Date: 2008-09-08
From: Stealth site @ the Carrabasset River, ME

To: Maine 27, Stratton, ME
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Pretty great nite¢s sleep. The wind was a little weird though, whipping up the valley and over the river. Even though it was 53 when I woke up this morning, I had all my cold weather gear on last nite. I woke at 1:00 a.m. needing to water the leaves and was hot, so I took of my down jacket and then journaled for a while, but got chilled again. Always amazes me what that light little down jacket can do for warmth.I enjoyed the rush of the Carrabasset River all nite. On occasion I could hear the wind over the river, but only a few times. I woke at my normal time after my 2 alarms and laid there again, just enjoying the feeling of hanging in my hammock, being hugged by it, warm in my gear, listening to the water. Gosh, it is the moments like this one that I¢ll miss so much in only a few weeks. The perfect last nite of solo camping for me. I didn¢t get up till around 6:45 a.m., and I looked up and down the river hoping to see something, maybe a bear or something, but nothing. I ate breakfast (I swear I¢ll never eat another Cliff Bar when this hike is over) and got packed up. I walked back down to the trail and filled my waters. 2 sobo¢s guys came across the river. Phil and Nate from MA. They started August 25th! Wow, they¢re going to be hiking in some cold weather eventually. Nice guys though, no trailnames yet.The Carrabasset River is a wide strong deep river. Someone laid a board across the 2 large rocks you can¢t rock hop over, so this allows you to get across the river without fording it. Due to all the rain we had 2 nites ago, the water level is high again. Just as I got across and up the bank, there¢s (as usual) an awesome campsite with a stone fire circle¢¦perfect for tenters, but I wouldn¢t have wanted to stay there last nite, as it is right by the trail. I liked my private little place. But, as I¢m going along, I see 2 familiar faces coming towards me. It¢s Hiker Chic and Blue Meanie (SC)!! Remember, we all camped together on nite #2 last year, at Justus Creek. Super nice people. They made it to Duncannon, PA last year and had to get off the trail, so they decided to start at Katahdin this year and hike sobo only to have Blue Meanie step in a hole, sprain his ankle and fracture his fibia. Now, 4 weeks later¢¦here they are AGAIN hiking!! Talk about perseverance! It was so great to see them and catch up. We got some pics and a day hiker named Will showed up too, and joined in our conversation. They¢ve seen 8 MOOSE!! I¢m so jealous!!! They said really great things about the Whitehouse Landing too, which Karen and I are planning to go to. Gosh, so cool to see them. Oh, and I gave them the heads up on looking for Howie, and they said if they found him, they¢d pick him up and mail him to me. YIPPY!!!So we all talked forever and now it was 8:53 a.m., and I¢d gone a total distance of across the river, normally would have had 1.5 miles in by now! LOL It was a windy cool morning but the sun was out mostly. I could see white foggy clouds hugging the tops of the mountains though. Today I had to tackle the Crocker Mountains, a double peaked mountain. The first 1.5 miles looks bad on the topos but weren¢t at all. The trail was nice, a little muddy, but that¢s nothing new. I got to the Crocker Cirque Campsite and that¢s when the steep section really starts up this mountain, for a little over 1 mile. You¢d think these 1 mile climbs would fly by, but man, I never thought I¢d get to the top of this one. Somedays it just seems to take longer. I got to a section that was totally like that rocky descent down into Duncannon, PA. I decided this was a good time for a break. I sat down and looked out at the mountains, a bog down below, and wow was it beautiful. The sun was making its way around towards the valley too. Quite a site, but it got pretty cool as I sat there sweat soaked. I called my mom, who I hadn¢t talked to in a few days and got caught up with her. I headed on, kept climbing and climbing, the trail would go into the woods and then back out to the side of the mountain on rocky ledgy stuff. I did, however, find myself in the midst of wild Maine blueberries, so I HAD to stop and eat some. They were slightly sour, but I didn¢t care. It just felt good to eat something other than the normal dry and processed trailfood. There are 2 berries out here that are blue. One is on a 3-leaved plant and the berry sticks up on a thin stem. The color is a waxy shiny blue. These are not edible. The blueberries you can eat are on more of a bush with small spear-shaped leaves and well, we all know what blueberries look like¢¦almost a powdered look and dull in color. I wonder what happens if you eat the other ones because often, both types are near each other. Then there are the bright red berries that nobody (even animals) seem to eat. Don¢t know what those are exactly. I had my handful of berries and headed on and up and up and up. I¢ve sort of realized that my hiking speed does not change all that much with full pack versus daypack. You¢d think it would, but my short legs will only move so quickly, and I¢m a somewhat cautious hiker because if I try to go too fast, I end up rolling my ankle or falling everytime. I¢ve been getting more clumsy out here as my body is becoming fatigued. I¢ve noticed a deep fatigue that I¢ve not experienced before. It¢s deep in the muscles of my legs and I feel it in my tendons and knees too. C¢mon body¢¦just a little further and then I¢ll switch you over to swimming or something low impact for a while. (Of course, I¢m already thinking about what section of the AT I want to do first¢¦again LOL)I FINALLY got to the south peak of Crocker Mountain and sat down for some fig newtons and Gatorade. It was windy and all the trees were dripping, so I think those white clouds were very humid or it rained way up here and not in the valley where I was last nite. It was 53 cold degrees, but I kept moving so I¢d not get too cold.   