Day 114: August 31, 2009
Travel:
From: Little Bigelow Lean-to, ME
To: Pierce Pond Lean-to, ME
Beginning: 7:45am
Ending: 2:45pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 17.3
b) other – about a mile to sign up for breakfast at Harrison’s.
c) AT Mile Marker – 2,023.0 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: 50s this morning, 60s midday.
PM: Cool wind blowing hard and constant into the shelter off of the pond.
People: Moss (SOBO), One other guy in shelter with us, lots of people pitched tents behind the shelter. Red bearded guy we met at Overmountain shelter back on day 23.
Animals: Mouse in the shelter, Loons on the pond.
Money: $0, $2024 cumulative
Notes of the Day:
AM: I was feeling much better this morning partly because my intestines had settled down and partly because I knew today was going to be much easier than yesterday. The first couple of miles brought us to East Flagstaff Rd which had 2000 miles painted on the centerline. Since this wasn’t the actual mark anymore Spoon and I took some goofy pictures with it and then moved on. From there we hiked across the flat-ish valley from road to road and around some ponds only gaining a few hundred feet of elevation over Roundtop Mtn. As we walked along the banks of West Carry Pond I saw Crocstar’s hiking poles sticking out if the ground at the trail intersection for the shelter. This was to signal to us that he had made a stop at the shelter. So I snatched up the poles and we turned off the AT to go meet up with Croc. To all of our surprise we had already covered half of the miles we had planned to do today and it was only 10:30 am. We weren’t going to try and add any more miles on because we planned to stop just before Harrison Pond Camps to take advantage of the 12 pancake breakfast offered there. We all took a long break, soaking in the sun, and then moved out to keep making good time.
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.
