Date: 2017-08-12
From: Trail Magic Camp / Long Pond Tote Rd

To: Carl Newhall Lean-to
Miles today: 21.7
Weather: light rain

The morning started early as usual. It had rained overnight and so everything was wet but we relocated to the cabin's porch while we all woke up. Inside the smell of pancakes wafted out and soon Birdman plopped a large pile of pancakes and some real maple syrup down in front of us. We dug in and in no time the pile had been reduced to nothing. The raspberries that the girls had picked last night we a wonderful addition to the breakfast and we were all reluctant to move afterwards. Last night Birdman had been explaining that the road that ran in front of the cabin connected to another road which rejoined the trail in about 15min having bypassed the next series of mountains. Lost had been planning to road walk today to reduce the burden on her knees, but during breakfast Birdman generously offered to slack pack all of us up to the point where the trail crossed the road again. Everyone jump on the opportunity and I opted to not carry the majority of my food, keeping only a day's worth with me and packing the rest up into the back of the truck to reduce my load. Most everyone else emptied their packs, carrying only a bit of food, water (and beer), and a rain jacket, but I opted for the compromise. Lost decided to stay behind and help move the bags, agreeing to meet up at the pack drop point at the end of today and the rest of us headed out. We moved along, our packs light and spirits high from the magic we had been fortunate enough to receive. We chatted throughout the morning, the weather still gray as we ascended a mountain up into the clouds, the landscape disappearing below us. The mountains up here seemed steeper and the climb up to the top was short but steep. We took a short break up at an abandoned fire tower, marked only by the large metal supports protruding from the rock, its platform having been removed/destroyed. We only rested briefly because we quickly cooled down in the moderate breeze. The trail wound up and down, through another bog, over a series of treacherously slick rocky faces, and I let the others pull a bit ahead to enjoy the peace, solitude, and blueberries. I caught them not long after at a waterfall which crossed the trail and we took lunch there. I pulled ahead after lunch, meeting a couple hikers from a nearby AMC hut who were out exploring the numerous trails in the area and had wanted to come up to the AT so that the could say they hiked it (though they planned to omit how much of it they hiked). We chatted about my hike and they ended up gifting me the cookies from the lunch that the had gotten from the hut, a welcome treat on this rather dreary day. The afternoon stretched out, mile after mile, the main excitement coming from a steep scramble down from a rocky ridge, hopping from boulder to boulder, slick with mist and rain, and doing my best to not eat-it in a manner which would severely injure myself. The rocky ledges that the trail followed offered views of the expansive wilderness from amongst the scraggly pines which adorned the crest. For as far as the eye could see (which granted wasn't as far as normal given the weather) the forest stretched on over the undulating ridges, the depressions gouged by the titantic glaciers as they had retreated after the last ice age. Not a road, town, or structure in sight the land felt wild. A good feeling.As the trail wound down off the ridge I started running into the occasional hiker, growing more frequent. A good or bad sign, depending on how you look at it. On one hand, it meant I was coming up to the road which meant only a couple more miles for the day. On the other, it meant I was going to have to pick up my food and carry it those last couple miles. In the distance I started hearing the low rumble of trucks (probably logging trucks) and soon enough I crossed a wide gravel road and continued down to the river. The trail followed the river for a bit before forking. I headed right, back to the road to retrieve my food, which had been hidden behind a log a ways into the woods, as agreed. Lost, was nowhere to be found though. Atop my pack I found a small note... "Decided to stay at the cabin another night, will meet up tomorrow. I found fudge! - Lost". I was not terribly pleased as I repacked my food... Lost was enjoying another night at the cabin, drinking beer and eating burgers, had somehow apparently found fudge, while I was stuck lugging this extra ~7lbs of food another couple miles to a shelter. I trudged back to the river, switched into my sandals, forded, and swapped back and continued on, eager to get away from the crowds. Cars had lined the road and there were a multitude of people on this section of trail. The next 2mi of trail were well groomed... flat and with most of the rocks having been removed for the benefit of the day hikers who wandered this path up to the "Grand Canyon of Maine". The AT eventually branched off back into the woods, returning to its normal rocky, uneven, self after that brief interlude. To further the contrast, the next section of trail had an unusually high number of blow downs, which slowed the last couple miles. By this time I was pretty ready to be done for the day and every upcoming flat section filled me with hope that I had finally found camp, only to be disappointed. Along the way I ran into Tropical and Sgt, who SOBOs-gone-NOBO that I had met in the Smokies and we chatted for a bit before heading our separate ways. After crossing another bog the trail started following a stream uphill and finally reached camp. The shelter was located on the side of a hill and only had a few spots flat enough to support a tent, so I grabbed a spot in the shelter. From there I ran through my routine... filtering water, changing clothes and relaxing as evening began to overtake the shelter. Two section hikers, friends from the crew team at college, Sean and ????, had been at the shelter when I arrived and made dinner as well, lamenting their sore and blistered feet. As I unpacked my food back for dinner I came across a large chuck of fudge, wrapped in wax paper. I certainly hadn't packed it, but Lost's note put me in a better mood now... not a taunt about her good fortune but a bit of magic. I savored the chocolate fudge after my dinner, its richness a perfect dessert after a long day of hiking. I didn't last much longer after dinner... Monkey joined me at the shelter tonight, the only one of the crew to make it, the rest having stopped somewhere back a couple miles probably. Tomorrow I've got a mountain or two... neither should be too bad, and then the terrain gets pretty flat for the rest of the way.