August 20, 2004 - After about 12 hours of sleep I felt like a new person. Packed everything up, luckily it wasn’t raining, and headed off in hopes of catching up with Shepherd who was probable 13 miles ahead of me. I knew I was going to have a tough morning of climbing up 4 mountains but I was ready to take them on because they were the last mountains I would have to climb before Katahdin. The morning hike went great and was able to get in lots of miles, faster than I thought and caught up with one hiker and hiked with him for awhile. The last mountain I climb was White Cap where I got my first look at Katahdin but was still 70 miles from the summit. From White Cap I had only planned on going another 11 miles but when I got to the shelter I felt the need to move on in hopes of catching Shepherd. On the way to the shelter I saw a bear and was finally able to get a picture, biggest bear I had seen on the trail but still no moose. Got to Antler campsite with a little daylight and thought about going on to the next shelter which was 3.5 miles away but I had already put in 32.5 miles and thought that was enough. I really wish I had moved on because the water source for the campsite was the pond and the bugs are eating me alive. It’s going to be a quick dinner then back to my tent. Only about 50 miles to go to the finish; I plan on finishing up on the 23rd of August.
