Date: 2009-08-22
From: Carl A. Newhall Lean-To 

To: Chair Back Gap Lean-To
Miles today: 9.9

Well, it¢s Saturday night, and we all know what that means! That¢s right: bath time, and boy did it feel great! After making my drop box rendezvous with Cathy Prevle and her husband, Kevin at the Trail parking lot (I arrived a couple of hours earlier than planned, so I had unpacked most of my gear, which was airing out, and was enjoying my hot meal for the day when they arrived). After a short visit, I then hiked the final four and tough miles of the day up to the lean-to in really good shape. These days, ¢really good shape¢ means without falling down and at a pace that is more indicative of normal hiking, even with a 1,500¢ elevation gain involved. Upon arriving, I organized my things carefully because tomorrow is a long (15.8 mile) day on probably the toughest section on this trip, and I want to make as quick a departure as possible when I get going. Before bed, I ate dinner, removed my clothes, and enjoyed a warm water sponge bath from feet up to the knees, and then after restarting the water with fresh water, did everything from the head down. No sooner had I finished bathing that it started to rain ¢ a cool downpour, compliments of the clouds that came up today for only the last hour, but just in time for the spectacular rainbow before it was time to go to bed. I felt better than yesterday, and (to my great surprise!), spotted Saddleback Mountain off to the southeast, which I hiked a year ago. In addition, the view from the Chair Back Mountain there were acres of green trees and rolling hills to be enjoyed. As the Trail goes (this is definitely not the same as how the crow flies), Katahdin is 84 miles north, and Saddleback is 103 miles south, which places me close to the midpoint of this section and 34 of the way through the 100-mile Wilderness with only two days left, presuming all goes according to plan. The reason I arrived at the meeting spot on Katahdin Ironworks Road to meet with Cathy Prevle for my food drop was because my lean-to-mates, ¢Skittles¢ and ¢Moonwalker,¢ were early risers, and I ended up getting up sooner than normal. I also cut my ¢busman¢s holiday tour¢ of Gulf Hagas short, walking only a few miles of the loop trail to see the waterfalls and the gorges before recovering my pack that I had stashed at the beginning of the trail and headed back out onto the AT. I only passed a handful of NOBO¢s today (¢Scout,¢ and ¢Snarl¢ whom stopped long enough to exchanged Trail info and pleasantries while the other basically sailed on by with Katahdin clearly in his sights. I was surprised by the large number of day hikers who were visiting the Hagas Trail though ¢ far more than I would have expected. Cathy Prevle and her husband were a delight. She brought me the requested bag of chips (too big for me to even finish), two bananas, and a cold diet Coke, pulled out a folding chair for me to sit in while I finished cooking my supper on the tailgate of their truck, and just to take a few minutes for chitchat. I wish I had thought to have her take a picture of me at my own version of an AT tailgate party. As you probably gathered from my description of my Saturday night bath, I¢m alone at the lean-to again this evening with a very pesky shelter mouse, who is trying to access my trash bag while it is only inches away from where I am sitting and writing. This mouse is probably related to the one at last night¢s shelter who ran over my face while I was sleeping, which I presumed was doing it just for kicks (I hope this one doesn¢t try that because I didn¢t find his cousin¢s antics at all amusing!). Oh well. If that¢s the one thing I have to contend with, I¢m in good shape.It has now stopped raining, I have finished my PB&J dinner, cookies, and mini cigar (thank you ¢Hoosier Bob,¢ wherever you are!), and stashed it where the mice can¢t get to it. So, it¢s now time to turn off my headlamp and go to sleep.