Date: 2013-09-12
From: Long Pond Stream Lean-to

To: Katahdin Iron Works Rd
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: scattered clouds

It's a good thing we are with Buddy Backpack. His family got up at 6:30 and said "time to go". It was raining and yucky out. I know we would have whimped out and hunkered down had they not motivated us. How can you throw a hissy fit when a 5 yr old is ready to go?! I hiked our stuff back to the car about .8 of a mile and then walked back. That earned me a free break from the slack pack rotation. When we slack pack we each take an hour turn. Inevitably Cub has it when we pass day hikers and they glare at me for making the kid carry the bag. There is nothing to say about hiking all day in the rain except MISERABLE!!!We tried to be grateful that it wasn't cold, that we are all healthy, etc.the rocks became incredibly slippery. We all fell today. I cut my arm and whammed my bottom, while twisting my knee and wrists. It strange but somehow, miraculously, I get up sore but unharmed. Cub had a fall that scraped her knee. She bounced up and was fine. Badonkadonk had her usual graceful slip... We call it "The Swan". She just kind of prettily squats down in her slips. We climbed 5 mountains, traversed a bog and scrambled down some seriously sharp and slick boulders that cascaded down the mountainside. And all of this in crazy Maine in the rain that was not on the plain. We have only four more mountains to climb until Katahdin. We climb White Cap tomorrow. We are looking forward to some flatness though we suspect it will entail mud, rocks, roots and bog plank walking. Did you know your ability to balance declines after 40? Try walking narrow, wet planks with a rapidly moving 12 yr old and a former ballerina 17 yr old. I have done a split(something I normally cannot do), a slide, a step off into muck. A hiker died falling into the bog up here. That's why it's good to not hike alone. Sherpa met us right at Katahdin Iron Works Road as we had planned at 5:50pm. We were lured in by monkey calls from Buddy who stayed ahead of us all day. (We left 2 hours behind him). We did about 15 miles which is pretty good in this weather. We set up camp and started cooking. Miraculously Sherpa found and bought us Kosher hot dogs! The girls and I are out of our minds excited. We needed some protein! We hate protein bars but eat them each night. I went to set up the tent and the skies opened up. It is thundering and ferociously lightning as I write this. The girls were with Buddy and family on the road by the car. They were grilling when the rain hit. Sherpa told the girls to run the half mile down to the tent and she would bring the hot dogs. Cub remembered that she left her boots and poles outside so she climbed back up the hill and found out that the Sherpa and D had already collected our stuff for us. They were cooking under the back door of the Jeep. Can you believe it...these wonderful, generous people ran the hot dogs down to us! Earlier today we met 2 New York guys. They were hiking the 100 mile wilderness to celebrate one of the guy's 59th birthday. The birthday guy was enjoying it but the other guy said he was breaking down mentally. We tried to encourage him.We continued hiking. Hours later in the midst of he storm the guy shows up outside our tent asking us to call someone to get him off the mountain. No phones work down in the valleys and supposedly they don't even work on the mountain tops. (Yet I do keep getting these blogs out so who knows). I told him to just set up his tent and hunker down. He said he'd get the tent and his stuff wet. Duh. We were sitting in our dripping tent getting wet but at least we are warmer. It's so dark out here and there are flash floods so nobody can get him out. Just hope we stay safe as we camp close by a river! Supposed to get cold tomorrow. We could wake up to snow this State is so crazy!!!!