Date: 2008-08-11
From: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-To

To: White House Landing Hostel
Miles today: 14.0

I was up pretty early and on the trail by 7am. This afternoon would get me to Whitehouse Landing and I was looking forward to it. I tried to get a weather report on my weather radio but couldn¢t receive any of the weather stations. Still, the report from yesterday had said there shouldn¢t be any rain today. I should be able to get and update at White House Landing.Elevation wise, this should be a pretty easy day. No mountains that I¢m aware of and the elevation is mostly between 500 and 900 feet. The 900 feet portion is where I¢m starting from this morning. Although dry, the morning was overcast and the trail is still quite muddy. This meant having to jump over and around the mud on the trail. In hindsight it probably would have made more sense to walk through the mud.There were a lot of small streams along the trail. Only Mud Pond and Deer Brook required fording. The rest I was able to cross wearing my boots and going over rocks. Today I began to notice a lot of mosquitos on the trail (this would last almost until the very end of the hike). Probably a combination of all the water, lack of wind at lower elevations, and recent rains. I only have about one half of a bottle of Deet left, although it is the 100% stuff (a little goes a long way). May see if the Abol Campground store has any more. In the past my worst experience with mosquitos and black flies was between Abol and Katahdin Springs Campground, in Baxter State Park.Crossed Jo-Mary Road about four miles into today¢s hike. My understanding is that you can catch a hitch on this road about 10 miles into a town for resupply or to spend the night. I¢ve never tried this. I would think the only vehicles using this road would be the logging trucks ¢ and I¢m not sure if they are allowed to even give someone a ride. Besides, with White House Landing Hostel only 10 miles further, it is a lot easier to keep hiking.Antler's Campsite is located on Lower Jo-Mary Lake. While hiking through I heard the sound of a floatplane (not that uncommon up here). The engine noise got louder and it looked like the plane was coming in for a landing on the lake. Had a great view of the landing and watched as the pilot taxied up to a nearby shoreline. He let one guy out and then took off. Not sure what all of that was about. Maybe the guy left behind was a hunter. There is a pretty interesting privy at Antlers Camp. Meant to take a picture of it, but forgot. The privy is actually a small, enclosed wooden building. There is a sign out front that says ¢Fort Relief.¢ That seemed pretty appropriate I thought.Headed around the eastern end of Jo-Mary Lake and up over the Potaywadjo Ridge. My guidebook says there is a vista about a mile down the side trail at the ridge. But I opted to bypass the vista because I wanted more time to spend at White House Landing. At Potaywadjo Spring Lean-to I met a young hiker. He was on the early portion of a southbound thru-hike. He had just come from Abol Bridge a couple of days ago. But after only a few days he was now (by his own admission) discouraged and trying to figure out what he really wanted to do. I asked what had caused him to change. He realized he didn¢t really enjoy the ¢whole backpacking thing.¢ He liked hiking and the scenery, and the physical exertion. But the routine of camping every night, packing up everything in the morning, day in and day out, wasn¢t something he could enjoy, much less tolerate. But at least he figured all of this out before he had invested a lot of time and effort. [By the way, I asked him if he would mind my putting all of this in my journal and he said no problem].Arriving next, closeby to Pemadumcook Lake, there is a side trail that I took. It was only about a football field in distance before I arrived at a great view of Mt. Katahdin in the distance. I took a couple of pictures and then headed back to the AT.I arrived at Mahar Tote Road, which leads toward White House Landing. This trail is about a mile long and the distance has probably in the past discouraged hikers from visiting the hostel. Another factor is that the trail is often under water. Back in 2006 the water came up to my knees in spots. It was funny then to see other hikers trying to go around the flooded trail, trying to find a dry path. No such luck ¢ everything was flooded! It wasn¢t so bad this year, but I still put on my Crocs for a while. Slowed me down a bit but kept my boots dry. Eventually you get to a small, wooden dock with a sign that says to sound the air horn ONCE (and only ONCE) and a boat will come to pick you up. The air horn is like those used at hockey games ¢ uses a compressed air can. It took about 15 minutes but then a small power boat picked me up (and dropped off two other hikers). Having stayed there before I knew the routine ¢ stash your gear on a bunk in the bunkhouse; get a shower in another building; wash your clothes in an authentic, old-time hand wringer; and hang out until it was time for dinner.I had misssed the big burger lunch. Instead, I took a swim and used the remaining time lying in a hammock near the dock. As far as I know, White House Landing does not have any electricity. They have a gas generator to run their appliances. Refrigeration, cooking, and hot water in the shower is done with propane. There are no fans or air conditioners. Breakfast is included with the cost for a night¢s stay, but dinner is extra. Still, I thought the dinner was a good value. You can choose from one of their giant cheeseburgers or a hand-made pizza. The beer tasted pretty good, also.They have a large cabinet that contains re-supply (food) items. This is what I needed for the remaining two days to Abol Bridge Campstore. The cost is not cheap, but where else out here are you going to resupply?By dark seven other hikers had shown up for the night. Two more were already there when I arrived. But there is plenty of room in the bunkhouse and they also have a private cabin that can be rented. There were dominoes in the ¢family room¢ of the bunkhouse and I found another hiker who played a couple of games with me before it was time to call it a night.White House Landing Boat Dock