Date: 2019-09-13
From: Antlers Campsite 

To: Gravel logging road 
Miles today: 16.7

Day 165Our camp sat at the tip of the little peninsula was perfect for watching Sunrise. Before 6am, the eastern sky had showed color of orange. The flat lake surface was as smooth as a huge piece of silk fabric, occasionally there was a small ripple caused be little insects or small fish, it quietly enlarged to expanding circles, till it quietly dispersed for the lake to return to its flat surface again. White water vapor from the lake slowly rose up, drifting even more slowly to one direction in the almost non-noticeable breeze. Gradually the orange sun came up, turned the silky lake into a piece of glass orange at the far distance near the sun, radiant gradually to blue towards us. Everything that showed up above the lake surface with part of them in the lake formed mirror images at the surface. Our hikers at the shore watching sunrise all draped with golden hue, faces turned bright, full of hope, excitement and energy. A beautiful new day was ahead of us. We had breakfast at the camp, warmed up nicely by the morning sun. It was hard to pack and leave the beautiful place.But we had long distance to travel and there was no time to waste as we started to hike. In the morning we climbed up a little hill to get to a shelter (called lean-to in Maine) in two hours. Near this lean-to there was a 15ft large spring flowing with cool clear yummy water. Green mosses covered rocks filled the path of the spring flow. It looked as lovely as in any fairy tale picture book. Someone commented that it was the best water on A.T.. I don¢t know if it was really the best, but it was indeed one of the best. We loaded up here. I got 3 liters to carry. It was heavy, but worth every drop. The trail was more challenging than yesterday. Lots and lots of roots. The Maine forest roots - gnarled, slippery, frequently to catch hiker¢s boots to trip him/her over. Combining the roots with rocks and mud, then duplicating and stretching them for almost all 16.7 miles of today¢s section. At one point where the twisted roots were so annoying that I almost screamed at them. A few minutes later, I came to my senses: there was no point of screaming at roots since they wouldn¢t care anyway! Of course there was also a little mountain to climb near the end of the day. We were very tired by the time we reached a logging road to camp. Maybe tomorrow some smooth trails will be there for us.We had seen so many big moose foot prints in the past two days, on trail, near a shelter, and in a sandy beach by a lake. Still we had not seen any moose. A big rabbit was running around near us today. I had not seen a rabbit for months. In late afternoon and after dark, we heard some animal calls. Could they be from owls or water birds in the lake nearby?At the view point of Nesuntabunt Mountain I think I saw the Mount Katahdin cross a lake. It dominated the skyline of all mountains in my view. But somehow I didn¢t feel the excitement or intimacy of that peak. It felt like just as another mountain that I could need to climb. ¢Poet¢ a thru-hiker who operates the Shaw¢s hostel in Monson told us that he had the urge to touch the peak when he first saw it on White Cap. I only felt it is a normal mountain.