Date: 2014-09-11
From: Poplar ridge

To: S. Carrabasett Rv
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: light rain

In which I am soaked to the core and survived a terrifying, lonely descent to the river.Rumor had it the rain was to begin around midnight. The shelter was packed with old, snoring, farting men walking around in their underware and I was never so grateful to be tucked into my cozy tent. The rain actually began at 0400 rather gently. My tent was soaked come time to break camp and pack up. It wasn't raining when I left camp however, it did start shortly thereafter. For the most part the rain was gently but the winds were gusting and brutal. I donned my rain gear more for warmth and quickly found myself soaking wet. My clothes I was wearing were soaked, my pack and cover were soaked and even some of the items in my pack were a little wet. Ugh!The morning walk was lonely, relatively flat and foggy with no views other than that of clouds blowing through the mountain tops. I made it to the first shelter at noon and decided to cook some warm food since I was feeling rather cold. I feasted on mac and cheese with a salmon pack and some hot coffee with hot chocolate. It hit the spot and was delish! It definitely warmed me up nicely. The shelter was filling up fast, about 6 guys in there setting up shop for the night. It was too early and too cold to stay for the night. So I pushed on into the rain with a full belly.There was quite a good climb up Spaulding mtn. then a rolling ridge walk. That was more like puddle hopping from rock to rock and I have to say it was rather fun. I also had mud, ruts, rocks and slippery roots to make the hike even more challenging and slippery leaves. Oh so much fun! I slipped a few times but that ended well, no injuries to report. The final descent to the South Branch of the Carrabassett ford was a totally different story than this morning. It was a very long, steep descent which in and of itself wasn't bad. It was however on the windy side of the mountain, exposed with sheer drop offs down the side of the mountain. I had to step over the site of a few rock slides down the mountain to continue along the trail. To add more fun the rain was coming down making the rocks very slick with mud and sheer drop offs down the cliff. Oh, and did I mention the wind?! It was gusting so strongly that adjusting to compensate for the wind left me falling over when it promptly died down for a moment. My balance was all but gone. I felt like I was a little toy ship in a very rocky ocean being bounced around, which I was. I'm pretty over these terrifying, steep rocks descents. This stretch seemed to be never ending. No one else was around and one misstep literally could mean death. I'm not just exaggerating here. It was for real.And thankfully done! And I'm still alive. And the ford wasn't bad. The river was beautiful and wide and loud and raging. It actually sounded like a waterfall. Thankfully there was a bouncy log on which to cross instead of plowing through. I now have a wet camping site alone the creek by the river. I'm soooo happy to be done with that hike down the mountain side. Two other people are in this camping area so far. I'm changed into warm, dry clothes and they feel so good. My clothes are totally soaked and there is a very slim chance that they will be dry by the morning. My shoes are sloshing and I had to ring all the water out of my socks, very brown dirty water might I add.I managed to stay dry over the first river crossing today. Others weren't so lucky. That was also a very steep, straight up climb after that ford. It really has been a day! I'm cooked.