Date: 2014-09-20
From: East Branch Lean To

To: Potaywadjo Spring Lean to
Miles today: 19.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Another cold night. Was in my tights and fleece in my liner and bag. Up at 5:30 and it was quite cold. Put on my vinyl gloves under my glove to try and keep warmer. Packed up and had my cereal. Out tent site was really neat among the boulders.On the trail at 6:50 in anticipate of the ford and food pickup at 9:30. Trail was good. Got to East Branch of Pleasant River ready to ford and it was a rock hop. Had a 300' climb which was good but not steep or rocky. Got to Mountain View Pond at 7:45 making excellent time of 2 MPH. We climbed Little Boardman Mountain and arrived at 8:30. We had a hour to go 1.3 miles to Cooper Brook Road for our food. We flew down the mountain arriving at Cooper Road at 9:05. Got our packs ready for our food drop. This is when the day turned bad. We waited till 9:30 for our food. The weather was windy and cold. By 9:45 no one had showed up. We had no cell reception to call. At 10 we knew something went wrong. Rowdy went for water at 10:15 then I left to see if I could get cell reception. 10:30 Rowdy started to call me, I was probably 1/4 mile down the trail. The gentleman from Shaw's had arrived. He had been waiting at Jo Mary Road until 10 then came here since we hadn't showed up. I kind of went crazy with him. He said this was Crawford Pond road. I told him I mention K B pond road. He explained that he would have return to Jo Mary Road if we were not here. Unfortunately we didn't know this. We packed up all our food which was very heavy. In the long run we could have scheduled the drop at Jo Mary for early afternoon meeting since it was only 7 miles more.Finally got back on the trail at 11:05. The trail ran along the pond for a ways. It was flat and fast. I took off my jacket I had put on at the food drop and Rowdy went ahead. We finally met up at Cooper Brook Falls Lean to for lunch at 11:50 for 25 minutes.The trail remained fast and flat and ran next to Cooper Brook. We covered the 3.7 miles to Jo Mary in 1 1/2 hours. Very Fast. I got water then the trail became more rocky and tedious. We also didn't see some of the landmarks in AWOL guide. We saw a sign for a trail to Cooper Pond which was to be 2 1/2 miles that we saw in 27 minutes. We got to a bridge in less than an hour but we didn't know which one. We then crossed 2 streams rock hopping but there was also a rope assist. We finally got to Antler's Campsite at 3:30. We had 3 1/2 miles to get to Potaywadjo Spring Lean To with one climb. The trail turned tedious with rocks which slowed us some. The climb was gradual but still an end of day climb. My left heel started to get sore. The downhill was gradual and we arrived at 5:10. Nice tent areas and good water source. Rod n Reel was already here in the shelter. Got caught up with him then got water. Set up my tent and started dinner. Sorted my food and repacked it from the food drop. I had my dehydrated veggies and pasta and shrimp. Veggies don't seem to get rehydrated well. Discussed our next day which may be another 18 miler depending on the weather and trail.A fast long somewhat frustrating day. Did 19.5 miles in 8 hours of hiking. Left foot has become more sore. Not sure if it's my shoes, the trail or the speed and distance we have been doing. It seems to increase after about 14 or 15 miles. Rest should help but I will try to slow down. Only 4 more days to enjoy Maine and the trail. Kind of feeling weird with the end so near. Also started to flashback to events I have experienced over the past 6 months.