Date: 2012-08-08
From: Safford Notch Campsite 

To: Pierce Pond Leantoo
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: scattered clouds

We awoke a little later this am, we needed to make plans for Kahtahdin and the family. We have comitted to complete our Hike on the 17th. Had some conversations with the families, all is in order.We had a peaceful night, came in the campsite in the dark so upon awakening we saw where we were. We are situated just beyond the boulder fileds below the massive cliffs Bigalows. When we hiked out we had to go over and under some of the huge boulders. We left at about 8:30. We planned a long hiking day, but got off to a slow start. We climbed little Bigalow, had some great views of the Bigalow range, then climbed down into the Flagstaff Lake area. We have a relatively flat hiking day with a few small climbs, but mileage will be longer. We hit 1 lake and 3 ponds, though big enough to be lakes, today. Swam and ate lunch at Flagstaff lake, a huge lake that was manmade from flooding the Dead River Valley region, Flagstaff town is under the lake. We could see all this from the Bigalow Mountains. We moved on to the Carry Lake, also very pretty and very sparcely populated, much of the water front is state or Lumber Company owned, many that we saw the trail followed much of the lake edges. Swam in East Carry Pond as well. Had some very pretty old Forest walks as well. Ended our day at Pierce Pond, again good size with no houses/camps that could be seen. Very clean water, cool and drinkable after filtering. Pierce pond had an unfortunate event earlier this year, a northbound thru hiker drown, cramped up swimming after hiking. There is a memorial at the leantoo, this was very sad to see at the end of the day. We arrived at sunset, 4-5 other hikers, mostly NOBO's also here. There is a Resort Camp, Richardson's 0.3 miles from here that serves breakfast to Thru Hikers in the am, we setup for this as well. Enjoyed a quiet night right at pondside, listening to the loons and the frogs. AT Insight:I have had many hours , days to ponder many things. The solitude of hiking offers many insights, many often fleeting others life changing. One issue I notedthat from the busy North East, life is fast and heckit. We learn this and then teach this to our children. Interacting with many people from other areas of the country demonstrated otherwise. All Smiles struggles with the impulsive, sometime appearing inpatient attitude that we " Northerners" demonstrate. I note this in my interactions, I want to finish peoples statements and ideas for they are not interacting fast enough, patience to listen gets lost. I have been practicing the patience to listen, not to interupt, but of course with All Smiles, the Lawyer, who talks very slow and for EVER, tests my patience. Peeper has been helping as well, reminds me with new aquaintances to introduce myself, interact before I ask my question. Patience to listen, you would thing as a Physician I would have this skill licked, but in my personal life I need to learn the same patience. I continue to work with this, I will take this home to my family and work, both will benefit. Maybe some of the Southern Hospitality brought to the north.I also have noted, silence can be very noisy, the woulds are a busy place, my hearing has much improved through the hike and the busy world only makes us more deaf. We need more solitude, silent time.