Date: 2004-07-17
From: East Carry Pond, Maine

To: Safford Notch Campsite
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: light rain

16.4 miles todayTentingSafford Notch CampsiteI woke up with the sun again, but layed in my tent until 7am. I made coffee and ate breakfast while I was listening to a Loon. I heard the Loon a few times during the night, but I slept good and probably missed him a bunch of times. My tent was set up so I could look out at the lake. I started walking at 8:10am. I went out on Arnold Point and I got real close to a Loon. I hope that picture comes out ok. I saw a couple of small 2' snakes this morning. I ran into Mystic Onion. I had seen him down in NC when I was finishing my sobo hike. He started his hike on Feb 6th. We talked a while and he said that he's had a good hike. After about 5 minutes I hiked on. Shortly after that I ran into Ole Gazelle and Coyote who were doing a section hike up to Monson.I stopped by West Carry Pond Lean-to and took a 30 minute break. I listened to another Loon here. I started walking at 10:25am. The trail has been real sloppy today with water either standing in the trail with lots of mud or water running down the trail like a river. It started raining lightly at 11:45am, but didn't last too long. At 12:05 I crossed the road that has the 2000 mile mark painted in it. This is the first time that I've crossed there when someone else was around, so I had one of them take my picture. I went on down to Flagstaff Lake and got there at 1pm. I was planning on eating lunch there, but the rain started right when I got there, so I kept on hiking. I hiked on up to Little Bigalow Lean-to and ate my lunch there. It was a late lunch at about 2pm. I layed my tent out to dry and then I went swimming. I'm a wimp most of the time because I don't like the water to be too cold, but it felt good today once I got in. I went in with all my clothes on and I was still wearing my shoes. I figured everything needed a washing. I started hiking again just before 3pm. I ran into a family that was finishing up the last section of the A.T. The three kids trail names were Snap, Crackle and Pop and their dad's name was Easy Strider. I didn't catch the mother's name.At 3:55pm, I got to the top of Little Bigalow Mountain and I could see rain and thunderstorms all around me, but it wasn't raining on me. I saw a hawk go flying by and doing the hawk scream. When I started walking, I ran into Skeemer. For the last 2 or 3 days I've been asking everyone I passed if they had seen Skeemer. Almost everyone of them told me he was behind them and that he would be along in a day or two. I was just wondering how SO many hikers are getting ahead of him. We talked for about ten minutes, but he wanted to try to make the next shelter before it started raining, so he took off. I hiked on and I took a short side trail to a viewpoint and met Jen, the caretaker at a campsite south of here. we talked for about 20 minutes while we enjoyed the view of Avery Peak and then I hiked on.I ran into Happy Trails at 5:15 pm and gave him a message from Mrs Gorp. She just wanted me to say hello to him if I ran into him. He took off pretty fast because he was trying to make it to a shelter. I hiked on down here to Safford Notch and took a rock hard tent site. I hate to stay in established campsites because it's like sleeping on concrete. This area is so rough that it's hard to find a good stealth site, but that's ok because this area is very beautiful. It was good to get into some good climbs again. I got here at 6pm and it started raining again as soon as I got here. I was just a half an hour to late everywhere I went today because the rain chased me away from a lake for lunch and it made me set my tent up in the rain here. I ate dinner inside my tent and was carefull not to drop any crumbs. It looks like it is going to be a rainy night. There is alot of thunder in the distance too. Today was a really good day even with all the rain and wet trail. Maine is absolutely beautiful. Another great day on the A.T.