Date: 2005-09-10
From: West Carry Pond lean-to

To: US 201/Caratunk, ME (Northland Outdoors)
Miles today: 14.0

We got up early this morning and were ready to face the day! Today we were headed into town. Pumpkin, T-Drop, Hairbunny, Bug and I set out for the trail right behind "the Brits" a young couple out hiking from Stratton to Katahdin. The first four miles flew by with Raindrop in the lead, you give that girl incentive and it is hard to keep up! East Carry Pond was beautiful and we even got to see loons out on the water! We met Rambler headed southbound on a flip-flop (Bug and I met him first way back in Virginia). The couple train continued on, but stopped for lunch at Pierce Pond Lean-To. This place was stunning! The shelter itself wasn't much to write home about, but the setting was incredible! The shelter was situated right on the pond with a sand beach and wonderful evergreen forest. Here, Bug and I intended to eat a good deli sandwich, but the plan was quickly amended when we smelled our lunch meat (it had definately gone bad)! Instead, we prepared cheese bagels. Those quickly went by the wayside as well, since the cheese tasted funny and the bagels were stale. We ended up settling for more snacks.The following 3.5 miles were beautiful. They followed Pierce Pond Stream and there were so many gorgeous waterfalls! There was a bit of a sketchy section crossing a log bridge over a stream....the 3 7" logs were raised several feet above the stream and one would be in deep trouble if they were to slip.We finally caught up to Pumpkin, who had left earlier from lunch than we did. She was talking with Lion King who was sprawled on the side of the trail nursing a hurt foot. From there it was maybe another mile to the Kennebec River. We arrived early at the river as we suspected we would and chilled out for about an hour. Watching the river was pretty incredible. When we arrived the water was low enough and calm enough that we could have easily forded, but as we sat there we watched it rise about 4', covering sand bars as well as the rocks we had been sitting on when we arrived. According to the ferryman, they released the dam yesterday and about 8800 cubic feet of water is released each minute! The sun was shining so brightly that I now have a fairly evident tanline. The ferryman arrived and took us across the river in two's. Bug and I were the last to go and by the time he came across to ferry us over, the water had risen so high and the wind was blowing so hard that he was unable to paddle directly across to where we were. In fact, he had to drag the canoe back upstream to pick us up.Once across, we lucked out. As we were hiking to the road, we were met by two guys who offered us a ride to Longley's. We immediately took them up on their generous offer and were shuttled to Longley's and the White Blaze hiker feed! There we were greeted by friends, old and new! Some people greeted us by name even though we had never met them before. Cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and chili was in abundance, as were the hikers! We got to see Redwing and Hopeful and met several folks who had just summited and were stopping in on their trip home. There was what Bug likes to call a mini-Woodstock going on under the shade of the tree, with Professor Nutbag playing his guitar and everyone chilled out in a circle listening. After resupplying in the store we began making our way towards Northland Outdoors. Unfortunately, Bug and I were unable to get a hitch and had to walk the mile to the lodge.We are splitting a room with Pumpkin here and it was so nice to go upstairs and get showered! We ate dinner in the restaurant below and were soon joined by Lighting Rod who summited just yesterday. It is pretty surreal talking with those who have already completed the journey. Upon making reservations, they had told us there would be live music and at the time thought that sounded pretty cool, but it has been pretty loud tonight. It is some guy's 40th birthday, and they are "whooppin" it up. Bug, Hairball, Train and I took advantage of the hot tub provided for the guests and soaked our weary bones and muscles and then Bug, Hairball, and I stayed up for quite some time talking. Well, this entry is already longer than it should be considering that it is 1am and I am dog-tired.