September 9 (Day 132)

Somehow I have managed to stay in this bubble between the large groups of people ahead of me and those behind me. I had the shelter to myself again last night.

With not much else to do last night, I went to bed very early and so was up early this morning also.

Back on the trail, it continued very much as it had yesterday at the end. The path looks as though it must have been some old forest road at some point, though it certainly hasn't had any vehicles on it in decades at least. Some portions are well cleared, and some sections are still quite rocky and swampy.

I am definitely out of the mountains until the end, and I'm walking through the lakes region. The AT winds back and forth around several of the lakes up here. I'm sure the straight-line distance to Katahdin is very short from my present location, but I'll have to wind around 50 more miles or so before I get there.

After 14 miles today, which I completed very quickly, I took a side trail for about a mile that follows the shoreline of one of the lakes and ends at a small boat dock. There is an air horn by the dock, which I blew, and then a man came over in his motorboat to take me over to the White House Landing.

I'll be staying the night here since I'm ahead of schedule. And, I had to have one of the one-pound burgers that the woman here cooks up for hikers. Normally, a one-pound burger would be out of the question for me, but I was able to eat it all. They do carry some other hiker foods here, but it's all extremely expensive. This would not be a good place to expect to re-supply. But, the people who run the place are very nice, and the location is excellent.

There is only one other hiker staying here tonight, so it should be a quiet evening.

September 10 (Day 133)

I've taken a zero here at the White House Landing, since I don't have very far to go to meet my dad in a couple of days.

Two other hikers, Nuclear and OK showed up last evening. They are two older guys that I don't much like being around, but, of course, they have now moved on, and it's not likely that I'll see them again.

Breakfast this morning was really excellent, and I'm glad I'm staying here an extra day so that I can enjoy that breakfast one more time. There were scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, and then the guy started making blueberry pancakes, as many as you can eat.

At lunch time I asked for a hamburger pizza, which then got me through lunch and dinner. I don't think I could have eaten a one-pound hamburger like yesterday.

No other hikers have showed up today, so I've had the entire place to myself, and I've spent most of my time reading. They had a copy of The Return of the King, so I've read through that already.

I know breakfast will be good tomorrow, but the rumor is for rain tomorrow also. We shall see.

September 11 (Day 134)

It was another excellent breakfast this morning. And one more hiker showed up at the lodge last night. He's hiking south for a few days and he is from Canada. He took his time in coming up for breakfast this morning, so I got going a little later than I would have otherwise.

The sky was dark from the beginning today, and the rumor was that there would be some real rain in the afternoon. So, instead of doing 16 miles today, I decided just to do 8 miles and then make it up tomorrow.

The walking was fairly easy, although it was slippery because rain was misting down all the time. I got to the shelter about noon and then had nothing to do for the rest of the day.

There were a couple hikers who came through but kept moving. Then later on in the evening, a couple hikers going south showed up separately. One of them was just beginning his thru-hike.

It was hard to tell how hard the rain was coming down, being beneath the trees, but I think I made the right decision in not walking farther today.