It was a quick .4 down and then (in normal Maine fashion) .6 right back up, only higher this time to the north peak! Ugh¢¦Maine is full of this up and down stuff, which really taxes your muscles too. I just can¢t decide what type of hiking I prefer, because it all hurts. Up and down, all up, and what I had ahead of me now¢¦a 5.2 mile descent all the way down to Maine 27 where you go to Stratton, and where Karen would be waiting for me around 2:30 p.m. It didn¢t look horrible on the topos though, but that length of any downhill can be pretty painful.Most of today was spent in pine/spruce forests with my favorite green moss. That only changed when I got way down in elevation towards the road. The trail was mostly dirt with some rocks and roots to dodge, but the north side of Crocker Mountain was definitely better trail than the side I came up with it¢s rock fields.Just as I headed down, I ran into Dr. Dick and Ghost again. They have 2 vehicles and are doing their own slackpacking. Ghost thru-hiked a few years back, and Dr. Dick is finishing his multi-hear section hike this year! HOW EXCITING!!! So they were headed up, going sobo to Dr. Dick¢s truck which he had on Caribou Valley Rd., a logging road that a higher vehicle can make it down. I told them I¢d see them in Stratton.Down and down now, I was trying to take easy steps to give my knees a break. Around noon I was starving, so I plopped down on a rock and dug out my lunch. I was partially blocked from the wind but I¢d already stopped and put my long sleeves shirt on earlier. I could hear the wind and the sun was also shining a bit. As I sat there eating, a flicker caught my eye. One single drop of rain was hanging from a tiny branch and I happen to be sitting at the right place to see the prism effect on this one tiny droplet. So cool. I tried taking a picture, but it¢s not the greatest. Then I saw another droplet of water hanging from a branch closer to me and did get a cool close up shot of it. I headed on around 12:30 p.m., not exactly knowing what my pace was or where I was, but I knew the trail was going to get very flat for about 1 mile, so that was my next sort of landmark since there wasn¢t anything else to keep track with.I never know if the warmth of lower elevations happens because I¢m lower or because it¢s later in the day and the sun has warmed things up, but there¢s almost an invisible boundary that once you drop below it, it¢s drier, warmer and much like hiking in the mid-Atlantic states. This is also where you see lower elevation trees mixing with spruces, and the suddenly the spruces are gone. Nature is amazing.I got hot and took my long sleeved shirt off. I was in that flat section and basically the trail is cutting along the side of a mountain so there¢s pretty much zero elevation change. It just went on and on¢¦muddy sometimes, rocky sometimes, rooty sometimes, but on and on.   Can you believe I actually started getting pissy about how long it was taking to get to the road, despite the fact the trail couldn¢t be easier? Geez¢¦somedays I¢m never happy huh? Finally I hit an area where I knew where I was, and it was steeper going down now, which told me I had about 1.5 miles to go. To modify my crappy mood (don¢t ask me¢¦sometimes you just get pissy when everything in the world is right) I got my music out, which always helps, and boy did it. Before I knew it, I wasn¢t focusing on my hurting feet or knees, I wasn¢t obsessing about how long it was taking to get to the road, I was just singing along and even dancing a little going down the path. Man, if anyone ever comes up behind me and catches me doing this, I¢d be SO embarrassed.   I mean, it¢s one thing when you are actually listening to the music, can hear it and feel the beat, it¢s entirely different when you come upon some stinky woman whose voice is shaky and jolted by each step taken, slightly out of tune on occasion and then to see this mass stop and wiggle to the beat¢¦well, I can¢t imagine it¢s a positive experience for an on-looker. Sort of like the time last year I got caught by a lost day hiker singing Whitesnake¢s ¢Still of the Night¢ at the top of my lungs. Poor guy¢¦.hope I didn¢t scar him too much.It ended up being a perfect Maine day again though. The remnants of Hanna are gone and the sun was out, a crispness to the air that tells me Fall is arriving, leaves blowing around¢¦.and even a few early bird trees changing color already. It¢s about 2:45 p.m. now, I can hear the traffic on Maine 27 so I know I¢m close. I¢m diddy-bopping along singing and then suddenly I recognize a very familiar blue striped shirt. Karen is hiking up the trail towards me! I love it when she does this, it¢s always a great surprise.   