Date: 2013-09-01
From: Logan Brook Lean - To

To: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to
Miles today: 11.7

Start Logan Brook Lean-to, mile 2114.5Stop Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to, mile 2126.2Sleep lean-toCell noneHiked 11.7 miles Northbound59.7 miles remainingHiked 173.8 miles 2013 ATOld Goat's notes:We have reached the Promised Land of flat terrain. Okay we will have some hills but no major mountains. The last few miles today were pleasant. I remember the next few to be the same. We are finding ourselves stopping early because we don't have the staying power to do really big miles, especially if we have hills to climb as part of it. Today we went over Little Boardman Mountain, it wasn't as big as we have been doing but the climb took a lot out of us still and all we hiked 11.7 miles in about 7 hours. The next shelter is another 11 miles from here so a 22 mile day is out of the question. We've been staying in shelters because of the weather predictions. It was supposed to rain last night and today but it hasn't happened yet. Although we didn't get rained on last night I did see light flashes last night but no thunder. Someone got rained on but not us. We will see if tomorrow's prediction of 100% chance of rain happens. We are planning 15 miles tomorrow rain or shine. We started this journey 4 years ago and we are still chipping at it. Fifty some miles to go and the journey will be complete. I am having back pains that I hope go away so I can climb Katahdin when we get there. I guess a good dose of vitamin I (Ibuprofen) might do the trick. We are at Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to, there is a cascading waterfall that fills a huge pool of water in front of the lean-to. One hiker swam in the water but I don't want to get cold so I'll pass on the opportunity to do so. It is very picturesque. With that said we're settled in and preparing for an evening fire (Cowboy TV). Incidentally I don't know if Check 6 mentioned her camp shoes yet. We bought her a pair of Vivobarefoot shoes. They are very lightweight and she says they feel more secure than Crocs when fording rivers. The drawback to them is she says she can feel every little stone she steps on. We removed the insole and tongue which had padding but would retain water after a river ford. I highly recommend them to future hikers for camp shoes. We also outfitted her with a Neoair air mattress that replaced her Thermarest mattress. This time we reduced weight and bulk in her pack. It looks so comfortable I'm sorry I didn't get one for me too. Check 6's notes:Happy 12th Anniversary to our son and daughter-in-law. At the top of the last mountain we tried to call and wish them a happy anniversary but got our son's voice mail. We left a quick message and then the cell service bars disappeared so we wouldn't have been able to talk much anyway. We hope you had a lovely day, Chris and Kathleen!The terrain is finally fairly flat...after 2 more mountains today. There are a couple more coming in the next few days, but other than them, the terrain is nearly flat. Whoo hoo! It was nice hiking this afternoon. We stopped early again because mountains tire us out and because we've heard more rain is coming so we want to be sure we have a place in the lean-to tonight. The last Old Goat heard on his radio calls for rain all day tomorrow...it won't be pleasant hiking, but the terrain is mostly flat. We hope to do 15 miles tomorrow and stay at a place called Whitehouse Landing. Looking at our food, we need another couple meals, and the Whitehouse Landing can give us dinner and breakfast. The bummer is that it's .9 off the trail to get to it!It looks now as if we'll reach Katahdin Stream on 9/6, and if the weather is good we'll go up Mt Katahdin on 9/7. I'm glad we've been able to be flexible. The threat of rain has changed our plans. If tomorrow didn't sound so awful we'd probably hike farther today and camp somewhere. It's no fun to pack up in the rain, however, so we decided to stop shorter today and stay in the shelter. I do hate, however, that I feel like such a wimp when we stop early (before 2:30) and thru-hikers stop by for a quick break and then leave to hike another 11 or more miles for the day! If the weather was predicted to be sunny and perfect I'd be happy to hike on and camp somewhere. I've become such a wimp when it comes to hiking...wanting only nice days and easy terrain. I'm so angry at myself right now for not wanting to go to the next campsite that doesn't have a lean-to because it's supposed to rain. I keep crying because I feel bad for us stopping here. We hiked through a LOT of rain in 2009 (more than half the time!), so what's all this emotion about???!!!! It's later now, we have a nice fire going in the fire pit (we rarely do that, but it's so nice), it's been peaceful all afternoon (only one couple stopped by and they decided to pitch their tent up the trail a ways), and I took a nap. I think my emotions are mostly from exhaustion. I feel fine now after a restful afternoon and quiet. Sent from my iPhone