Date: 2006-09-03
From: West Branch of Pleasant River

To: East Branch Lean-To
Miles today: 16.3

¢Is it that time already?¢ I muttered as I could hear Jangles moving around. Still pitch black out side but sure enough was time to get up. Jelly Bean, H-Bomb, Shasta, Jangles, and I decided last night to attempt the Gulf Hagas Trail Loop while Baro decided to sleep in for a while. Now this is one of the only days that we have set off out of camp wearing our Crocs instead of our hiking boots. This was because just a hundred yards down the trail we had to ford the Pleasant River. Mountain streams normally say cold year round and the Pleasant is not exception. Not very pleasant though because it was in the high 40s this morning and the ford was about 75 feet across the river. When I reached the riverbank Jangles had already made it across and all I could see was her big bright eyes as she attempted to dry her feet. At that point I knew it was cold. The first step hurt but after a few more the numbness set it and the rest of the crossing I was only worried about my feet breaking off due to the cold. I reached the other side and sat next to Jangles on a long and began to dry my feet. We decided it would be a good place to wait on the rest of the crew just to see their expressions as they crossed the river. To my disappointment I think they took it better than I and really didn¢t complain as they crossed. After everyone got their boots on we headed for Gulf Hagas. It was only about a mile and a quarter to the start of the loop so we were there in no time. We planned to do the entire 5.2-mile loop so we stashed our packs on the side of the trail and took of running around 7:15am. Gulf Hagas is a 500-foot deep canyon featuring 5 sets of waterfalls so we stopped and took a lot of pictures but did a lot of trail running to save some time. The guidebooks call it the Grand Canyon of the East but I wouldn¢t go that far. Don¢t get me wrong it was nice but not that nice. Back on the trail at 9:30am we took a quick break and headed north toward Gulf Hagas Mountain. While descending the backside of the mountain we ran into the one and only Doc Narley. I believe the last time I saw him was in Tennessee. If you don¢t recall he is the guy that drinks his stove fuel and is the one that Shasta kicked in the head as he slept under the picnic table at Tri Corner Knob Shelter in the Smokies. His sidekick Slideshow only made it about 400 miles into the hike and had to drop out due to an injury. Doc waited on him to get well but never did. Since he burned a lot of valuable time waiting he decided to flip-flop and was now heading south. He was carrying a baseball for every one to sign and was dying for a cigarette. I couldn¢t help him with the cigarette but did sign the ball. We hung out with him and then got back on the trail. Shortly after that we crossed Sidney Tappan Campsite on the saddle between the mountains. Along the ridge in the tall grass were huge areas about 10 feet across where the grass was trampled down. After a little investigation discovered they were moose beds and recalled a story that we heard a few days back from Cotton Candy about getting charged by a bull moose in this area. He had pictures of it and it was enormous. About this time it started getting overcast and we could see to the west a few thunderstorm clouds heading our way. This wasn¢t a good thing because we had West Peak, Hay Mountain, and White Cap Mountain just ahead of us. They were all above 3,000 feet and close to the tree line. We pushed on quickly but got trapped in the rain as we summited White Cap around 3:30 pm. Shasta, Jangles, and I took a short side trail to the backside of White Cap to view Katahdin as Jelly Bean and H-Bomb scurried by. We took a break at the bottom of the mountain at Logan Brook Lean-To and read that Baro had left just minutes ago. He had gotten ahead of us this morning and we still had not caught up with him. The rain continued and we decided to a least make it to the next shelter before dark in an attempt to catch Baro so we left and didn¢t stop until we got there. We had just barely missed him once again but decided to stay here at East Branch Lean-To for the night. It was still raining with lots more still forecasted for the night so we all piled into the shelter. It was here that we met another hiker named Long Knife. He was a younger guy but quite a character. For some reason he was headed south as a thru hiker but had already taken as many zero days as hiking day in only 70 miles of hiking. To top this he was carrying an overly large ice axe and it early September. The third to be exact and there wasn¢t even any sign of ice. I decided to stay in the shelter with everyone else due to the weather forecast so I claimed a spot and settled in. The water source for the shelter was the East Branch of the Pleasant River and as I made my way down to the banks I spotted a beaver swimming around in a beaver pond that had been created from years of work. Even thought it was a cold and wet after noon it was cool to sit and watch nature at its best. It continued to rain all night heavier at times confirming the decision that we had made to stay in the shelter a wise one. As we drifted off to sleep we could hear Long Knife either mumbling in his sleep or saying sweet things to Shasta. Not sure which it was but she was the closest to him and only knows the truth...Tonight at East Branch Lean-To: Jangles, Shasta, H-Bomb, Jelly Bean, Long Knife, one other hiker, and Myself.