160 mph I couldn't tell which!), I became extremely cold as I was nearly blown over. There was no place to rest to put some clothes on so I ran crouched over. Made the summit, jumped on the pile of rocks that marked it, gave a meager "ye ha" and kept running with my tail between my legs down to a spot where there was some shelter, but even with clothes on I had gotten so chilled that I kept running to warm up. I passed a hiker going my way about a mile later and made the 4 or so miles from that point to here an hour faster then she did. She, lucky for her, decided to keep going past this shelter, but I, in an attempt at recovering, decided to stay here until today, or until tomorrow, or the next, etc. STUCK.

Are you getting any rain in RI? Today is Sunday June, 14. Had great weather until 36 hours ago. The mosquitoes here in Maine are incredible. I'm hoping that being in the mountains will allow them to subside a bit. I've never seen such viscous, swarming, killer–bugs like here. They're just relentless. I've got bites all over even though I had been hiking in long pants, long sleeves, with a tee shirt draped over my head and neck. I'm sure they'll be out in force when and if this rain ends.

Finishing this hike is going to be very difficult, and I've only just begun! Hope all is well in RI.

–Love, dirt on the trail.