Days 139-144: A Week Off Trail

Days 139-144, 9/13/23-9/18/23

Home!

0 miles, mile 2,083.7

That was a great break from the trail, although I wish we could have just gone right through to finish because now I don’t want to go back. Or course I am going back to finish, and am in the car to Monson now. The reason we went home was to avoid Hurricane Lee and the rain and high winds. There has been a lot of rain through the area and there are several road walks that add some decent mileage through the 100 mile wilderness because the rivers are impassable. To make the extra road miles seem less daunting, we are going to jump up about 7ish miles today to the closest road crossing to Monson. I only want to spend 5 days in the 100 mile wilderness and that will be tough with extra miles to walk. I was extremely tempted to skip up 50 miles and avoid all the road walks and river crossings all together, but felt like that was a bit too much to skip, especially since I haven’t truly skipped a section yet. Don’t worry though, I am certainly not a purist and have taken my fair share of blue blazes.

My time at home made me so excited to finish, although I am not excited to find a job. I got to see my pup and cat, my best friend Kate and her baby, cats, and dogs, and Ethan and his Mom. I found that I didn’t really miss being on the trail in those 5 days. Maybe my feelings will change when I am actually finished. I am dreading my feet being wet for 5 days straight! The good thing is the weather looks to be okay. I’m hoping Katahdin will be nice and clear for us next week.

It will be another 5 days or so until my next update. I need my phone battery to last me all 5 days, since there is nowhere to charge devices in the 100 mile wilderness. See you when I’m done this thing!