Date: 2007-09-19
From: Carrying Place Rd

To: East Flagstaff Rd
Miles today: 11.7

Wednesday, September 19, 2007Carrying Place Rd (Main Logging Rd) to Long Falls Dam Rd, 9.4 miles, Long Falls Dam Rd to East Flagstaff Rd, 2.3 miles, total 11.7 milesAs we drive to set a car at Long Falls Dam Rd, in the mist we see a moose (the only one we see this trip) crossing the road. It enters the woods, walks a short ways, then stops, looking back at us.Long Falls Dam Rd trailhead is only 3.0 from our campsite on East Flagstaff Rd, compared to yesterday and the day before, no drive at all.Start at Carrying Place Rd (Main Logging Rd) at 8:40.9:20 NOBO¢s Birdlegs, Birdman, Forest and Spaceman.We approach the beach at East Carry Pond where I tented overnight in 2005, serenaded all night by loons. Gray Feathers says they have 6 different calls. A favorite spot.10AM Middle Rd.We spot a cluster of stump puffballs, Lycoperdon pyriforme, about ping-pong ball size, which some creature has sampled and seemed to have found tasty.12:15 reach West Carry Pond. We skip the shelter. Gray Feathers and Memere stop for lunch. I ate something at 11. I¢m not hungry now. If I stop to take a break with them now, the ankle will seize up. If I keep walking it¢s flexible, but when I stop it freezes. I¢ll slow my pace and just mosey along. We¢ve got plenty of time, it¢s only 3.4 out to Long Falls Dam Rd, then another 2.3 between East Flagstaff and Long Falls Dam Rd. Plenty of time finish hiking and get both cars over to Caratunk.Memere and Gray Feathers catch up. We spook a couple of birds, one honks, one caws. 2 ducks that had been close to shore fly off onto open water. A loon calls.70¢s, sunny, blissful, too-good-to-be-true fall day.12:40 hello Pittsburgh. Have you seen Pippy? No. But she could have been in the West Carry Pond Shelter that we bypassed. She¢s been known to roadwalk in the wrong direction, Pittsburgh says. If she¢s behind me and you see her, tell her the plan is still the same, stay tonight at Pierce Pond Shelter.   OK.12:55 hello to NOBO Unicycle Pirate.Hello to NOBO Nameless Ben.Hello to NOBO Tunabag, trail-named due to having spilled tuna (actually it was chicken, he says) on his sleeping bag, way back in Georgia.Hello to NOBO¢s Pearls and Starvin Marvin, who I met on the AT in NY July 19, when I was hiking with Purple Rose. Pearls is still wearing the strand of plastic ¢pearls¢ she found on the trail at the outset of her hike. These are now mostly minus their lustrous pearly coating. Gray Feathers says back in the days when pearls, real ones, were more commonly worn, people never wore them in the summertime on bare skin because they knew that body oil and sweat spoils both luster and color.Not being precious or as damageable as real pearls, plastic pearls are wearable year-round. Pearls is just hoping that hers won¢t fall apart until after Katahdin.Until we got to NH, Pearls and Starvin Marvin say, we hiked at a speed of 2 12 mph, like clockwork. In NH and ME, one day we hiked only 6 miles, all day.2PM descending Round Top. Out at 3PM.Today¢s woods are drier than I¢ve seen in the 4 years I¢ve been hiking in Maine in September. Muddy spots are firm, no sinking in. No fords, just stone stepping. On today¢s hike there is only one slightly boggy place, no other mud at all.The bugs have retired for the season. No mosquitoes, no black flies.Deciduous leaves are coloring up, reds, oranges and yellows glowing against the greens. I promise myself to come hike Maine every year in September. Sounds like next year will be the Wilderness (3rd time for me) with Gray Feathers and Memere.At 3:20 we¢re back in the Cruiser at East Flagstaff Rd. Mala and his dog Tucker are there providing trail magic (hot food and cold drink) to the thruhikers. A sign announces ¢Mala¢s Magic, Madness and Mayhem. A Harmless Hiker Production.¢ NOBO¢s Hungus (trailname from Karl Hungus, a character played by Swedish actor Peter Stormare in the 1998 movie ¢The Big Lebowski¢) and Nice are enjoying it. Mala calls Hungus, ¢Osama¢. I think Hungus looks more like a young Fidel Castro. By this time on their long NOBO treks, so many young male thruhikers look similar: muscular, fit, tanned, full-bearded. Mala will slack Hungus and Nice to Long Falls Dam Rd. They¢ll hike back to East Flagstaff. We¢re slacking in the other direction, start 4:35.At Flagstaff Lake there¢s an upside down boat. Crammed into the centerboard hole is a stick with a plastic peanut butter jar holding it down. Wedged under the stick is a handwritten note on blue paper: TrAIL MAGIK 4.U. Return boAt/PaddlE + sigN exactly AS iS. Have Fun! it works better than it Looks. LUV, GRANitE.Out from the 2.3-mile section at 5:45.Memere and Gray Feathers pack up their tent, unintentionally dropping Gray Feathers¢s prescription glasses onto the ground in the process. We drive toward North New Portland, along the way seeing a couple of flickers in undulating flight parallel with the road.Between North New Portland and North Anson, we stop at a gas station/general store/restaurant for gas and supper. I get a roast beef hoagie to go, for tomorrow¢s lunch.At The Forks (a little north of Caratunk) we lodge in a clean spacious room for 3 at Northern Outdoors. Split three ways, the price is under $20 apiece.At Northern Outdoors hello again to NOBO¢s Pearls and Starvin Marvin. Hear their stories. After their thruhike, they¢ll vacation, then find a place to live in a favorite state, VT, then long-distance hike in Europe, then ??? Memere, Gray Feathers and I really like these 2.Gray Feathers and Memere treat me to dinner tonight! Thanks guys. All of us eat burgers and fries. I try a site-brewed draft ale (Kennebec River Brewery). Too much to eat, I save half my burger for tomorrow¢s lunch. Gray Feathers and Memere have treated me to lunch too. Thanks again guys!The hoagie I bought yesterday will have to keep til Friday. My experience is usually a hoagie, if soaked in enough oil and vinegar, will keep 4-5 days, way longer than many people think. Maybe I¢ve just been lucky, but I¢ve yet to be sick from eating old food.A police car is parked out front. Later we learn the police are there to arrest a person reported to have been stalking a hiker.