Date: 2007-09-15
From: Monson, ME

To: Wilson Valley Lean-to
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: light rain

I woke up today anticipating the famous Shaw's Breakfast which I also had yesterday. At Shaw's they serve an "all you can eat" breakfast. It is basic eggs, sausage, bacon, home fries, and either pancakes or french toast. However when you are asked what you want, you respond with a number. If you say three, that means 3 eggs, 3 sausage, 3 pieces of bacon, and 3 pancakes (or french toast). Yesterday I went with 3 and that seemed just right. Today I was a bit hungrier and decided to dare order a "4". Well I ate everything on my plate but it took some time.After breakfast I finished packing. I will be carrying about 5 days worth of food and plan to resupply at a place called Whitehouse Landing, which I'll talk about in a later entry. I want to thank my sister Chris and neice Erin for teaming up and sending me a package here at Shaw's which has quite a few goodies and which has supplied the bulk of my next 5 days food rations. Thanks so much Chris and Erin! The weather is as expected not the greatest for hiking. There is a light drizzle, but I am still hitting the trail this morning. At about 8:30 I got a ride back to the trail head by Dick from Shaw's Boarding House.As I started hiking, the rain seemed to subside and I was not really bothered by it anyway since I was protected by the tree canopy. The first 3 miles were flat and easy. I then crossed ME Rt 15, and the trail started climbing moderately. I passed Spectacle Pond and Bell Pond and eventually reached Leeman Brook Lean-to about 3 miles later. When I opened my pack to grab a snack and my long sleeve mid layer shirt, I realized that I had left the shirt back at Shaws in Monson. I was upset about that, since I would definitely be relying on that shirt for the remainder of my hike. That basically left me with 2 T-shirts and my rain jacket. I wasn't going back 6 miles, so I was resigned to having to somehow deal with this setback. I was starting to get chilled aready so I didn't spend much time at the shelter but instead hiked on to get warm.Unfortunately this day seemed to go figuratively downhill as I proceeded. When I reached Little Wilson Stream, I needed to do a simple "rock hop" to cross the stream. I was about half way there when I stepped on a slippery rounded rock with my left foot. My left foot immediately slid off the rock and into about 10 inches of water, followed by my right foot. That really got me upset, when in reality it really was not a big deal. I guess it was because I had been fairly successful at that point in keeping my feet dry and in two seconds, both feet were now soaked. I just moved on and in about 10 minutes reached a pond on my left and a series of bog bridges. I took my first step on the first bog bridge and immediately my foot slid off the log and into about 12 inches of oozing and sticky black mud. Here I am standing in this stuff, with both feet, ready to let out a blood curdling angry scream. But all I could do is laugh. When I pulled both feet out of the quagmire, I almost had my boots literally sucked off my feet and it looked comical, seeing this mud covering my lower legs and feet, like 2 huge black boots. I shook off what I could, which didn't help much. Fortuntely since the pond was nearby, I was able to wade through it and wash off most of the mud. I thought I could take care of the rest when I reached Big Wilson Stream.Even though I laughed off the last "bad incident" of the day, I was feeling drained and sort of down as I hiked on. When I reached Big Wilson Stream, I was faced with a river which I would need to ford. Everywhere else on the trail, there are bridges that span a stream or river where a ford would be necessary. In Maine, there is no such thing. I normally would have removed my boots and put on my water proof camp shoes to cross this stream, but thought I might as well just cross in my boots since they were soaked and muddy already. I slowly picked my way across slippery submerged river rocks using my hiking poles for balance. The water reached as high as my thighs and the current although strong, was not a problem. By the time I reached the other side I looked down and was pleased to see some fairly clean, but wet, boots and socks.My original plan was to hike another 5 miles to the second shelter, but decided to pull short today and stay at Wilson Valley Lean-to. I didn't want to take a chance on the possibility of wet shoes and subsequent blisters. So I hiked the remaining mile to the shelter and was greeted by another thru hiker, "Leader of the Pack" and a section hiker named Eugene. I set up and cooked dinner as "Leader of the Pack" told a few corny jokes. I then crawled into my bag to get warm, since the temperature was dropping fast. I guess I'll just have to get into my bag as quickly as I can at the end of the day, since I now have no mid layer. Before Eugene and I drifted off to sleep, "Leader of the Pack" treated us both to a rousing, memorized recitation of the Robert Service poem "Sam Magee". A great way to cap off a somewhat frustrating day.