Mountains Under Foot

PM: Around lunchtime I caught up to Crocstar eating a snack next to East Carry Pond. I thought about just passing him, but then I realized we were really in no hurry today so I sat down and took a break with him. A few minutes later it was time for him to get moving again, but I decided to stick around and enjoy the pond and its scenery. I pulled out my lunch and watched the water splash against the shore. I tried to give Cat a call once I was back on the trail, but I kept walking out of signal range dropping the call so I had to give up. The rest of the hike that day was one if the easiest in a long time. I only passed one southbound hiker that afternoon and the trail seemed deserted the rest of the time. Since I was all to myself and I had Croc’s earbuds from last night I pulled out my iPod and rocked out while I finished the final few miles of the day. I got to Pierce Pond Lean-to about 45 minutes after the rest of the guys and found Crocstar and Spoon hiding from the cool breeze coming off the pond in front of the shelter. Spoon was already in his sleeping bag and Croc was soon to follow. I asked where Nick had gone and they said he had left to investigate the boats that were tied up down the shore. I asked if anyone had signed us up for the breakfast tomorrow and they hadn’t. The book said it was a .5 mile walk to the camp and no one was motivated to go over there. Crocstar suggested that I try and give the place a call since we had the number in the guidebook. I didn’t have any service at the lean-to so I went back to the trail and walked a little way trying to pick something up, but I had no luck. I just decided to walk to the camp myself and make sure we didn’t miss out on the opportunity. When I got there nobody was around but a clipboard was hanging on a post with instructions on how to sign up. In addition to the pancakes there was options for egg, meat, and beverage so I signed all of us up for the most food we could get and guessed on what people would want to drink. When I got back to the shelter Nick was back sadly without a boat. All this thinking about food got me hungry so I got dinner started. All this time Spoon hadn’t moved from his sleeping bag so when dinner was finished cooking I told him I wasn’t going to feed him while he laid there and if he wanted some food he’d have to move. At some point that evening Nick thought about jumping into the pond and the rest of us told him he was nuts and it was too cold. Before we knew it he had leaped off the rocks and into the pond. He was out of the pond almost as fast as he went in however he said it was worth it but to us he looked freezing cold until he put warm clothes on. I’m sure that constant wind off the pond didn’t help warm him up. Lots of hikers ended up staying at the lean-to choosing to set up tents on the ridge behind the shelter and only one older gentleman squeezing into the shelter with the four of us. Later on while everyone was either reading or doing something quietly Spoon starts singing to himself and tensions were already high from being around each other for so long and I was annoyed with his selfish attitude today so I told him to be quiet. This ignited whatever things I had done to annoy him the past couple months so he started yelling at me. This wasn’t the time or the place to have this confrontation especially with some guy we’d never met before sharing the tiny shelter space with us. I let Spoon go off until he felt satisfied and then we just didn’t speak for the rest of the night. As the sun set over the pond the three other guys went down to the water’s edge while I enjoyed the view from inside the shelter. The loons made a bunch of noise flapping vigorously to take flight off the pond and lulled us to sleep with the sound of their calls.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 113: August 30, 2009
Travel:
From: Stratton, ME
To: Little Bigelow Lean-to, ME
Beginning: 8:00am
Ending: 5:15pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 15.3
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 2005.7 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Cold when we woke up, but warmed to upper 60s by noon.
PM: Clouds rolled across the saddle between Avery Peak and Little Bigelow. Cold night as sun went down.
People: Braid, Our hitch, Horns Pond caretaker, Katie & Sara? with dog Max, Crazy college group. Crocstar & UCOC
Animals: Dogs, Birds, Frogs, Squirrels, and a Butterfly. Flies, which surprised me this far north at this time of year.
