Today is my first day with no doxycycline. I don't have to fast for three hours in the afternoon. That has been a challenge as the blood sugar ran low, legs wobbled and my brain went fuzzy. Sometimes I tried hiking faster than the speed of thought and fell over. I also don't have to half sleep, watching the clock for my nighttime dose. Bye-bye doxycycline.
At the end of the day is a particular novelty. The trail reaches the Kennebec River which is generally impassable by swimming or fording due to unpredictable current surges as dams both above and below let water through. Instead, Dave, in an Old Town canoe, takes one or two hikers at a time across the river, believed to be the only human powered ferry in America.
Quite a few hikers just want to be done. Their enjoyment is gone and they hike on just to finish it, to get it over with. That's really sad. I'm feeling so great in this amazing part of nature.
One down-hearted hiker told Spirit that he was lifted when I walked by in the rain and exclaimed "these are the days that you feel alive". Another was slouched under a rock overhang, discouraged as he sat while his friends hiked on. He sailed past me later and said my words got him motivated. Happiness springs from within, and people learn about themselves on these trails. But externalities can help and I'm glad my enthusiasm rubbed off a bit on at least these two.
Maybe more hikers need doxycycline?
Maybe more hikers need doxycycline?
20.0 miles to US 201 near Caratunk ME.
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