Date: 2004-09-13
From: Bemis Stream - tentsite

To: Little Swift River Pond Campsite
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: broken clouds

Another morning, another jug of soap-flavored mocha milk. Last night I mixed up instant rice, chicken soup mix, dried onions, tomato paste, water, TVP, marge and dried tomatoes and left the pot in the fire overnight to cook. So I've got a kind of paella for breakfast -- not bad, as hiker food goes. I've got one more night's food -- Ramen and the rest of the TVP -- plus a package of jello, some instant tea mix, and a little more instant rice before my next mail drop at Rangeley. Could use a little trail magic about now!Afternoon: I sat at Maine Route 17 for about half an hour today wondering what to do about Michigoose and Lefty. Blueberry and Good Time passed my tentsite this morning and said they had planned to try to make it to Bemis Mountain Lean-to, even though Lefty was still feverish. Shivers and his dad, a doctor, had spoken with them yesterday, when they were still atop Old Blue Mountain at noon; so they'd been there nearly two days. My catastrophic imagination is in full swing -- Lyme Disease? West Nile Virus? Encephalitis? When the doc and Shivers arrived at ME17 I asked about the prognosis, and, reassured somewhat, went on. Apparently, various hikers who'd passed them had left them with extra food, so they won't go hungry.The trail maintainer I ran into this morning, Milt Wright, said that with the exception of possible showers tonight, the weather is supposed to be beautiful through the next weekend. Extraordinary!The red squirrels are very vocal in this area, chittering at intruders to their turf in their rapid-fire machine-gun squeaks. Have been seeing lots of interesting caterpillars, too -- one neon green with red spikes, and another neon yellow with a black stripe down its back. Nudged a garter snake, sunning itself and oblivious to me, off the trail. More moose tracks -- I like to know that I'm sharing the trail with these odd-looking, gentle twig-eaters, with heads like anteaters. More than once I've stopped in my tracks, mistaking the moss-covered roots of an upturned tree for the silhouette of a grazing moose. Still no sightings, though.Stopped at Bates Ledge to eat the rest of my hiker paella, with a beautiful view of Long Pond, sparkling in the sun below.Evening: To say that my foodbag is empty would not be completely true, as I have a miniscule plastic envelope of salt and pepper, a 2 oz. Nalgene with a scraping of margerine in it, an ounce of instant coffee, 2 oz. of iced tea mix and two packets of Nutrasweet. (Practically a feast! And here I was craving ice cream and hamburgers. Shame!) I've made my breakfast for tomorrow of jello, instant rice and margerine -- not one for the recipe book, but, well, edible. I am the sole human inhabitant of this campsite tonight. A squirrel fussed at me for tenting too close to his tree -- he chased another squirrel right up it and off a branch to a 20-foot fall to the ground -- but proceeded to knock all of the pine cones out of it anyway. All along the trail I've found, on ledges and atop rocks, piles of what look like tiny flower petals where a squirrel has pulled apart a pine cone, like a greedy child ripping open a birthday present, to get at the nuts.Was feeding another campfire tonight and eating the last of my Ramen and TVP when I heard movement in the trees between me and the pond. The sound of a lumbering gait, soft thump of hooves, twigs cracking as it pushed past -- MOOSE! He was headed down to the pond, and I heard him slosh into the water and the water slop against him. Tempted as I was to stalk him for a photo, I decided I'd let him have his bath and dinner in peace. He's still down there -- I hear a slosh of water every so often. Maybe he'll show himself in the morning.Clean socks tomorrow! Just in case it does rain tonight, I've left the dirty pair outside on a stump for the "prewash" cycle.