The Hardest Mile

I am currently in Stratton, ME 1,987 miles from Springer and 187 to Katahdin. I am staying at a hostel with Rocko after having left Shadow behind this morning. It was a combination or personality conflicts finally going beyond the point of no return and him not being able keep the pace I now need to follow. So while I am showered and curently sitting in a towel waiting for my clothes to get clean, he is taking a zero day, recovering at the last shelter.
We got a late start in the rain from Gorham after taking care of mail and hiked 11 not too bad miles to the first shelter. This was one of the few shelters with a view. However it was raining. From there we went on into Maine. We were now in the promised land. However the milage was tough. We arroved at the shelter before Mahoosuc Notch and realized it had taken us until almost 3pm to hike 11 miles. We decided that with the rain we had seen we would not attempt the hardest mile on the AT. The next morning we went into Mahoosuc Notch and up Mahoosuc Arm. For the five miles from shelter to shelter we took 4 and a half hours with one major fall. Luckily it only resulted in bruised shins. Mahoosuc Notch is a mile of crawling over, around and under boulders and crevices. At that shelter I realized my water filter had fallen out during the traverse through the notch. I left a note in the sheter journal about it with my phone number. I just received a phone call from someone who had seen it 15 feet down an unreachable crevice. It is a sacrifice to the trail gods. Fortunately I had enough iodine to get to the next town. We then pushed on, but had to call it again after about 12 miles for the day. At the road before the shelter we were all feeling a bit down and we took a bit of a long break. Then the park ranger drove into the parking lot and offered us sodas. He told us about the wonderful trail magic that took place earlier in the day. We were a bit saddened, but then that church group came back and reheated chili for us and made the day all better.
The next day we saw something unusual, the sun. We went up and over the Baldplates and I was able to see Mt. Washington for the first time. We were now 70 trail miles away. I did not see it at all in New Hampshire, even when I went over it. It was gorgeous to be in the sun again and see the beuatiful Maine landscape.
The next day Rocko again had to go into town for a mail drop and Shadow and I continued on. Instead of coming back to the trail on the same road, Rocko went ten miles ahead so Shadow and I had to catch her. We were unable to that day. We had another tough 12.8 miles to the next shelter and when we got there Shadow took his pack off and immediately fell asleep. At this point I had slowed down too much to wait for him to get better. I needed to go further to be able to get in and out of Rangeley the next day to get back on schedule. So I needed to push on, and Shadow refused to stop despite his obvious need for rest. We camped that night near the next stream and I let him know that I could no longer afford to wait for him at any point. That night we recieved a couple of drops of rain to end my sunny day streak at 1. That is correct, only one day without rain since I crossed into Vermont.
In Rangeley the next day we met up with Rocko and waited out a rainstorm while eating lunch. We continued out of town to the shelter sponsored by L.L. Bean. This shelter had a privy with two seats and a cribbage board between the two seats. Unfortunately no one else at the shelter knew how to play. I left last that morning and ended up at the next shelter before Shadow and Rocko. I got very worried and left messages with several southbounders for them. It turns out that they took a wrong turn and I passed them when they were off trail. Shadow came into the shelter in a foul mood and looking horrible so I left him alone for a while. Later we had our last blow up and we are now going our seperate ways. I left early the next morning without a goodbye and I am now listening to the rain outside while I am watching the olympics inside. Only one more town stop before Katahdin