It is almost the end of our Walk. Tomorrow is the last day. I should be able to post the results by June 9.
I was hoping to do a lot of miles on Memorial Day weekend, but then I came down with the flu! [Yes, it was the flu, not Lyme - sudden fever, stuffy nose, dry cough.] I was in bed all day Saturday. But on Sunday, I was starting to feel much better, so I drove up to McLaughlin Gardens to the Lilac Festival: McLaughlin Gardens
I wore my "Ticked off about Lyme" T-shirt, and the man who sold me my ticket said he'd pulled off a tick yesterday, and had been treated for Lyme in the past. It's amazing how few people are supposed to have gotten Lyme in Maine, yet how many I've met.
The flowers were beautiful [walk, 1 mile], and the fresh air was doing me good, so I gathered up Jake and we went up into the north country. We tried to do a riverside walk that evening, but the gnats and mosquitoes were just too intense [1 buggy mile], so we slept in a hotel in Bangor to get a fresh start the next morning.
On Memorial Day, we drove through sleepy towns getting ready for parades and barbecues. Stopped at a general store to check on directions, and the guy said he liked my Lyme shirt. Destination: Gulf Hagas.
I don't know why it's called a gulf. What it really is, is a gorge deep in a logging woods beside the Pleasant River, about 85 miles from Mount Katahdin. But to get there, we had to CROSS the over-the knee high, rushing, COLD "Pleasant" River!
I think the water was cold-water therapy for my feet. We walked about a mile on the Appalachian Trail, fulfilling a lifelong wish of mine to hike some of the A-T. [In case anyone is thinking about trying this, it is designated as a "moderate-to-difficult" hike, BTW.] We passed through a peaceful forest of 150-year-old white pines, moss and spring flowers around every turn. We crossed a few creeks, then came to THIS one.... Oh my!
That's Jake crossing first. Two flattened logs about 5-6 feet above the rapids, which rush over the boulders and then over the falls. The lady at the checkpoint said I'd be "having an adventure!" So I reminded myself that they were wider than a balance beam, and there were two of them, and I made it across.
So I wouldn't overdo it, I decided to end the hike at 5 1/2 miles [besides, we still had to go BACK over the rapids and across Pleasant River!]
I am very thankful to be able to do this Walk, since there was a time when I could barely walk a block, and couldn't work my brain enough to read a trail map. Instead, I am celebrating my first year of grad school, maintaining a 4.0 average so far.
We deserve to have our lives, and to be heard. Thanks to those of you who walked this month, and those of you who donated. (You still can, btw -- just send me a PM.) I walk because I can walk, and on behalf of those who cannot.