Date: 2004-08-31
From: ME 4 near Rangeley, ME

To: Day 126: Oberton Stream, ME
Miles today: 13.4

On AT Day 126 Hot Chocolate and I got up at 4:00 a.m. and ate breakfast in our trailer at the Deerfarm Campground near Kingfield, ME and then drove to the AT trailhead on ME 4 near Rangeley, ME in time for me to start hiking by 6:45 a.m. After taking two-days off to visit the National Folk Festival in Bangor, ME and allowing a weather front to pass, I was hoping for good weather, but Mother Nature had a different idea of what was defined as ¢good.¢My hike began in dense misty fog and light rain with temperatures in the low 60¢s and then it got colder, wetter and lot windier as I climbed over 2,500-feet to the 4,120-foot summit of Saddleback Mountain. Spanning just over 5.5 miles, the actual climb was not nearly as tough as I expected from studying the topographic map, but having to deal with ever-stronger winds and denser fog and drizzly mist as I ascended posed some interesting challenges. Near the summit I could barely see from one cairn to the next as the visibility varied between 10 and 30 feet and the winds ranged from at least 40 mph steady to gusts above 60 mph. I had to be real careful to not be blown off-balance as I leaned into the mountain and into the wind. Great fun!!Luckily it wasn¢t really all that cold, perhaps 50-degrees, so I had little to distract myself from my fantasy of climbing some famous Himalayan peak. Perhaps my fantasy got the best of me since after I took the requisite ¢summit photos¢ (As on Mount Washington, I had to hold the camera at arms length since I was worried it would get blown over if I tried to use my small tripod.), I proceeded to start going down the trail in exactly the same direction as I just ascended!My only excuse for this embarrassing re-emergence of ¢Wrong Way FireBall¢ was the total absence of visible distant landmarks (anything over a hundred feet or so on this tree-less rocky peak) due to the dense blowing misty fog and the flaps of my hat blowing flat against my face covering my eyes. To make matters worse, within the first 50 yards or so of my erroneous descent I came across another hiker who was just now approaching the summit, but since I had no idea I was going the wrong way I greeted him with a few upbeat sarcastic comments about the wonderful sunny weather he would expect at the top. After we passed each other I will now admit that I started to wonder just where he could be coming from as there were no campsites close by to the south and it was only 10:30 in the morning. But undaunted by this (now in retrospect) obvious logic warning, I plunged onward in the heavy wind. I also now remember wondering why the wind had changed directions after I crossed the summit ¢ another missed warning sign¢¦About a half-hour later I came across a second AT through hiker (Mushroom) battling the wind as he climbed to the summit and this time I made fun of the advantages of my heavy pack acting as ballast. Once again, even after seriously thinking about asking him what direction he was going since I was puzzled by the observation that a number of the rocks looked familiar, I let the opportunity pass. The truth is that I was too embarrassed to ask, besides my compass still indicated a ¢generally¢ north direction ¢ the only problem being that I had no idea what it read as I ascended originally nor what the map indicated.Knowing that I was supposed to cross a second 4,000-foot peak, The Horn, 1.6-miles after Saddleback my error in directionality finally became too obvious even for my bull-headed brain and I reluctantly turned around. Within the first 10-minutes or so I knew I had made the correct decision as the trail started to look more and more familiar, I was even able to predict upcoming landmarks. The wind strength and density of the mist were if anything stronger on the second ascent, but when I got to the summit I had the foresight to take a second picture of the landmark sign so I could later calculate how much time I had lost ¢ the answer: one hour and 40 minutes!Next time, I will definitely pay more attention to my directionality on mountain summits in poor visibility conditions. Good thing my fantasy about climbing a Himalayan peak was just that as a similar error under less tame conditions could have been life threatening¢¦With the time loss due to my having to climb to the summit of Saddleback Mountain twice, I was now concerned about reaching my 13.4-mile target for the day, Orbeton Stream, before nightfall. I was also very hungry as I had yet to eat a morning snack or have lunch due to the heavy wind and wet fog and it was now after noon so I hadn¢t eaten for over seven hours. Knowing that I needed to eat, ASAP, I stopped for a quick Power Bar snack just as soon as I reached the relative tranquility of small stand of stunted balsam fir krummholz (¢crooked wood¢) that acted as a windbreak.Then a miracle happened ¢ the wet misty fog began to clear under the onslaught of the still heavy winds and I could actually see, every once in a while, the next peak (The Horn) I was approaching as well as look back on the trail leading down from Saddleback. The conditions continued to improve rapidly and within a half hour or so the sky was nearly clear, although the winds continued to be just as strong so the hiking conditions were now much improved.The ascent and descent over the 4,040-foot summit of The Horn and the 3,655-foot summit of Saddleback Junior were a joy with excellent views and invigorating climbing. I also had the pleasure of watching the perplexed look on Mushroom¢s face as he tried to figure out why he was meeting me for the second time as I caught up with him on Saddleback Junior. I was honest and told him about my directionality confusion¢¦Less than a mile and half later I came to the Poplar Ridge Lean-to (with its famous or infamous ¢baseball bat flooring¢) where I stopped for another Power Bar snack. Just as I was trying to decide to leave or stay (it was about 5:00 p.m.), Mushroom arrived and we both elected to go ahead and complete the 2.8-mile descent from the 2,960-foot ridge to Orbeton Stream at 1,550-feet where we hoped we could find a campsite. The actual decent was easy enough, but I knew I had to hurry since darkness was approaching and I had no idea of what to expect at my target destination.Just before reaching the stream (it was quite audible) I came across the first AT through hiker I had met on Saddleback as he was making camp and I made a light-hearted comment about the small, flat, but quite damp spot he had chosen. When I reached the raging stream a few minutes later at around 6:45 p.m., I realized that he had chosen well as there was no obvious spots for me to camp near-by and the stream was clearly much too deep (it covered all of the boulders) and fast moving for me to attempt a fording in the waning sunlight.Given this situation I had no choice but to retreat back up the trail 30 yards or so and then go off-trail up the hill through the thick brush and trees where I eventually found a tiny, lumpy, rock-strewn and still damp spot that I could clear for my tent. Actually I could only clear enough for about half my tent, but that was enough for my sleeping pad and bag. As soon as I got the tent up, I stood up my bright orange Thermarest air mattress and hung my headlamp set on blink mode to act as a flag and beacon, respectively, so I could hopefully re-find the spot as I went back to the stream for water.On my way down to the stream I ran into Mushroom who told me that he was camped up the trail with the other AT through hiker. By the time I got back to my tent it was nearly 7:30 p.m. and it was getting quite dark, but I had little trouble completing my evening chores with my headlamp and I was soon snuggled in my lumpy abode for a restless night¢s sleep. The main reason for my poor sleeping was not the temperature, or the lumpiness of my bed, it was my growing concern over how I was going to cross Orbeton Stream in the morning. My only hope (Mushroom expressed the same concern and hope) was that by waiting the water levels might drop overnight since it would then be nearly one full day since the last rain.One additional challenge I faced that night was the fact that the water in my water bladder (and the bicycle squirt bottle I use in my tent that I fill from the bladder) had taken on a strange ¢organic¢ odor and taste that I found quite noxious and thus I could only drink, sparingly, from my other two water bottles and still leave enough potable water for my granola cereal breakfast.