Money: $5 for breakfast. $2024 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: When I woke up I scarfed the last bit of my bananas and orange juice and then went back to sleep. I wasn’t feeling very well gastrointestinal-wise probably from all of the town food I had eaten the past two days. When the other guys finally woke up we walked down to the Stratton Diner again for another breakfast. I tried the “diner muffin” and it was phenomenal. I think it must have been the way they fried it up on the grill but all I knew was that I wanted another one badly but we needed to get going. I got up to use the restroom before we left and found once I was getting to business that there was no toilet paper anywhere. I had to make do with paper towels. When I came back and related my adventure to the guys, Spoon said there wasn’t any toilet paper in there yesterday and he had told someone to replace it. I guess people just move a lot slower in these small towns. As we were paying for our checks Spoon spent some time talking to Braid who had come in to eat breakfast. We walked back to the Inn but found checkout to be a lot more difficult than we anticipated. No one was there to take our key and it looked like no one else would be there until at least 11:00 am. Another couple was having the same problem in searching for the responsible persons to complete the checkout process. I posed the solution to just leave the key in our locked rooms and Spoon asked the couple if they were headed toward the trail. They were headed our way and offered to give us a lift granted we weren’t opposed to cramming in the back which for a hiker is never a problem. Once on the trail I found myself taking many, many breaks to relieve my gastrointestinal situation falling far behind the rest of the guys. At least the trail was a little kinder to me in the morning only rising gradually up to Horns Pond Lean-to. When I got to the junction for the lean-to, Crocstar, UCOC, and Spoon were sitting around talking to the pony-tailed caretaker for the site. They wondered how I had fallen so far behind so I told them it was because of the five or so stops to “decorate” the woods. We all had a good laugh about the whole thing which is the only thing you can do in that situation. I was however a little worried that I might be showing signs of giardia, but I knew I had been diligent about keeping my water safe to drink. I hoped the whole thing would blow over soon. We left for South Horn climbing up and up to its 3,831′ peak where I could see the North Horn to my left and the ridge continue in front of me to the west peak of Bigelow Mtn.

PM: I traversed the saddle between the Horn and Bigelow, taking an excessive number of breaks to relieve myself than any normal person should. This was really dragging me down on a such a beautiful day that had so many breathtaking views along the Bigelow Range. You could see how glaciers cut through the land leaving these rugged mountain ranges flanked by immense lakes and ponds. After the scramble up to Bigelow Mtn. (West Peak) I could see the tower sitting on Avery Peak which marked my next big climb. Coming down West Peak it looked like a group of people making a lot of noise were on their way down Avery Peak in either really lightly colored jumpsuits or their birthday suits. Between the peaks is the Bigelow Col/Avery Memorial Campsite which is where I ran into a girl who called out that a thru-hiker was coming to her group I assumed was up the trail. She warned me that there were some crazy naked people who were hiking sans clothes as a “team building” exercise. I told her not to worry as I had seen crazier things on the trail and proceeded onward. I was paying more attention to the large boulders I had to climb up rather than the naked girls trying to get some clothes on as I got closer. The last thing I needed was to slip and fall with an audience making an already awkward situation worse. All of the straight ups and downs were really killing my knees. Today I would be able to say I officially have hiked over 2000 miles and it was really starting to wear on my body. At the sign signifying I had reached Avery Peak two girls, Katie and (Sara?) were sitting with their dog Max. I walked up and said “Hello” and then I think I turned my head too fast or something because my foot slipped off one of the rocks and I couldn’t recover and ended up falling backwards off the peak, bouncing off the sharp rocks and rolling to a stop in a lot of pain. I had injured my knee, butt, and my pride so I sat there for a minute before I could pull myself up. The two girls immediately asked me “Did you hit your head?” and I told them I was pretty good about avoiding damage to the important parts of my body and that this was typical for a guy named “Hazard”. I left to head down the mountain with a bruised body and bruised ego. I had to descend almost 2000′ down to Safford Notch before beginning my final climb up to Little Bigelow Mtn. What really kills hikers on this section is that you go over six or more false peaks before finally reaching the top. Along the way I made sure to get a self picture at the sign for the Old Man’s Head side trail which now marks the new location where hikers have completed 2000 miles on the AT. No time was wasted at the top of Little Bigelow as I just wanted to be done with the day and get to the shelter. At the shelter I asked Crocstar for his earbuds and sat on a log near the campfire with the loudest music I had on my iPod preparing dinner for Spoon and myself. I had made another 5-6 stops since the last time I saw the group and it had no signs of getting any better. The older couple who shared the shelter with us had met Annie and told her she couldn’t do 20+ miles through the Whites and we told them that she was still trucking hard and fast. There was an extra register at the shelter that was used for hikers to give their “2000-mile awards”, where hikers could list the greatest moments on the trail. It was fun to look at other hiker’s lists and say that we had done this and that or not and reflect on all of the awesome things we had done so far.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 112: August 29, 2009
Travel:
From: Stratton, ME
To: ‘Zero Day’ Stratton, ME
Weather:
AM & PM: Rained all day as a tropical storm and front from the west blew through. Not a good day to hike.
