Date: 2007-09-15
From: West Carry Pond Lean-to

To: Caratunk, ME
Miles today: 14.0

It began to rain about 3.00 AM and I was glad I had stayed in the shelter. JB hit the trail about 10 minutes before me, I left by 7.30 AM, but I didn't see him again until the Kennebec River crossing. I took back my final piece of gear this morning, my tent, so JB is now back to carrying only his own gear and none of mine. What a guy to have stayed with me and carried enough of my gear to keep me on the trail and my hike on track! I am now back to a full pack again but have greatly appreciated the weight relief while my ankle has slowly improved. JB's assistance and company this past week has been wonderful. I can't say how much I appreciated his help and company.The day was mostly a long and very wet walk in the rain over flooded trails and thru boggy terrain. There were no mountains or viewpoints, just gently rolling trails thru dense conifer and deciduous woods. Just past East Carry Pond there was a long bog bridge over a deep swamp that consisted of big logs floating on cross pieces. They dipped and moved as I stepped from one to the next making it challenging to stay on them. The water was deep and very black. Not a place, or a day, I wanted to go swimming with my pack on! Sure enough I slipped and fell off one of them. It was only knee deep but I jammed my right ankle again. Wet logs in the rain are never a good idea, but this day left no other options but to keep going with care.I stopped briefly for a snack with Splendora and Mojo at Pierce Pond Lean-to. I left a few minutes after them just as the rain began again. The trail from the lean-to went across the outlet dam for the lake. The dam was ancient and was a string of large logs tied together then the space in between filled with large rocks. Water poured thru the rocks but it was sufficient to raise the lake level by about 3 feet. Near the end of the dam it narrowed to a 20 yard long creep across a single large wet log. Of course I eventually fell off. Rather than topple over the rocky face of the dam that water was pouring thru, I fell to the other side and came within inches of falling into the lake. I whacked my left hand hard on the log going down and ended up flat on my stomach but managed to stay out of the water, which was only about 3' deep but would not have been pleasant. It took the remainder of the day to regain full feeling in my left hand again. No damage was done, it was just a good 'stinger' that lasted a while.I made it to the Kennebec River at 2.15, just as Splendora and Mojo were climbing into the canoe. JB was already on the other side. Steve the ferryman was early. It took him about 15 minutes to drop them off then come back and pick me up. In the mean time the gravel bar I was standing on had dissappeared under the rising river. Steve said that they were doing a large release from the dam upstream and the river was running several feet higher than normal the past few days. Steve has been ferrying hikers across the river under contract with the ATC for 18 years and had lots of stories. He gave us cold sodas on the far side and kept us entertained while we stood in the rain on the bank of Kennebec.From the river it was a quick 0.3 miles to the road and a hitch into Caratunk to the Northern Outdoors Center. With 4 of us standing there we couldn't get a ride so Splendora put on a skirt and told the 3 of us to go hide in the bushes. Sure enough the first truck that went by stopped to pick her up and Me, JB and Mojo all jumped out of the woods and hopped in! We ended up sharing a room at the center, which had laundry, showers, a brew pub in the basement and a hot tub on the back deck. What a great place to spend a wet and cold afternoon!Popeye and Lightweight, Shadow and Numbtoes, and R.I. Red were already there but waiting for a rode up to Monson for the hiker feed. The rest of us decided to stay and not go for the feed. I was worn out by the fast pace of the past few days and wanted to just rest my ankle. Unfortunately a live band set up right below our romm and played until 1 AM so I didn't get much sleep.