Day four

Good afternoon everybody! I've scored some cell service on this river bank, so I'm going to give y'all a brief summary on what's going down:
So, as I've already said, the first day was extra intense. Every time I've seen katahdin since then, from a vista or an outlook, it's had a sinister cloud on top, even if it's an otherwise clear day. It's a killer mountain. I was all sore in the upper body the next day from pulling myself over boulders and figuring out creative, but questionable, ways to get around the rocks.
So yeah, on top I met Tag. At first a vague shape in the rain, now my trail buddy. We're both eighteen, just graduated, pretty psyched for the trail and the adventure and all that good stuff (although a lot of it is plain endurance and not all that action-packed, of course).
Since then we've seen a moose chilling in a river, four snakes, lots of frogs, squirrels, chipmunks, some fish, and too many flies, but that's "part of the game," as he might say.
Weve befriended five others, and I wouldn't be surprised if we regrouped with them at trail shelters for the rest of the hundred mile wilderness. There's Preston, a wilderness school grad. He's like bear grylls, only probably more fun to be around. There's powderriver and "bobwhite," a cute couple who make dorky jokes with each all the time. Also, there's lizzy and -, a custom gun maker and a car customizer respectively. Everyone's friendly, calm, and well-humored.
We joke around the usual camp chores, then off to bed (around nine, ha!). The sun rises at four thirty around here, and people are preparing for the day by six thirty. Eating enough food is actually a chore because we burn so much carrying 30+ pounds over the root systems, rocks, and elevation changes on the trail. But it's not really an issue, everyone seems pretty resigned to the facts of the trail and just soldiers on. Besides, there's plenty of aspects that help to redeem it, including the vistas, the waterfalls, the pleasant pine-floor parts, and especially the White House, a restaurant/lodge located a mile off the trail. You blow an air horn and a man motor-boats you across. The property's beautiful, all hilly and grassy with quaint houses and home-y decor. They sell 1 lb. Burgers and pizza (I got a veggie burger), and you can resupply there (which is sweet because you can carry less food on your way to it).
Tag and I are going to take a relatively easy 11-mile day today to tend to our blisters (they're evil), which festered yesterday during a wet 20-mile hike. For the next five days, we're going through the more mountainous half of the hundred mile wilderness, so we'll need our feet in semi-decent shape.
Oh yeah, I found. Butterly in a shelter, picked up the stuff it was standing on, then it chilled on my finger and tried to extract something from me for a while, pretty cool. They have lots of these guys around here, settled in bunches that flutter around when you disturb them.
Well, I'll post the next time I have the opportunity! I'll include photos when I have better reception. Please remember to donate to UNICEF! We're responsible to spread our good fortune! Visit my UNICEF site (located at the top of this page) for further encouragement!
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