People: White Wolf Inn owners, Strider, Braid. Crocstar & UCOC.
Animals: Nay
Money: $8 for breakfast, $10 to send a package home, $35 resupply, $2 for laundry, (dinner was on Croc b/c owed me $10 for room). $2019 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: I woke up feeling like my body had been plowed through multiple brick walls. The feeling was shared amongst the other guys who were all slow moving this morning. We walked down the street to the Stratton Diner for our breakfast fix. I had a heaping portion of pancakes, eggs, sausage, and a muffin which satisfied me perfectly. After breakfast Croc and I walked up to the Post Office in a misty rain to collect Croc’s package and for me to send some unnecessary gear back home. The camera I asked my mom to send me was picked up on the way into town yesterday but my current camera was now back to working condition and the camera Croc expected to be at the post office to replace his with the broken screen didn’t make it. I took the memory card from the just sent camera and then shipped it and the loose gear back home. It wasn’t all loss for Croc because there were a few cookies and other assorted baked goods on the counter that we sampled before walking across the street to the library. At the library I checked my email, wrote a MUF post to let everyone know how we’ve progressed since I wasn’t trying to keep up with daily posts anymore, and I shuffled around my pictures to make room on my memory cards because space was slowly running out. This is also why there just aren’t many videos for the last half of the trip because I needed to save the space for pictures.

PM: The lady staffing the library kicked me out when the library closed around 12:30 pm. Crocstar had left much earlier to sort out his resupply situation, but when I got back to the room everyone was laying around watching TV. I kick started the resupply conversation by discussing with the guys the details of our schedule that would take us to Monson and then ultimately to Katahdin. What the reader may not realize is that in order to feel confident in buying the exact amount of food we have to hammer out a schedule we know we can stick to and make commitments to be in certain places on time. I guess this is the kind of all or nothing approach that helped us move up the trail as quickly as we have. For this resupply Spoon and I decided to move away from the model we have used the entire trip and agreed to handle breakfast and lunch on our own and only have a communal dinner. This allowed us to satisfy our personal cravings without affecting the others budget or pack weight. After picking up the goods and repackaging them into our food bags we needed to figure out how we were going to get our laundry done. Instead we all ended up getting wrapped up in watching “Liar, Liar” on TV blowing away a couple hours. Needless to say none of us were very motivated to get anything done today. After the movie Spoon asked someone at the Inn if we could use the washer but we were denied so I walked across the parking lot to the hostel and asked Susan if I could do a load of laundry for a reasonable price since we weren’t staying with her. I put up $5 and then went back to collect the guys and their clothes. While our clothes were churning we sat down for dinner at the Inn but the cook and owner were still not back from a wedding reception they catered that afternoon. We sat around for awhile in no hurry and asked for the remote to the big flat screen near our table and watched some TV and Spoon and Crocstar played chess with the pieces provided at the table. When everyone returned from the reception and the kitchen got fired up, I ordered one of those Wolf burgers that had bacon and a sausage patty on it. After dinner, my food induced coma made it so I couldn’t move very far from my bed and I passed out sometime around 9:00 pm.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 111: August 28, 2009
Travel:
From: Poplar Ridge Lean-to, ME
To: Stratton, ME
Beginning: 5:50am
Ending: 3:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 21.5
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 1990.4 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Really, really cold when I woke up. Just wanted to get hiking to warm up.
PM: Sunny and got to low 70s I think by mid-afternoon.
People: College orientation group (Bowden College), our hitch to town, Gail from White Wolf Inn. Crocstar & UCOC.
