Date: 2004-08-12
From: Long Pond Stream Lean-to

To: West Branch of the Pleasant River
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: light rain

We got on the trail at the crack of 9 this morning, which is pretty good for us lately. All that drive to go go go has just plain evaporated, and instead we try earnestly to revel in every moment. We have been travelling with a wonderful group of people for a while now. And Maine is beautiful. It will kick your butt, but it is gorgeous. Before we know it this whole adventure will be over. So we are all moving slower, taking longer breaks, laughing more.Well, except for today. Oh and yesterday. Today was the second day in a row we hiked long into the dark. Today was not filled with lots of long breaks and pleasant conversation. Today was not a leisurely walk in the woods. Today we hiked over pretty much the entire Chairback range. We climbed six peaks with a total of 2,817 feet of elevation gain and we climbed down six peaks, 2,835 feet downhill. The last painful, grueling 1,589 feet of which came all at once at the end of our day.In beautiful weather a hike like today would be a pleasure. It would be difficult, sure, but at the top of each peak you'd be rewarded with a wide vista. But - you guessed it - today was not a day for beautiful weather. It was grey and cloudy, damp and foggy, sort of misting but not actually raining. We had zero visibility on the tops of these peaks. Eh, but who cares. I mean, they can't all be gorgeous vistas, right. We have certainly had a hefty dose of beautiful weather on some of the AT's best climbs. We can always think back to the Whites and those crystal clear days we had over I don't feel one bit sorry for us.You know who I do feel a little bad for is Jerry. Jerry is a friend of Mountain Man's, a really nice guy who came out to hike the 100 mile wilderness with his buddy. I'm sure he had pictured a beautiful week in the woods, getting back to nature, the satisfaction of carrying all your worldly needs on your back, and pleasant conversations around the camp fire. I am sure he did not have in mind hiking 15 mile days in cruddy weather over entire mountain ranges. I mean, the terrain has been pretty grueling the past couple days. It's not what I would call easy, and shoot, we've been out hear for half a friggin year doing this. He is sure hanging in there like a trooper though, I tell you what. You know the really sad part is Jerry put off a vacation to Orlando to come hike the 100 mile wildernes. He could be sipping frozen drinks by the pool right now...Late this afternoon, 10.9 miles and 5 peaks into the hike, we made it to Chairback Gap Lean-to and took a long break. We were exhausted. The next shelter was 10 miles away. Not gonna happen today. But we took out the map, did the math, and realized we couldn't stay. (groan) If we're gonna make Katahdin by the 19th, we can't keep doing 10 mile days. So what to do. We figured if we made it up and over and down the last peak that would work out. The west branch of the Pleasant River runs at the base of Chairback Mountain, and we figured we could find a decent place to camp. It was just a measly 4.2 miles to go, most of it downhill. Leki, Arwen and I headed out. How bad could it be?Famous last words. As it turns out that last little up was a tricky bastard. It is a prime example of the AT fakey. Just when you think you're at the top of the peak, you start heading downhill again. At first you're cautiously optimistic, figuring you'll start heading back uphill any second now. Then, after the trail keeps heading downhill, you figure oh, the worst is over with. Then, still moving downhill, you're checking your watch, doing the math, smugly calculating just how quickly you'll make it to your destination. And then - oh no - the trail starts heading back up again. This happens once or twice and you shrug your shoulders. It's to be expected. No biggie. After the third or fourth time it's really not funny any more. By the fifth or sixth time you literally think you are going insane and will never make it over the mountain. Just as you're about to hurl yourself off a ledge, wouldn't you know, you see a sign. And you're there. Just like that.It's all downhill from here to camp, we thought with relief. Wrong again. Once we summited Chairback Mountain we had a long, steep, 1500 ft. descent staring us in the face. The first mile down was some of the most treacherous going on the trail. It was just a big boulder field tumbling down the mountain side. We were negotiating boulders as big as us. And the damp, misty conditions had made a difficult downhill just plain dangerous. I stopped a couple times, looked down, and thought to myself "It's a darn good thing I'm not afraid of heights. I am NOT afraid of heights. I'm NOT afraid..."By the time we made it down I don't think any of us were in a very good mood. The AT is funny that way though. Because about a half mile from our destination for the evening we crossed a dirt road. And what did we find there? A huge styrofoam ice chest *filled* with all kinds of magic. Oranges, juice, donuts, all kinds of goodies. We lay in the road, the contents of the ice chest spread around us, giggling like school kids. We made a conscious effort to leave some goodies for the hikers behind us, and just as we were putting everything away a car pulled up. "Hey guys, how ya doing?" It was two ladies, the trail angels who had left the goodies. "We just wanted to come pick up our ice chest before the big storm hits." Storm? What storm? We haven't been carying a weather radio since the Whites when we sent it home to save weight. "Well, sometime tomorrow afternoon two hurricanes are going to converge directly over your heads." WHAAAT???!!Yep, that's right. If the weathermen can be believed, we should be in for a wild ride tomorrow. The only problem is that tomorrow afternoon, right when the hurricanes are scheduled to collide, we will be hiking above treeline over White Cap mountain. Hiking above treeline in a thunderstorm is bad enough with the threat of lightening. But what about in high winds and lightening? All we could do is laugh. I mean, how much worse does it get than two hurricanes at once? I sure hope our poor parents are not watching the weather channel tonight.