Today marked our longest mileage day on the trail. Of course, most of that was due to the flat terrain in this part of the wilderness. Our only real climb was up Nesuntabunt Mt. Its only claim to fame was that it's steep, and if the weather's nice there should be a good view of Katahdin on top. Today the weather didn't cooperate and all we got was steep. Still, trail was good and flat as it wandered between lakes.

All during the hike today we kept expecting it to rain. Somehow the rain never seemed to materialize. To that extent I was glad. We stopped for a break at Potaywadjo Spring shelter. It has a great ice water spring. I wanted something to refresh me, since the water from Jo-Mary Lake was not that desirable.

We made our instant pudding and some Kool-Aid for later. We've started making our pudding in the morning and eating it during our daily hike. It's turned out to be a great treat during the day. Originally we planned our big meals to include instant pudding for dessert. Often we were too full at the end to make it, and just gave it away. Of course, the other thru-hikers liked that idea. However, it seemed crazy to carry it and not eat it. The first few days into the wilderness our hiker appetites finally showed up. Of course it had to be at a time when it's hard to get resupplied and our food stocks were somewhat low. We still were not eating all of our pudding after dinner. So we decided to try and eat it as a snack during the day. That idea really worked out well. It's a great energy boost and we don't waste food.

A ways north of Potaywadjo Shelter, the trail crosses one of the many gravel roads of the "Wilderness". In the distance we could hear the sound of an approaching truck. Just as we step out onto the road, an eighteen wheeler runs past us on a one lane gravel road doing at least 45 miles per hour. This certainly does not meet my concept of a wilderness. The only reason they call it one is the lack of stores and phones for a hundred miles. It is a far cry from the area Linda and I walked through twenty years ago. Then, we saw only one car, crossed only single lane dirt roads and saw virtually no one but our hiking partners for the entire hundred miles.

During the last two-mile hike into Rainbow Stream Lean-to a light rain began to fall. Brandon and I had hiked hard to make sure we'd have a space in the shelter for the night. When we arrived, there were still a couple of spots left. We made sure there was sufficient room in the shelter for those arriving after us to be able to get in out of the rain, dry off and reorganize before setting up camp. I didn't want a repeat of the Pierce Pond episode. Lone Wolf even set up his stove to boil hot water so the arriving wet hikers would have something warm to drink. Once everyone arrived, those without tents were able to pair up with people who had them and everyone was able to stay warm and dry.

Today we had to do a long day to make up for yesterday, our seven-mile day. We left camp at the normal time and were making pretty quick time. We saw no views of Katahdin, because it was so fogged over. One time, just past the first shelter, we were about to cross a road when a semi comes hurdling down the gravel road at about 45 miles an hour. This sure ain't no wilderness! After the truck went by, we continued hiking. We were able to make it the 14 miles to the second shelter for lunch. After lunch we headed up Nesuntabunt Mtn.

The climb was hard, but quick and we were soon heading down the other side. Coming down was steeper, but we moved fast over that, and soon came to a road where we took a blue blaze trail that cut a mile or so from the AT. We got back on the AT and covered the two or so miles left to the shelter. At the shelter we hung out for a while and set up our stuff, then when everyone came in behind us we made dinner. We talked for a while, then went to bed.