Mountains Under Foot

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 119: September 5, 2009
Travel:
From: Logan Brook Lean-to, ME
To: Nahmakanta Stream Campsite, ME
Beginning: 7:00am
Ending: 7:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 27.4
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 2134.2 cumulative.
Weather:
AM & PM: Awesome. Perfect hiking weather.
People: Pennywhistle, Strider, Amoeba, Flying Scotsman, Spicoli, others, Father & Son out for a short trip.
Animals: Moose was spotted at Mahar Camp by Spicoli crew
Money: $0, $2141 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up with Strider coming through camp since he had spent the night on top of White Cap. He and Pennywhistle were gone before I had rolled out of my sleeping bag. Today was going to be a long day and my body knew it and tried to do anything to stop me. Luckily for us all of the hard stuff except for Mt. Katahdin was out of the way. We hiked from stream, to pond, to spring, and crossed an unmarked gravel road which had an unusually familiar vehicle parked near the trail. It was a lime green Honda Element that reminded me of the one in Hiawassee, Georgia that belonged to Amoeba who we met while staying at the Inn. Way back on Day 6 she was shuttling a group of friends who were out hiking that week, but there was no way that this was the same car and owner. While coming down Little Boardman Mountain, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my intuitions were correct. Amoeba and her friends were coming up the backside of the mountain and she immediately recognized us and wanted to take our picture again. She told us that she knew we would make it and was proud of how well we had done. The group made a stop at Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to for a snack break before hoofing it at top speed to Jo-Mary Road. We made great time over this almost completely flat section. At the road crossing the guys broke out lunch and sat out in the sun. I filled up my Camelbak from the stream that paralleled the trail and then sat in the shade to finish off my graham crackers and peanut butter. After a few minutes the guys admitted the shade was a great idea and then moved to my side of the road. A few cars came roaring over the bridge and flew past us at unsafe speeds and then a couple of hikers came out of the woods looking to get a hitch to the campground six miles from here. With some luck they were able to flag down a truck that gave them a ride.

PM: After lunch we continued to follow the stream until its outlet at Jo-Mary Lake and Antler’s Campsite. Antler’s was rated as Pooh’s (trail magic at Trapper John Shelter) favorite campsite on the entire AT namely because you have a great view of Mt. Katahdin looming over the lake. Plus it has the famed Fort Relief where all the very important business gets done. At this point I was hiking alone so I didn’t spend much time here and cruised on by making my way to Potaywadjo Spring Lean-to where I had to take a moment to find the 15-foot wide spring that the shelter is known for. Shortly afterwards I crossed the Mahar Trail which will eventually take you 1.2 miles to a dock where you sound an air-horn for someone to come pick you up and ferry you to White House Landing. They offer everything from lodging to Linda’s famous one-pound burger. Sadly we had ruled out the possibility of making a stop there due to time and money restrictions no matter how tempting it all sounded. I pushed onward and followed the Nahmakanta Stream until I reached the campground we had planned to stay that night. I found Crocstar, Nick, and Spoon hanging around a campfire that a couple of hikers had started. There was a father and son sitting around their campfire cooking steaks that, or course, Spoon became very interested in. When we went to go put our tent up he made a comment about how the ’steak looked really good’, fishing for some kind of handout. As much as we liked to make fun of him for asking people for food all the time, when our dinner was finally ready we each had a hunk of steak and a bunch of extra rice to add to the pot. Later that night, Spicoli, Flying Scotsman, and company came roaring into the campsite with goodies they had packed out from White House Landing. They had each packed away about $20 worth of food and brought back some sodas for the guys that were already here. Once it got dark and cold, Spoon and I retreated to our tent to call it a day. I was exhausted.