Date: 2008-09-26
From: Stealth site .1 before Carl A. Newhall Lean-to, ME

To: Sydney Tappan Campsite, ME
Miles today: 1.8
Weather: overcast clouds

A crazy nite of dreams, where I was on a professional water volleyball team with all Chinese people, but had no idea what I was doing and everyone was pissy because I didn't know how to spin the ball on my palm to serve it. I also dreamed I was watching ER on the tv. Don't ask me, I have no idea where this stuff comes from...I've never played water volleyball or polo in my life. Since it was such a short day, I reset the alarm to 6:30, why stress it right? It was in the 40's this morning. We got up probably close to 7 a.m. and got packed up. Incessant had this great trail hair that was straight from the 80's, so I had to take a picture. I suppose that's one advantage to keeping longer hair like mine, a pony tail is always a good remedy. The sun was out but it was windy and high clouds were moving in. It was obvious something was blowing in, but for now it was nice. We left @ 9 a.m. and started towards Gulf Hagas Mtn., the one climb of the day. We crossed the Gulf Hagas Brook one last time and hiked past the sign for the shelter, then went through an amazing forest of pine. These forests have a lot of dead and healthy trees in them and a bog was to our right. Did we see moose? Hell no we didn't, but I kept hearing these sounds and stopping to look back @ Incessant. After the third time she broke and started laughing..she was throwing stuff into the woods to trick me. I died laughing...that was a good one for sure. My gosh I can't get tired of this Maine wilderness. It's so beautiful..truly the best stuff the AT has to offer. It was a 1 mile climb to the summit of Gulf Hagas Mtn. and at first it was very gradual and friendly. We wound around the mountainside with small sections of great rock work steps. I have a huge appreciation for these things simply because of the amount of work it takes to build them. It's not like the trail crews have heavy machinery out here, it's all done by hand. Eventually the climb got much steeper, which generally tells you you're closer to the top than to the bottom. Lots more rock steps and some nice sittin' rocks for breaks too. The wind was pretty strong closer to the top and finally we got to the elevation where we could look back @ the Chairback Range. Got a great pic of the actual chairback form. Once @ the top, it's about a .6 flat section and there were a few stunning views thru some trees. My gosh, the reds of the fall trees layered with the greens of the spruce and pines. In perfect sections almost, going up the mountainside. Add to that a lake or pond and some awesome mountains in the distance. I was in awe of the beauty. I wasn't thrilled with the wind, and was really hoping this campsite would be sheilded from it. I had no idea how cold it was going to get. On the descent from Gulf Hagas, New York Minute (NY) and K1 (FL) passed us. NY minute had last seen us when we arrived @ the Stratton Motel. He had some family stuff come up which he was going home for that day. He was home for about a week and got back out. He was surprised to see us, probably because I'm sure he assumed we'd all be far ahead. I told him I was glad to see him back out here, and his family stuff worked out as well. It was 11:10 a.m. when we got to the Sydney Tappan Campsite. There's a stone fire ring, privy, and 2 benches made out of logs. The trees at this particular site weren't very good for hanging, so I looked around and followed a few little paths, ad one took me back to a pine tre area that was perfect. There was even another stone fire ring back here. NY Minute and K1 were here eating lunch, and then Wakapak (NH) and Chaco Taco (NC) as well as Johnny Thunder (PA) showed up. It was like a little party! We were talking about how we just want to be finished, but I shared how Incessat has been such a gift, helping me slow down and notice the wonders of this place again, because we become numb to them after this many miles. They got it. I decided to go down to te spring for wter. It was (as always) way downhill and when I got there, I found a very shallow spring that was going to make it very difficult to fill our 6 liter water bag. K1 was also there and he offered his cookpot so I could scoop up the water. Glad he was there, thanks K1. We went to the site and set up camp. It is unfortunately not that protected from the wind, so I told Incessant I'd get our duff if she got the firewood. It wasn't raining yet, and we wanted a fire. I grabbed her pack cover and was able to build duff on both sides of our tarps with about 7 or 8 fills. There's an animal path right behind us with tons of moose tracks. Maybe? It was now about 3:00 p.m. and all the chores were done, so I started workig on the fire. Before this, we spent some time rebuilding the stone fire