Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 160, Tuesday, 8/23 – I woke up early this morning, but it was still raining so I didn’t start packing up until the rain stopped at 8:00am. Birthday, Genie, Splitzy, and I all hiked out together at 9:15am.

I hiked most of the morning with Genie. We were taking photos of mushrooms along the hike. The 100 mile wilderness really has an impressive variety of neat looking mushrooms. I want to come back here with a mushroom identification guide so I know what I’m looking at.

We all stopped for a late lunch at 2:00pm. I have had an absolutely insatiable appetite lately. It doesn’t matter how much I eat, I am permanently hungry. Anyway, we had 11 miles left to hike to get to our destination for the night. Once again I found myself with an afternoon schedule which really didn’t allow for breaks.

Birthday and I hiked together after lunch, and started booking it. The sun sets noticeably earlier now, and we didn’t want to hike into the night. We got to the top of Nesuntabunt Mountain, where we should have gotten a great view of Katahdin, but unfortunately it was hidden in the clouds. The trail was rather rough with roots, rocks, and boggy sections, but we still ended up getting to Rainbow Stream Lean-to at 6:30pm (Mile 2164).

I setup the hammock and tarp, then made dinner at the lean-to. The lean-to was crowded with hikers all sitting around a fire. I sat and ate dinner with Sea Monkey, Chompers, Stretch, and Birthday. Everyone was laughing and in high spirits tonight. It’s hard to believe I’m only 30 miles away from the summit of Katahdin.