Animals: South Crocker Toad
Money: $30 room for two nights ($117/4), $10 snacks and ice cream from grocery, $10 for fish fry special. $1964 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Spoon and I woke up to the coldest morning on the trail thus far and immediately layered ourselves with as much clothing we could get our hands on. It had to be close to the freezing mark because everything I touched felt like ice and my fingers were getting numb. We packed up the tent and our stuff as quickly as possible so we could get moving on the trail to try and get warm. We left camp with UCOC just stirring and Crocstar fast asleep under Spoon’s Dry Fly. Only a few minutes into the hike I came to the sign for Poplar Ridge and a spectacular burst of red, orange, pink, and yellow as the sun crept over the mountains in the distance. It was a really amazing way to start off the day. I also took off my Marmot because I was getting too hot and I realized that this morning was one of the only times on the trail I actually used my rain shell. The trail dropped down to Orbeton Stream where I forded and then followed its banks upstream before making a slight turn to head up the steep Lone Mtn. At the top, Spoon was waiting and eating a snack. I pulled out something in bar form and joined him. A few minutes later Nick came huffing up the trail and stopped for a minute to hydrate. He was surprised that we had booked it out of camp so early and the only way he was able to catch up so fast was because he still couldn’t eat breakfast in the morning due to the Lyme medication. I asked about Croc and Nick said he was still asleep when he left and we all laughed wondering when he would wake up and realize everyone was gone. The trail from Lone Mtn to Spaulding and then Sugarloaf seemed all too easy and Spoon and I had an early lunch at the trailhead to Sugarloaf summit around 10:30 am with only 10 miles to go. We ate peanut butter and crackers while Nick, who really wanted to get into town, moved on by snacking while he walked to make the best time. He ended up getting to the road around 2:30 in the afternoon beating us by an hour. After lunch, I called my Dad to discuss our final arrangements for pickup at Katahdin while I headed down to the Carrabassett River. Before it got too steep I hung up and concentrated on not tumbling down some jagged rocks. Spoon was waiting on the other side of the river. I forded the river over some planks thrown between a few of the larger rocks to make it across without getting my feet wet. We filled up on water in the swift moving river. I later learned from Croc that the Carrabassett swept away the pop-top to his 1-liter Platypus which means he had to rethink how he managed his water supply.

PM: From the river we had to gain roughly 2000 feet in just over two miles to the top of South Crocker Mtn. which resulted in some pretty steep sections to get to the top. On my way up I stopped for a moment on a rocky stair climb and looked over to see a toad staring at me from under a rock. He sat, unmoving, judging me for being so slow and out of breath. The top of South Crocker was not the end by any means and I had to hike over the mile long saddle to reach the slightly higher peak of North Crocker where Spoon had taken a break. All that was left was a long and steep descent down the mountain to Maine 27 where we got picked up in a matter of minutes. This road had a great reputation for being a great spot to hitch a ride. UCOC got picked up by Susan who runs the hiker hostel in Stratton when some other hikers he met at the road had called her and he was in the right place at the right time. Crocstar later told us that he got a ride without even putting his thumb out by a guy going the opposite direction. He’s got a gift. Our hitch offered Spoon a beer which he gladly accepted, while she knocked one back and they both sang Space Oddity at full volume as we rolled into town. The song wasn’t over when we got to the White Wolf Inn parking lot so Spoon and our hitch belted out the final verses as UCOC wandered over and stared in amazement. He wasn’t sure if we were going to have a hard time meeting back up in town since he didn’t have a phone, but he said there was no way anyone could have missed hearing us coming. I went into the Inn and booked us a room for two nights since we had all unanimously agreed to take a zero day in Stratton for a few reasons:

1. Spoon, Crocstar, and I had not taken a zero day since our break in New York City.
2. Tropical Storm Danny was forcasted to hit the Maine coast tomorrow along with a cold front bringing rain from the west. We did not want to be hiking in that.
3. Our bodies were just plain worn out. I for one felt like my body was falling apart.

Crocstar finally called me around 5:00 pm letting me know he was in town. I directed him to our room and he told us that he ended up sleeping pretty late into the morning and that his ribs were hurting him pretty bad today slowing him down. The Inn was pretty small, only having 10 rooms available, but on the first floor was their restaurant which served daily dinner specials. Tonight’s special was a fish fry of fried halibut with french fries and cole slaw for around nine bucks, but the real kicker was that an entire second plate of food was on the house! Crocstar and I killed off two plates each of food while Spoon ordered the Wolf Burger which featured a sausage patty in addition to the beef. After dinner we went to Fotter’s Market to pick up beer and I bought some Ben & Jerry’s that ended up being a huge mistake because I went to bed with a nasty stomach ache. That really didn’t bother me too much because I knew when I woke up tomorrow I didn’t have to move if I didn’t want to or hike 20 miles in the rain.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 110: August 27, 2009
Travel:
From: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to, ME
To: Poplar Ridge Lean-to, ME
Beginning: 8:00am
Ending: 5:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 20.1
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 1968.9
Weather:
AM & PM: Sunny and beautiful. Really windy from Saddleback to Saddleback Jr.
People: Ridge Runner, Houdini, Braid, packed shelter.
