Day 124 - Stephen Catz (August 10)

I just found out that Stephen Catz from "A Walk in the Woods" is not a real person. No one saw Bill Bryson walking or camping with anyone while he was on the trail. Stephen Catz also has never been identiified in real life. I'm really disapointed. I liked the character of Catz.

I also hear that the movie "A Walk in the Woods" is probably not going to be filmed. Robert Redford had the book rewritten to be about two retired guys (Redford and Newman). A lot of people are very happy the movie will not be made because they do not believe it would capture the trail life. Based on my memory of the book, I do not think Bryson captured trail culture. Maybe its best the film is not made.

We got a shuttle around the Kennebec River today. Shilo's son, John, lives in Maine. He had a pickup truck we could all fit in.

At the start of the trip I knew there would be a natural end point. I did not ever make Katahdin a primary goal. It always seemed to be an artificial goal. I think a good end point would have been around the Mahoosuc Notch. I think I could have left the trail then without regret. I'm on the trail now only because I don't want to get off this close to the end. However, if this is a spiritual journey, now is exactly the time to get off.

I no longer find pleasure in walking the trail. It may be that Maine's trail is just too poorly constructed and maintained to enjoy. I read that most of the trail in Maine was constructed after 1968. The trail people in Maine write about the rugged nature of the trail. What they really did was create a poorly engineered and maintained trail. They are using the "rugged" to mean poorly constructed. I know of no one who enjoys this part of the trail.

Memphis Tim said he read one of Earl Shafer's books. He said Earl talked about how much he enjoyed Maine during his first thru hike in 1946 and how much he hated what happened to Maine's trails during his third thru hike in 1998. You can not look at anything in this state except your feet while you are walking.

I'm at the Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to tonight with Memphis Tim, Limeonaid, Stripe, Pipper, and Forest Gimp. What,s interesting is how we broke up in groups based on yesterday's shuttle. Pipper, Forest Gimp, and Stripe made sure they were on the first very over crowded shuttle. Memphis Tim, Limeonaid, and I were willing to wait. I think we are all slackers lacking competitive drive.