Date: 2005-08-23
From: East B Hill Rd., Andover

To: South Arm Rd.
Miles today: 10.1

Nothing like ending my first week with a slackpack, especially over terrain which is - what else - up and down all day. So this morning, my innkeeper Sandra drove me and Doug, a retired Ford employee from Michigan who¢s section hiking from here south, to the East B Hill Rd. trailhead. Among Sandra¢s many services are providing us slackpackers with day packs so I was carrying even less weight than anticipated.We faced an immediate ascent but for the most part, the trail in the first half of the day was gradual. Started out as an ideal day with blue skies and temperatures cool enough to warrant a jacket if we weren¢t hiking uphill. Later, conditions became foggy and my shorts were soaked from brushing by the evergreens from the narrow pathway. Forest fairly dense but we had one nice viewpoint north which featured among other peaks, Saddleback which comes later in the hike. Surplus Pond was shining like a jewel (I guess there¢s so many ponds around here that this one¢s ¢surplus¢). Following the pond was an ascent up Wyman Mountain then a brief descent to Hall Mt. Leanto. So far, very manageable.Then the ¢fun¢ - an insufferable descent into Sawyer Notch, one which I rate as my second most difficult of the hike-to-date (nothing compares yet to the notorious Carlo Col descent my second day). My right ankle is still sore from yesterday, a soreness exacerbated by this plunge into the abyss of Sawyer Notch. Doug was ahead of me at this point since he was much faster downhill than me.One piece of good news: a SOBO dayhiker I met assured me that the water source at Bemis Shelter (likely abode tomorrow night) was adequate despite rumors to the contrary.At least Sawyer Brook was nice - the rocks protruded barely above the water but sufficient to leap across. While eating the sandwich procured from the local general store (very friendly and accommodating ladies who also served me their huge blueberry pancakes for breakfast), I met two middle aged SOBO section hikers also slacking. They and I have identical feelings and bodily reactions to steep downhills. As it turned out, they had chosen the more difficult route.I¢m finished with lunch, I¢ve got 2 hours to make South Arm Rd. for Sandra¢s pickup so I¢m in good shape. The ascent out of Sawyer Notch to Moody Mountain was as difficult as there is but being practically weight-free, I hit a good stride without stopping. The sheer steepness (1,200¢in about a mile) and the presence (necessary!) of iron rungs bolted into the rock and large wooden ¢ladders¢ along slippery slopes made me very grateful that I hadn¢t hiked in the reverse direction. By now, the skies were blue again but this ascent took forever - after the steep part was done,the gradual portion seemed to never end amid many false summits. But thankfully, the descent down to South Arm Rd. was much more forgiving, putting me down (after another hop-skip-and-jump across Black Brook) on South Arm Rd. with 10 minutes to spare. Doug was there talking to Vapor while he relaxed in the sun. He had spent last night at Hall Mt. LT but hitched back into Andover this morning for more of those blueberry pancakes.So a week of hiking is complete with 52 miles in the books - not as much as I¢d have liked but I¢m ready to keep going. Finished resupplying in Andover. Tomorrow will likely see me hike to Bemis Mt. Leanto - the original plan of 17 miles to Sabbath Pond just seems too unattainable for me at this time.