From Hazard’s notes:
Day 117: September 3, 2009
Travel:
From: ME 15; Monson, ME
To: Cloud Pond Lean-to, ME
Beginning: 10:00am
Ending: 7:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 19.1
b) other – .4 to shelter
c) AT Mile Marker – 2082.8 cumulative.
Weather:
AM & PM: Cold in the morning, but sunny and 60s all afternoon.
People: Rebekah, Pennywhistle, Strider, Kermit.
Animals:
Money: $7 for breakfast at Shaw’s, $2141 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: I rolled off my sleeping pad and downstairs to move our laundry from last night into the dryer. Rebekah came over to me and wanted to apologize to me for being a little snappy at Nick last night and inside I felt really awful because this whole time we had been deceiving her and she was so nice to us and accommodating. So I had to play actor one last time to get away Scott-free. We had called Shaw’s last night to reserve a seat at the famous AYCE breakfast this morning. At Shaw’s we met a few new hikers including Strider and Pennywhistle who were hoping to make it to Katahdin in four days so that Strider to catch a plane he had booked in advance. We all sat at the table which is flanked by two huge maps on either side of the wall, one of the United States and one of the World. It was each hiker’s duty to put a pin into the map indicating where they were from and it was fascinating to see how far some people had come to hike the trail. Our hosts were busy in the kitchen frying, toasting, and scrambling a huge volume of food. The lady came over to the table and asked simply, “How many?” The proper hiker response was a reasonable number keeping in mind that they were expected to eat what was given to them. With a few exceptions, the most common response was “Three”. This meant 3 eggs, 3 sausages, 3 pieces of bacon, and 3 pieces of french toast would land in front of you very shortly. Everything was absolutely delicious and served with milk and orange juice and we could just keep asking for more food until we were stuffed to the brim. After a little bit of time to digest, we waddled back to the Lake Shore House to gather our clothes and get ready to get back on the trail. My poor pack was so full I could barely buckle all the straps and it was so heavy it was a real struggle to sling it on my back. This sad story was shared amongst the group as everyone was leaving town feeling overloaded. Strider had told us at breakfast that the more afraid a hiker was of the upcoming section of trail the heavier their pack was leaving town. To which he jokingly remarked, “I’m going to show the trail how unafraid I am by taking on the 100 mile wilderness without a pack altogether!” We regrouped at a picnic table next to the general store to stick our thumbs out and hope for a ride. Getting a hitch for four people at a time is always very tricky so we decided to go two at a time. Spoon and Croc got a ride fairly quickly and then Nick and I were offered a ride by the man who lived in the house we were standing in front of since he needed to drop some mail off by the Post Office anyway. At the trailhead Spoon and I took some pictures next to the sign showing Katahdin only 112 miles away and the sign warning hikers that they were entering the 100 mile wilderness. I had never been slowed down by my pack until today where I felt really sluggish with all the extra weight so much that I stopped at the first shelter, where Spoon had stopped for a quick break, and ate the equivalent of my lunch for the day only hours after our huge breakfast. My pack was so tight that my Jet Boil pot had been bent. Strider arrived shortly afterwards and took a break as well. Even though terrain-wise I only had to worry about climbing Barren Mtn., just before the shelter, I knew it was going to be a long day.
PM: At the start of the 100 mile wilderness a pair of crutches hung from a branch in a tree and I wondered if that was a sign of what was to come or some kind of bad omen. Aside from my package of bagels squeezing out of my pack and having to go back and retrieve them it was a beautiful day to be hiking in Maine. The trail skirted the shores of North Pond and then followed Little Wilson Falls down to Little Wilson stream where the trail followed the stream for a few miles until I crossed over it and headed back up the mountain. Shortly after crossing the Canadian Pacific RR, I ran into a familiar face heading southbound. Her name was SnP (last saw her way back in Shenandoah NP) and she told me that she had spoken to the rest of the guys at the shelter up ahead. Hoping I would catch up to the group, I booked it to the shelter only to find it empty. I took a decent break, eating more food and making use of the privy. I was getting low on water but had no means to purify the source at the shelter because Spoon was somewhere ahead of me and I was worried about running out before I saw him again. Thankfully at the Long Pond Stream ford a pair of hikers were pumping water out of the stream and I asked them if I could use their pump to fill my Nalgene which I figured would be enough to get me up the mountain. They did me one better by filling my Nalgene for me while I got my Crocs on for the stream crossing and then steadied the rope while I made my way across. This was the deepest ford I had encountered so far on the trail with the water reaching my upper thighs. I skipped the next shelter in the interest of time and got to climbing Barren Mtn. as quickly as I could. Dusk was upon my by the time I got to the top of Barren Mtn. Another hiker had set up his tent at the very top and warned me that the trail did not go past his tent but around it. Apparently some hikers had stomped through earlier and I knew it had to be Spoon and the gang. I paused momentarily to take in the amazing sunset and then got moving again because I still had another mile to go before I hit the side trail to the shelter and was out of water. When I got to the shelter area the place was packed and just for location alone I could see how it attracted so many hikers. Spoon and I set up our tent with Cloud Pond just a few meters away and started to cook dinner. Crocstar and Nick had set themselves up at the shelter so I didn’t end up seeing them that night. Pennywhistle came into camp and cooked dinner beside us and we had a good chat while our food rehydrated. Just as we were about to eat we heard someone yelling for help back down the trail and blowing a whistle. We called back trying to figure out what was going on and if they actually needed assistance. Spoon, Pennywhistle, and I were just starting to hike back to the AT when the person in distress yelled back and said she was ok now. When she arrived in camp we immediately recognized her as Kermit who we had last seen in New Hampshire and she told us she had fallen in the dark and couldn’t find her headlamp and then got disoriented on the trail to the shelter. Strider had caught up to her and helped her get to the shelter. When everyone was settled down Spoon and I finished our dinner and promptly crawled into the tent to prepare for an early rise tomorrow.
