Date: 2009-09-07
From: Dream Lake Campsite, NH

To: Full Goose Shelter, ME
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: clear sky

We have officially crossed the 1900 mile mark! As of tonight we have 276.5 miles to go before we reach the summit of Katahdin. This morning Bark and I were up at 6am and packed up by 6:45. Not sure how it happened so quickly, but it was great to get out so early- chilly, but good. We hiked for about 35 minutes or so before coming to a pond overlook. Since we have been seeing mounds of moose droppings and even a few moose prints in the mud, we hoped that this would be the morning we would actually see the whole moose. Bark and I came down onto some rocks and all of a sudden he was shushing me, and motioning me to catch up to him. I looked through the trees and there she was...a great big moose! Standing right out in the water about chest deep was a beautiful female moose. She was obviously eating as we could hear her munching away and splashing a little as she maneuvered through the water and muddy soil. She just stood there and let us watch her, completely undisturbed by our presence. It was incredible. We snapped a few pictures and even got a few minutes of video footage. Even though we wanted to stay longer, there was much hiking to be done so we pressed on another 20 minutes or so to the first shelter.Before getting there we saw Hiking Poles leaving for their hike and soon after Dragon Breath, Katywampus and Iceman. We were pretty excited about our moose sighting so we shared a few pics and then we all headed out to conquer Success Mountain. The small group of us that hiked out from the shelter spread out on the trail throughout the morning, but we all met back up at a very important mile marker...the Maine/New Hampshire state line. It is wild to think that we have completed 13 states and now we are left with only one. Maine is said to be the most difficult (at least Southern Maine) and we are right here ready to see for ourselves. It is a surreal feeling to be here.Our afternoon was filled with many steep ups and downs and more hand over hand climbing. Even a few rock climbing techniques came in handy today. The views were incredible though- a few 360 degree lookouts and lots of alpine ridge walking. While crossing some very muddy bog logs today I somehow managed to wedge my foot in between the end of one and the beginning of the next. In went my foot, about half way up my shin into very wet and squishy mud. I have a pretty nice purple lump on my shin, not to mention a soggy sock and shoe. Only about 10 minutes after my graceful fall, Bark's shoe got stuck in some soft grass and over he went. Maine was his last state to try and stay on his feet, but it looks like today did him in for sure. He was pretty devastated, but luckily unscathed from the fall. This morning we wondered if we would be able to make it through the Mahoosuc Notch today, but by 4 o'clock we had decided it would not be a good idea and figured that fresh legs in the morning would be our best bet. Around 4:30pm we rolled into the shelter where we saw Katywampus, Iceman, and Duckman. Even though it was still pretty early we all sat around and made dinner while talking about the places we would be living after the trail and what we did before the trail too.With the sun going down early these days it does not take long for it to get cold at night. We all split up soon after dinner and bundled up in our tents. Bark and I commenced our nightly routine of sorting out our books and the journaling device, but then started to hear a very familiar voice from way back in Damascus, VA. We have been looking for our friend Houdini for the past couple of months now since she decided to do a flip flop and head South. Sure enough, when we yelled her name she came right over to the tent because she recognized our voices too. It was so fun to catch up with her and hear how her hike has been going. She told us about Maine and what to expect and gave us some good advice before heading out to eat her dinner in the shelter. We hope to see her in the morning before heading out. In the morning Bark and I will tackle the Mahoosuc Notch and the Mahoosuc Arm- not much more than house sized boulders we have to climb up, around, over and down, can't wait!