Animals:
Money: $0
Notes of the day:
AM: There was no rush getting up this morning since we had gotten up so early the previous morning. The other hikers were talking last night about the four or so miles of alpine hiking we would encounter today so the anticipation was high. The weather was also looking really great early on so I was feeling good about being on the trail. The first five miles of the morning were cake as we meandered around various ponds not gaining or losing much elevation and walking on soft pine straw covered trail. It wasn’t long before we were able to spot the bald mountain top of Saddleback in the distance. When we popped out of the woods onto Maine 4 (to Rangeley) a huge road construction project was underway making a big mess. It was a good thing we didn’t need to get into town here because it looked like a hitch would be pretty tough. Just on the other side of the road an ATTENTION sign warns hikers of the tough miles ahead, to be prepared for sudden weather and temperature changes in the alpine zone, and to make sure you start your hike early enough to get off the mountain in time. I crossed over the Sandy River and switchbacked up the mountain towards Piazza Rock Lean-to thinking I only had a mile to go from the road. When you’ve hiked as long as we have, you get a good sense of what a mile feels like and after 30 minutes I was wondering what I did wrong to not be at the shelter by then. I pulled out my camera and checked the picture I took of the sign back at the road and found out I misread 1.8 to be 1.0. The Piazza Rock camping area was really confusing. I read the information board and looked at the trail signs and couldn’t readily decipher which way the lean-to was located so I took a chance on a side trail that I heard voices coming from. An interesting note about this shelter is that it was constructed by MATC’s team of maintainers from L.L. Bean and has a caretaker on site. I pulled myself up a steep hill looking for this shelter and ended up looking up at Piazza Rock and the small group of people taking pictures with it. I rushed back down the hill a little frustrated and picked another trail that looked like a better bet and finally walked up on the rest of the guys taking a break in the shelter.

PM: While we ate lunch I read an article from a MATC newsletter left in the shelter about the new sign that replaced the existing one on top of Katahdin. Crocstar wondered what the temperature was considering that it still felt chilly for midday. So I pulled out my camera and zoomed in on my picture of the information board which had a thermometer to give him a reading of upper 50s. He told me I take too many pictures and everyone had a good laugh. From the shelter we had 2000′ of vertical to cover in four miles to get up to Saddleback Mtn. The trail was still riddled with pools of water and mud but naturally the closer to the top we got the drier and rocker the trail became. Once I broke treeline, the wind really picked up, blowing so hard I had to pull my hat off and carry it in my hand so it wouldn’t get blown off the mountain. On my way up I ran into a Ridge Runner who gave me the scoop on what to expect ahead on the trail. From there, I followed the rock cairns slowly building my way to the top of Saddleback – the first of three peaks on the same ridge. At the bottom of the ridge I could see a ski resort and looking ahead The Horn. I kept hiking onward trying to catch the guys in front of me. The trail was pretty demanding as the cold wind cut through my sweaty clothes and rocky terrain required you to be aware of every step. Spoon was waiting for me at The Horn and encouraged me to pick things up because it was starting to get late and the other guys were well ahead. I kept pace with him up Saddleback Junior and then down a treacherous descent out of the alpine zone where I could finally put on my hat. A short time later I knew we were getting close to the shelter because I caught the smell of the privy in the air. The shelter was already full of hikers and many more had set up their tents in the few flat parcels of ground including Crocstar and Nick. Spoon and I found a relatively flat piece of ground right up against the rear of the shelter but I ended up sleeping on a root anyway. We sat around the campfire cooking dinner and conversing with the other hikers and found out two people were from North Carolina. Houdini works at the Cary REI and a guy named Braid said he lived in Durham. I would later realize that Braid was Joe Liles who’s blog was passed on to me by my friend Lauren a former students from the School of Science and Math. Here is a snippet from his blog:

“More hikers kept piling in including Spoon and Hazard, two young “maniac” hikers from Raleigh, NC. We hit it off just great. The lean-to was surrounded by tents for the overflow crowd. We had a campfire that night. Just as everyone was turning in for the night, I pulled out my harmonica and entertained everyone with the “I am a Hiker” song.”

Spoon joined in on the chorus and we all jammed out to Braid’s original song and then went to bed. It was already starting to get really cold so I had a feeling tomorrow morning was going to be a frigid one.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 109: August 26, 2009
Travel:
From: Hall Mtn Lean-to, ME
To: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to, ME
Beginning: 5:30am
Ending: 4:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 21.1
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 1948.8 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Overcast in the early morning. Started to drizzle once I got over Old Blue Mtn.
PM: Sun finally came out in the late afternoon.
