It rained last night and sprinkled this morning. I was forced to pack up a damp tent. I was able to get going at 7:15. The trail is very rocky yet again and now wet making for difficult and challenging hiking. I slipped twice and fell without hurting myself. Came across the first ladder on the trail to assist hikers. There was a lot of rock scrambling in this section.
Hiked by Wildcat Shelter and signed the shelter journal. As well went by Fitzgerald Falls a small but picturesque waterfall.
Late in the day I met up with Chef along the trail. We came across Patrick a past through hiker giving out trail magic in a parking lot near the trail. Spent about an hour there with him eating and relaxing. We hiked to Island Pond where we found a nice spot to camp alongside the lake. I did 22.2 miles today.
6 / 7 Slept well last night. It was nice and cool with no wind or rain, just a clear starlit night....perfect.
As I sat quietly in the woods during these last few weeks since it has warmed up, I would hear the constant sound of what sounds like rain drops. It's not rain however, it's the sound of caterpillar poop hitting the forest floor. There are literally trillions and trillions of caterpillars in the trees munching away on the leaves. You look up and see all of these black fuzzy caterpillars everywhere with large portions of the tree leaves missing. Their poop looks like little brown cylindrical pellets, and everything is getting showered with it, including anyone under the trees. At least it's oderless. In addition to that they spin a sort of silk web and hang down from the branches. As you hike you can't help but encounter these spider like webs getting all over you with sometimes caterpillars attached to them. It's more of a nuance than anything. And then on the forest floor thousands and thousands of milipedes eating all of the rotting vegetation. They are constantly in the hiking path and under your feet on the trail.
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