Date: 2008-10-02
From: Antlers Campsite, ME

To: White House Landing, ME
Miles today: 5.9

It was a wet, wet night....lots of rain. I woke up early enough to watch the pond come into view with the overcast, wet morning daylight. I made coffee and ate my breakfast and just generally took my time. It was very wet out and I only had about 6 miles to walk to make it to White House Landing in time for lunch and the huge one pound hamburger that Linda is famous for serving all the hungry hikers that stop in. I did finally pack up and started walking north on the Appalachian Trail. The rain had stopped, but it was a very wet walk. I walked by the sand beach at Lower Jo-Mary Lake, kept walking and got to the side trail to Potaywadjo Spring Lean-to. It had started raining again about a mile back. I took that side trail and walked up to the lean-to just as a hiker was waking up. He looked familiar and when I asked his name, I remembered meeting him a month or two ago....it was Love Boat. I talked to him a few minutes, then walked down to the bubbling spring and got a drink. This spring bubbles up from the ground and has a crystal clear puddle about 15 feet in diameter. There's a board to walk on to get to the middle of the puddle and get right to where the water bubbles out of the ground at. I got to where I could see Pemadumcook Lake through the trees. That's the lake where White House Landing is, but I still had a couple miles to go before I got to the old tote road that leads a little more than a mile off Trail to where Bill drives over in a boat to pick up any hiker who sounds the air horn. I got to the controversial tote road. It's not marked and there are two other possible routes you could mistakenly walk that do not lead to White House Landing. Luckily, Bill leaves a small business card tacked to a tree to let hikers know the right way to get there. I headed there and sounded the air horn. It had been raining hard and even got harder when I got to the landing. I sat down on the dock to wait on Bill to drive the boat across the Lake and pick me up. It was a cold rain and I was hoping I wouldn't have to sit there too long. It took about 25 minutes before I heard the boat start up. I was real happy that I didn't start shivering while sitting there in that heavy, cold rain. I'm always okay when I'm walking and I'm producing lots of body heat, but I was just sitting and could have gotten pretty chilly. It was nice to watch to rain drops hitting the surface water of the lake, but I had had enough nice...I wanted that one pound hamburger!! :-) I had my rain coat on and the hood pulled over my head, so Bill didn't realize it was me till he got right up to the dock. He asked why I was so late stopping by this year and I told him I was walking north. When he heard the air horn, he said he went and started the fire in the bunkhouse and the lakeshore cottage so they would be warm when the hikers started coming in. I didn't think it was that necessary until I walked into the Lakeshore Cottage and felt the warmth of the fire. It felt great!!! I was soaking wet, so I got my stuff laid out to start drying in the cottage, walked up and took a hot shower, then walked over to place my order for that one pound hamburger with Linda. :-) I didn't see that Linda was just coming out of one of the other cottages. She called out my name and I went over and got a nice, big hug. She asked if I was hungry. I said..."Well, YES!!!!" :-) There is a big difference between stopping here as a sobo. I always have a hard time eating the whole one pound hamburger....but, I was still hungry when I got done with that burger today...as a nobo who had walked over 2,000 miles to get here. I spent the afternoon drying out my stuff and just relaxing. A German PBS film crew was here following a couple nobos for a show they planned on having on German TV. I felt sorry for the two nobos that they had been following. They couldn't do anything without being filmed. Geoff, that hiker that walked up to my tent last night and asked about the where abouts of the privy came walking in. I asked him what he was still doing this far south on the Trail because he had said he was going to finish the Trail in a couple days. He said he got into that privy last night in all the rain and ended up SLEEPING IN THE PRIVY!!   YUKKKKKK!!!! I don't even USE the privies on the Trail because they are....privies, and they a dirty....and he slept inside that privy. I walked up to the lodge later in the day and ordered one of Linda's big homemade pizzas...with the works. That topped me off. I was stuffed!! I went back to the Lakeshore Cottage and lounged around the rest of the evening. This place is absolutely beautiful!! Another great day on the Appalachian Trail. :-)