Date: 2021-07-04
From: Rangeley Rt 4 (mile 220.4)

To: Bemis Mountain Lean-to (mile 238.1)
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: clear sky

After a big breakfast at the Roadhouse Jenn drove five of us to the Rangeley trailhead, over 30 minutes away. There are no major mountains in this stretch, and the MATC sign calls it "relatively gentle", but the climb from the road was still a steep one. Bait and I started off together. Just 20 and a high school middle-distance track runner from the northern Boston suburbs, he sports several bracelets on his wrists. They are from 5Ks he's run in honor of his older sister Ashley. She was killed in a car crash four years ago. It didn't take him long to outpace me. Not many people do, but I was happy to fall back and take a more relaxed pace.I walked through or under a cloud most of the day. The trees dripped steadily, cooly splashing on my pack, head, and clothes.I leapfrogged with Bait, Falcon Punch, and Prepack, who started from the Hiker Hut, for most of the day. We stopped to canoe on South Pond. Someone, somehow, dragged canoes and rowboats miles into the backwoods to ponds along the trail. If there's road access, it's not on any of my maps. To underline the point, we found fisherman out in a canoe on Little Swift River Pond, 5 miles from the road. The other canoes on land were in bad shape, one patched with flexitape, one with holes bigger than the remainder of the hull. Both ponds were too muddy to swim in. So after lunch at Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to, I found a narrow beach on nearby Long Pond. The bottom was sandy and stretched maybe 100 yards out. I had to walk well out before it even reached my thighs. Best swimming since before the Bigelows.By the time I reached route 17 a real rain shower was coming in. It obscured the normally spectacular view from Height of Land. Bait and Prepack were already shuffling off.We dropped steeply down from the road over 700 feet to a wide stream, the last good water for many miles. Just past, at a dirt road and before the big climb out, sat a cooler. Trail magic! Home-baked cookies, sodas, and PB&J. I'd brought a drink from town so I sampled the cookies and left the rest for the next hiker. The climb to the first Bemis peak was 1800 feet. I've entered the realm where massive climbs and descents become routine, even expected. Even the low peaks require dramatic elevation gains. Fortunately the rain moved on and the view back north began clearing up. I emerged into an alpine landscape of bedrock, stubby firs, and distinctive groundcover. They give the appearance of an informal garden of beds between bedrock paths. The sun struggled to come out and highlight the rich greens, yellows, reds, and grays around me. The last mile to the shelter was a long one through a jumble of roots, rocks, puddles, and dense firs brushing me with their watery fingers. I think I prefer climbing straight up to fighting through the boggy mess of a "level" section. At the shelter were Beach Day, Bait, northbounders Rain Shower and Viking Man, and a middle-aged brother and sister from Maine sectioning the state. Prepack and Joseph were tenting nearby and Falcon Punch hung his hammock and set out his (ultralight) camp chair. The water source is an orange puddle, disappointing many hikers. Joseph came by. His filter was malfunctioning and didn't seem up to the task. I gave him the extra liter I'd packed out from the stream miles back. I'm not cooking, and I drink little. Especially on a damp day like this. Bait started a fire despite the wet conditions. He'd brought up hot dogs to cook and shared with everyone. He has a lot of equipment problems. In addition to his busted phone and ripped pants, his sleeping pad leaks, he lost his toiletry kit at the Roadhouse, he almost left his water filter at the last shelter, and the can of fuel he nabbed from the hiker box ran out of fuel while he was cooking Mac 'n cheese. He finished cooking in the fire.Beach Day used the fire to dry some gear. He held his undies over the fire with a stick. Prepack pushed his wet boots over the gaps in the rocks where heat escaped the fire ring. Waterproof boots still get wet.Viking Man must be in his seventies. He hurt his leg a couple of miles before the shelter and limped in. His first injury in 1900 miles, as he bitterly repeated to one person after another. Hopefully he feels better tomorrow.Viewmaster and Just Maine camped at the bottom of the Bemis climb. Just Maine is leaving tomorrow to go back to her EMS job in Pittsburgh. Viewmaster will continue on to Georgia on her own. I passed numerous northbounders today but exchanged few words with any of them. One I stepped aside for and greeted didn't even glance at me. He had earbuds in and walked by like I didn't exist. I understand why SOBOs and some hostel owners think a lot of northbounders at this point are arrogant or entitled. Single-mindedness is not a virtue in most cases. Having been there I understand the drive, but I always tried to be polite and friendly. Some, it seems, need a reminder that we all share the trail. And that is what makes it special.