Date: 2009-09-12
From: West Carry Pond Lean-To

To: Pleasant Pond Lean-To
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: broken clouds

September 12 --I tried for an early start since I had to make it to the Kennebec River ferry crossing by 16:00. 2 minutes on the trail, I slipped off the newly built puncheons as my boot caught the edge, 2 feet down to the right, landing arm first rolling to a soft landing on my back. I had to unbuckle the pack to recover. Lucky. The path to Pierce Pond was full of roots until it led to an old wooden dam made of vertical boards, logs and wire, that became the trail, and what spilled over was the head waters of the Pierce Pond Stream which the trail followed ~3.5m over roots and up/downs to the Kennebec crossing. Along the way I saw that I might make it by 14:00 which I thought significant since I misread the ferry times as 14:00 and 16:00 instead of 14:00 to 16:00. So in my haste, I arrived at ~13:30 to find 2 guys waiting, one who said he had arrived at 11:15, just missing the early ferry. We talked, he mentioned Grits and how he had gotten him in trouble with Juice and Mommallama at the Crawford Notch Campground. I said, "Hey, you're Capt Leo, I was there sleeping on the floor next to you!" The section hiker, I met him getting on the trail, and now getting off, Caratunk was his destination. He explained the ferry ran 14:00 to 16:00, what a dope I was, as we watched the released water rise, quickly covering the 3 small islands. Just after 14:00, 2 people were milling around on the opposite bank and shortly the red canoe was headed over. We met Dave the ferryman, a real outdoorsman, with burly hat and thick ME accent to match the part. The one passenger, Olive Oil, was a SoBo, and quickly Capt Leo and the other guy were headed across, after signing a release form, while I watched them hug our side to get up river against the strong current before turning right and sweeping across. While waiting for Dave's solo return, Grits and Slagline showed, I'd gotten by them when they took a break at the Pierce Pond Lean-To, so Grits and I crossed togehter, me paddling, and I was amazed at how strong the current was. Upon exiting I spotted the painted white blaze on the floor of the canoe, very official. We waited for Slagline and made our way toward US201, they were going to stay over somewhere. Along the way we encountered a man with 2 kids and when I answered yes, I started in GA, he said to them, "See, I told you we would see some!" I was regretably polite enough to stop and talk, my nostrils flaring at the strong scent of drugstore cosmetics, aisle 3 in Rite-Aid, soap and deodorant, when the smelly guy asked, "D'ya ford the river?" "No, I took the canoe," he thought I was kidding, I guess he thought that thru-hikers can do anything. Yikes, runaway! Meanwhile Grits and Slagline kept moving and I had to hurry my pace to catch them before US201. I took a nice break, almost a nap, before heading to Pleasant Pond Lean-To to tent for the night. Along the way I met CarHop, who I hadn't seen since the Mahoosuc Notch incident, he was glad to see I was 0k and had returned to full strength. We chatted for a while, I assured him that his car was waiting for him in the lot where I had taken a break. I arrived just before dark and found a grassy slope just past the noisy shelter and good stream, noisy because one voice boomed above all others and I settled in for a nice cup of Swiss-Miss and to the familiar hooting owl that I hadn't heard for weeks.