People: Girl at Bemis Shelter, Trampoline, Another Harvard freshman orientation group, Phoenix, old dudes.
Animals: A vole/weasel/rodent type creature.
Money: $0
Notes of the day:
AM: I think we were all awake shortly after 5:00 am because it was still dark and cold. Once again we were the first group on the trail after a quick breakfast. It was still a little dark by the time we made our way down the mountain, following Sawyer Brook. I made a stop to fill up my Camelbak from the fast moving, crisp stream in preparation for Moody Mtn. Moody was surprisingly difficult in that the trail had been washed out by heavy erosion and a new temporary trail marked by orange flags navigated us around the damaged trail. Since this was a new reroute we had to do a lot of bushwhacking up the mountain before finally rejoining the AT. By the time we got to the top, the sun was still reluctant to come out, which didn’t look good for us. Spoon was waiting for me at South Arm Rd at the bottom of Moody Mtn. I crossed Black Brook and asked him what was going on. Crocstar and Nick had just left from taking a break and Spoon wanted someone to chat with while going up Old Blue Mtn. It didn’t take too long before he was speeding up the mountain, leaving me in the dust. At the summit, it started to rain, so with great dismay I put my camera in my dry bag inside my pack. No more pictures today. At the bottom of the mountain I ran into Spoon stopped at the Bemis Stream Trail junction. I joined him in a snack and he told me that he wasn’t feeling very motivated to hike today and needed someone to help pick him up. We cruised up the Bemis Range and towards the top we both jumped out of our skins when a large rodent-like creature tore off into the woods. The misty rain continued even as we stopped at Bemis Mtn Lean-to for lunch. A girl heading south was slackpacking today but her pack looked really full. She told us that since she had an empty backpack that she had no excuse not to pack out the huge garbage bag left at the shelter. Pretty awesome in my book.

PM: All through lunch Spoon was talking about how he didn’t think he could keep going and just general un-motivating negativity. The weather report when we were last in town had indicated that thunderstorms where coming in later this afternoon and the motivation for getting up crazy early was to get all of the hiking done before they came through. Even though it was already misting, I didn’t want to be on the trail when things got worse, so I told him as soon as my bag was packed I was headed out. Sometimes the situation requires that you hike regardless of how you feel and you have to suck it up. After I left the shelter, I didn’t see him the rest of the day until he walked into camp later that afternoon. I walked through the misty mountain tops where the trail ran across a long section of flat rock, down some tricky downhill, until I hit Bemis Stream. I little rock hopping got me across the stream and I made my way back up to Maine 17. Before I made it to the road I ran into another hiker that I knew I had seen before but he was going the opposite direction. It was Trampoline who we met way back around Boiling Springs and he was finishing his thru-hike on a flip-flop. I wished him luck and trucked it up the hill to the road. The sun was surprisingly starting to come out and by the time I got to the road, I was soaking up big rays and blue skies. Sitting on top of some rocks next to the road was another group of 10-12 college age students so at this point I could safely assume it was another freshman orientation group and I asked them from what school were they from. The guy who was apparently running the show turned to me and said in a drawn out pompous tone, “Haaarvaaard” and before I could engage in any kind of small talk he dismissed me, “Have a nice hike”. I shut my mouth and hiked on. I wouldn’t want to ruin his group’s wilderness experience with my funny clothes and funky smell. I had an easy 3.7 mile hike around Moxie and Long Pond over flat terrain, only having to high step through some deep mud pits running up the middle of the trail. After nearly losing my foot to a particularly deep mud pit, I finally arrived to Sabbath Day Pond and the shelter that was a couple hundred feet back into the woods. Crocstar and Nick were relaxing in the shelter and starting to cook dinner. Spoon arrived shortly afterwords and he was sour for a few minutes before lightening up and smiling and joking around again. I think the sunny afternoon and evening really made a difference in the mood. Later on, a guy named Phoenix came into camp wearing a Carolina Panthers jersey and muddy Crocs. He told us that he had been hiking just about the entire trail in his Crocs and it showed. His feet were stained with dirt. He said after days of washing over a series of zero days he still couldn’t get his feet clean. He was also chock full of trail knowledge and the type of hiker that made sure you knew it. Some middle-aged gentleman came into camp who knew Phoenix and later some other hikers came in and had trouble finding a place for their tent so we squeezed them into the shelter. It got rather cold overnight, which I guess we can start to expect in the nights to come in Maine. The cold front that was supposed to bring the rain probably helped a bit.