Date: 2005-08-25
From: Monson, Maine

To: Wilson Valley Lean-to
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: broken clouds

Shaw's serves breakfast which is included with the price of the room at 6:00 sharp. I got up after a late night of watching tv last night. I got down there in time to eat. The way they work it out is, to start piling stuff up like crazy. You sit down and you order whatever you want. They basically do it, they call it 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, whatever it is you want. If you ask for a 2x2 they give you 2 eggs any way you want them; 2 pancakes; 2 sausages; 2 bacon or you can order a 3x3 which is 3 of everything; and so on. All the orange juice and coffee you can drink, donuts. A very satisfying breakfast.I was packed and ready to go already, most people did leave very early on the first shuttle out. I had things to do. I had to go to the library, I wanted to make last phone calls. There won¢t be any more phone calls now either until I finish. Then also, the southbounder that LWOP had brought in last night asked me for gear advice. I basically tore my pack apart so that he could look at everything. I spent quite a bit of time with him. Then I went to the store and got a couple beers because that was also going to be the last beers for the next 7 to 10 days. I stuck them in my bottle. Went out to the road and stuck my thumb out. Got a quick ride and was on the Trail by 12:30.It was not a bad hike up here. A little bumpy. I managed to rock hop one of the streams that was supposed to be a ford. But the second one, the Big Wilson River, there was no way to do that. And, in fact, the water was scarily deep in places. There were big, huge boulders in the river. If you were smart enough to slow down and take it easy and step on top of the boulders, the water only came up past your knees about 8 inches. But, if you managed to step between the boulders you were waist deep in water. That took a lot of time and they were very slick rocks under the water. The water was flowing very rapidly. So, I took my time and managed to get across without getting soaked.I see from the register here that Gravity and DangerPee fell into the creek, into the water, not once but twice.Trail conditions for the last three days has been very level for the most part, although full of rocks and roots, and a lot, a lot of mud and beaverdams and beaver ponds. So it¢s been an adventurous trail in that way. Also, trail maintenance does not seem to be a high priority for this section because there¢ve been dozens of blowdowns in the last few days. A lot that you could just hop over, but there were some that there was no way you could get around them. You just basically had to crawl under them or crawl over them or bushwhack around them. Some big trees, with the foliage and everything still on them. We¢re in the Maine Hundred Mile Wilderness and yet, a mile before we got to the shelter here we crossed some railroad tracks before going up the mountain. I heard a train go by here a little bit ago, so I imagine that tonight I¢m going to hear a couple of trains.104.5 miles left to go. It¢s a drop in the bucket. Despite myself, and the fact that I¢ve slowed down some, I¢m still having difficulty trying to slow down to the point where I don¢t finish by the end of August or the first of September and I¢ve basically given up on that. One of the phone calls that I made today was to call Bob and Nina to go ahead on their road trip but don¢t plan on picking me up because it¢s just not going to work out where I¢m going to sit here and wait for them for seven days. So, that¢s another adventure I¢ve had to go on after I finish the trail which is how the hell to get back home or at least to get back to North Carolina from Maine and get my truck. That¢s a 1500 mile trip, I guess. I could probably get to a big town that has a Greyhound Bus or maybe take an Amtrak Train or what the hell, I¢ll probably get really adventurous and hitchhike all the way back. That¢d be kind of cool, but I¢ll think about that.That¢s it for tonight.