ring though. It was too shallow, so I dug out the center and Incessant collected more stones to build higher walls. I've decided to rate my fires with a Bic Flic System, as in, a 2 Bic Flic fire, meaning it only took 2 flics to start it. Incessant did a fantastic job of collecting dead wood, little sticks ad some bigger dead logs, and she organized them by size, so it was easier for me to get what I needed. A lot of the wood was slightly wet though, so it took some work to keep it going, but eventually turned into a great fire. We also moved one of the wood benches over to sit on it. Now it was time to play some cards. We saw a bald hiker go through (didn¢t catch his name) that was a bit confused about where the trail actually went, because it¢s not well marked and there are several side paths to campsites, and then we met Joggle (UK) and Becca (FL) who stopped for water, chatted a bit, and then headed on. Today, we met 2 exhausted hikers who in their words, "We've had it, it's time to be done with this." He's been falling a lot, basically from pushing so hard, and they were doing 20 milers just to get done. They did identify themselves (through conversation) as purists and they had come to the conclusion that if any hiker was still enjoying themselves and seeing the beauty by this point, it was because they had blue blazed, slackpacked, or yellow blazed...which they had personally done none of (get out the gold medal right?).I can't say I agreed with their judgement, but it doesn't matter. Your hike is what YOU make it, nobody can dictate how your hike turns out but you, except for those outside influences like family issues, etc. which are beyond your control. Incessant tried to encourage one of the hikers to listen to his body (as he wiped blood from his knee from his recent fall), but he was insistent on just being finished and pushing as hard as possible to accomplish that. HYOH right? Sometimes I think one more thing needs to be added and that is ADJO (and don't judge others). I can't figure out why humans sometimes have a need to qualify their choices based upon their judgements of others' perceived "wimpiness" or short comings. Who cares if tons of hikers are slackpacking the wilderness (Shaw's offers this apparently). Who cares if you choose to be a purist? Whatever you choose for yourself, at least be comfortable enough with it to not need to make yourself out to be some victim or martyr. Know yourself....I've said it at least 10 times in my journal, and don't be afraid to be the only one doing what you're doing.   I think 1 of 2 things happens at this point of the hike. You either make a mad dash to the end because the thought of prolonging it any longer is just agony (and I deal with this as well so I get it..boy do I get it) or you slow down and take the time to re-ground yourself out here. It's not that one is right or wrong or better or worse, again, you have to make this choice for yourself, and your enjoyment of it has nothing to do with anything but the choices you make. This is simultaneously a very connected and disconnected hike in terms of other people. Others have so much to do with your experience, but ultimately, we are all individually walking the miles. I¢d encourage future (or current or past) hikers to not blur these two.   We decided to stop playing cards and make some dinner by the fire. Gosh fire feels so good on damp cool days. We had it going quite nicely might I add. I cooked dinner and as always, added too much water, so instead of using more fuel, I put my pot stand over them embers and boiled down the soupy noodles that way. Why not just cook with the fire? Pack weight of course! If I use fuel, my pack weighs less. Oh, I almost forgot....Incessant threw the bear bag rope tonight..FIRST THROW NAILED IT!! Butta-fry, you are learning da ways of AT hiker! We finished dinner and I was about to eat my after dinner snack when I noticed sprinkles. Well...here it comes. We quickly packed up the food and pulled our bags up. Incessant put her raingear on, and it was just spitting a bit, so she opted to sit by the fire a bit longer. I opted to crawl into my hammock. This was a good short day of rest for her knee too, which is still very tight and achy. She has now become part of the Vitamin I abuser¢s group.   A flip flopper, Ulysses, had shown up right as the rain started. I could hear him and Incessant talking for awhile, and she finally made her way to bed after putting the fire out with water and laying a big rock over the ember bed just in case. The wind is blowing wicked hard, and it's raining big heavy drops. It isn't cold yet (in the 50's), and I'm hoping it doesn't drop too much. Not setting the alarm, not getting up till we wake up. We're zeroing here tomorrow. I don't know if it will be cold and miserable, but it's sort of what I'm expecting. We'll see though. ~Certain