Date: 2014-07-22
From: Dream Lake

To: Carlo Col Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: clear sky

Throughout the night I awakened at 9 PM, 1:30 AM, 4:30 AM and 6:30 AM to answer the call of nature. What's up with that? The frogs on the pond called to each other all night. I love that.At 6:30 I was up for good, packed up and had a breakfast of Clif Bar and a package of Lance crackers. At 7 we were hiking. Just .1 miles farther up the trail were beautiful tent sites right on the pond that would have been a wonderful spot to spend the night, but you could hike well into every night and never find the perfect spot. You never know what's around that next corner. We took a few pictures and moved on. Our first snack break was at Gentian Pond. There were lots of birds, frogs and even a King Fisher cruising the skies over the pond looking for his next meal.Lunch was taken at 10 AM, at a stream before climbing Success Mountain. It consisted of 2-6" tortillas with cheese and pepperoni and a Snickers bar. My hiker appetite, which usually kicks in about 3 weeks into a long hike, has kicked in the first week. It starts with a grumbling stomach and moves quickly to stomach pains unless I put something...anything...in it. At first I thought there was something wrong with me, then realized it was just plain, old hunger. I always keep the day's snacks in the side pocket of my pack, so would grab something quickly if my tummy growled at me.The climb up Success Mountain was painful. My knee continued to hurt on the way down Success too. Ibuprofen every 4 hours keeps it under control, but doesn't take it away 100%.The day was hot and humid, our first really uncomfortable day of the hike. Along the way we saw lots of beautiful mushrooms, walked lots of bog bridges and enjoyed the beautiful birch trees that are everywhere in NH and ME.A half mile before Carlo Col Shelter we crossed out of New Hampshire and into Maine. We stopped at the sign for pictures. I look half dead in them....and felt that way too. It was a tough day. There was a thru-hiker at the sign that pretended he was asleep. We met him later at the shelter, but he was no more personable there either.The shelter was a long, rocky .3 down. All I could think of was the fact that we had to hike back up it in the morning! With a sore knee, that .3 felt more like .5, but eventually we got to the shelter. It faced south into the afternoon sun and had a slightly enclosed front. It was quite warm inside and on a cool fall day, would have been inviting. I chose to stay in the shelter in spite of the warmth due to being so sore and beat from the difficult day. Even the thrus were saying what a tough day it was. Throughout the day we met Sea Biscuit, arbor, Papa Poochy and his pup Pistol Pete, and others including section hikers. We saw more hikers today than we've seen any day on the trail.We went back behind the shelter on a tent pad and ate dinner at 4:30. Beerdra cooked a Mountain House meal and I had two more tortillas with a foil pack of chicken and cheese and pepperoni. No dessert for me tonight, I was full. I drank lots of water and downed my ibuprofen. By 6:30 I was in my bag and journaling. It didn't take long before I was in la la land.