I ran down to her and gave her a big hug. Whew¢¦made it.We hiked down to the road together, and made it to the car. It always feels so good to sit in the car, knowing I¢m on my way to a hot shower and real meal. We drove into the big town of Stratton (which isn¢t really a big town at all¢¦about the size of Andover really). Karen had made a reservation for a room at the Stratton Motel, run by Sue. We got here and guess who walks out? Freakin Rhino and his dog Ronja¢¦the German guy I¢d run into back in VT who had hiked 30 miles or so in flip flops to Hanover! He¢s already made it to Katahdin and started back south again!! LOL Geez..he¢s crazy. I think he found a ride to Boston with another hiker, and left today though. I¢m glad I got to see him again, and Ronja definitely looked more energetic today. He started chuckling and asked about my hobbling as I got out of the car. I don¢t think this guy has a stiff or sore muscle in his body. Amazing athlete really.Sue wasn¢t here at the moment, so I looked inside the hostel portion of the motel. It¢s quite nice. Full kitchen, full-sized fridge, living area, laptop computer for hikers to use and a bunkroom. Then there¢s about 5 private rooms too, and we had one of those reserved. Sue pulled up with her dog Knucklhead and she¢s just a wonderful easy going friendly woman. I had talked to her on the phone and noticed a familiar accent¢¦well come to find out, she¢s a Virginia transplant! She said she¢d come down later and talk to us about the best routes for slackpacking for Karen¢s car, etc. Karen also told her that she¢d be happy to help out with shuttling while we¢re here. I hope that works out, because Sue is running this whole place by herself, much like Bob was back in Rangeley. That¢s gotta be hard.We got the end room, and it¢s a lovely little room with a small fridge, microwave, t.v., but we can also use the full kitchen in the hostel, and there¢s wi-fi so we can use Karen¢s computer in the room too! Score!!!!I took my normal 45 minutes long post-hike shower. I hiked all this time with the bottoms of my hiking pants zipped on, so it kept my legs much cleaner. I think I¢ll do that for now on since the temps are cooler.And now it was time for ¢my moment¢ where I just lay down and relish the feeling of clean, warm, feet-elevated relaxation¢¦.ahhhh¢¦¢¦ And then my stomach started speaking up, so I eventually got dressed. About that time, someone knocked on the door. It was Racoon!!! FINALLY!!! He¢s Lipstick¢s husband, and we¢ve been missing each other barely for about a week. We realized the day I was out canoeing in Little Swift River Pond, he actually saw me out there but hiked on past. Hilarious huh?What a great guy. We all decided to go to the White Wolf Caf© for dinner. He showed us this huge gash on his hand from the Mahoosuc Notch¢¦OUCH! Tons of other hikers showed up too, Bilge Rat, Ghost, Dr. Dick, the 4 hikers I can¢t seem to remember their names though (Hot Tang, Earthbound, and 2 guys), Animal, and others. The place filled up.We had a wonderful conversation over dinner about California, the history of the state, and also hiking topics like what was surprising or unexpected about the hike. Racoon said he thought by the time he got to Damascus, VA he¢d be effortlessly hiking over the mountains and it¢s just never happened. I agreed, it never ever ever gets ¢easy.¢ I think the only people that (at least appear) to be able to effortlessly go over these mountains are the 20-something year old guys out here who no matter what they do to their bodies, they can get up in the morning and do it all over again. Racoon is a very intelligent (self-described as analytical) man, and it was great getting to talk with a new person. So now, I¢ve just gotta meet you Lipstick! How about traildays next year?So let¢s talk about dinner for a moment. I was good and ordered a big salad, but I also ordered the biggest damn 1/2 lb hamburger I¢ve ever forced into my mouth! This thing was HUGE!! Really really good though¢¦bacon, cheese, grilled onion, lettuce, tomatoe, and mayo with some damn good fries too. We got our food first and Bilg Rat who was sitting in the booth behind us peered over the top and started whimpering like a starving dog. At that moment, he looked exactly like the muppet, Animal, which made me laugh. I washing this dinner down with 2 cokes and some blueberry rhubarb cake a la mode. Interesting stuff, but not as good as Strawberry Rhubarb pie. We chatted a bit more and then all headed back to the Stratton Motel. I¢m zeroing tomorrow to get laundry done, catch up on journaling, etc., but Racoon is heading out. Karen said she¢d be happy to give him a ride back to the trailhead. He said he¢s only going about 5miles, so a 9 a.m. start would be perfect. Thanks for the great conversation Racoon. Hope we see each other again out there!Karen and I walked into the little market and picked up some milk and cereal for breakfast, then headed back to the room and fell asleep watching Scrubs on the tube. Another great day as an AT hiker. Will I ever be able to readjust to being a normal person again? Oh¢¦187.8 more miles!!!!!~Certain