8/8 Starting To See a Pattern

11.6 hiked today, 1967.4 miles N, 206.6 miles left
South Bank of the Orbeton Stream

Since I have gotten sick I have needed to take a pill every 8 hours. At night, since I am asleep during my next dosage time, I set the alarm in my camera to wake me up and put the pill next to the camera. This has worked just fine until last night. When I woke up the pill was missing. A mouse had eaten it! Arg! I hope being a pill short won't hurt anything. I pulled down my food bag and got another pill out and went back to bed.
Since the last two days have been shorter than I would like I decided to try to make this a long day. Again I was thwarted.
First when I woke up at 6AM it was raining. I packed up slowly but finally at 7:20 AM I couldn't delay any longer so I trudged out into the rain. I wore only shorts, shoes, socks, and rain jacket to keep as much of my kit dry as possible. The hike went well with an easy section dotted with ponds. Then I started the famous steep stead climb over Saddleback Mountain. Just as I peeked my head over tree-line I heard a roll of thunder and so I turned back around and sat down. Lucky for me it seemed the thunder was headed away so I waited until I heard nothing for 10 minutes and then started my finally assent up the last 500 feet or so above tree-line. I was still a little worried about the thunder and so I listened carefully and hiked quickly not that those made any difference. The terrain was rugged slow glowing, the rain horizontal, and wind a deafening roar that forced me to hike hunched over or else risk getting blow over. I made slow progress to the summit which holds the first promise of seeing Katahdin. I saw a bird literally being tossed by the wind. I hope it was trying to head west. On the way up the wind got stronger and at the top I didn't even linger to read the sign. I saw two separate women while on Saddleback and we were all happy to see each other as a conformation that we weren't nuts for being out in such extreme conditions. On the other side of Saddleback there is a 600' downhill to a pass before going back up The Horn. Again slow and very hazardous progress on the rocky terrain. The trail had literally turned into a river complete with waterfalls, my feet often having to feel for unseen bottoms. I took it very easy paying close attention to my footing and thus escaped with only one bruise. The down hill was through miles of cascading waterfalls and mucky creeks that the AT had turned in to. Often I would get a feeling I had lost the trail but realized that I must still be on it as no-one bothers to clear blow-downs from creeks. Under tree-line I was happy to stand upright again as my back was very sore from spending two hours hunched over.
At Poplar Ridge Lean-to I took a break. The climbs along with the cold and weather had exhausted me. I ate a heavy snack and took and hour to get my energy back up before moving on.
The rain let up at 2PM so I took off my jacket and put on my tee shirt. The trail was very wet with water pouring over everywhere but the elevation changes were not long and sustained so I made good time. That was until I got to the Orbeton Stream. I could hear it running from a mile away as I descended into it. When I did the final 10 foot drop and saw the water my first thought was "Like hell I am going to cross that!" . It was pure whitewater. A kayaker would have a blast. I put in a trekking pole to see how deep it was and it nearly disappeared and that was by the shore, not in a deep channel. Down stream there were numerous boulders churning the water and through the trees I could see and hear a massive waterfall that joined the river downstream. I could see about 10 ways to die in this water.
The rule of thumb I have heard is that a river above one's knees should be considered dangerous and anything at the waist is a definite no-go. If that sounds wimpy just think of it this way, water weighs 8lbs per pound and if a 100 gallons of water a second is passing you that is 800 lbs of force to push against. If that force can get over your center of gravity it becomes even harder to fight because you lose all your leverage. I am sure the Orbeton was flowing much harder than this and I would have been swept down stream in a heartbeat.
I turned around and looked for the first dry patch of ground where I could set up. It appeared to be an old campsite but was piled with debris. I cleared it out and pitched my tarp and settled in.
I was shocked to see someone come from the north along the AT. His name was Kevin and he and his wife had gotten delayed by the hazardous stream crossing along with walking past the water fall(crazy people) and had come back up the trail looking for someone with a cell phone. They had missed their ride and needed to arrange another pickup. His telling of it the stream was crazy rapid and he was tossed about on the crossing. Myself, with a pack, would fare much worse. I didn't have a phone so he kept going north until he met up with Woodstock and Trail Dog. He crossed back again while we watched. The two new arrivals made the same decision as I and took other spots near mine. They have turned out to be not only be great company but impressive people in their own right. I had read about Trail Dog before as he holds the record for hiking the AT in 47 days and 10 hours. Both of them are competitive ultra-marathoners.
I am enjoying hanging and chatting with them this night though I am very frustrated by continued short days. If this keeps up I will never make it to Katahdin!
At least this is a nice spot. It is a rise surrounded by boreal pine forest with boggy sphagnum moss ground. Right by me there is a grove of majestic ceder trees.
I hope the water level goes down by the morning.