Date: 2015-09-12
From: Chairback Gap Lean-to

To: Logan Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: light rain

Finally some decent mileage in the 100 mile wilderness, and the return of good weather as well.Last night when I was in my tent, I could see Sasquatch messing around with his hammock. I know very little about hammocks but there was an issue with a slack ridge line that apparently is supposed to be taut. Between that and the wind, I was worried he might have had a bad night, but he pronounced it 'probably the best night in his hammock yet'. Yay!It was cold this morning though, and my short sleeve hiking shirt was still wet, so I used the cold as justification to hike in my dry long sleeve shirt. I even wore my rain jacket for a while, until I got in the sun and warm.The shelter we were in was partway down Chairback Mountain and the rest of the climb down involved a rock scramble that was not particularly well marked. Sasquatch was ahead, followed by Stretch, and I brought up the rear. All three of us went the wrong way and had to backtrack to some extent. Since I was last, I had to go back the least and had it the easiest . Shortly after that, we came to a spectacular view, causing Sasquatch to say that this was what he was promised (by whom, I wonder). It was definitely not yesterday's 'mountain in a cloud' views.And then the trail became easy! For about a mile, it was flat, and covered with pine needles without too many rocks or roots or mud. So that got us to the west branch of the Pleasant River quickly. This was another ford, probably the widest so far, but an easy one. We relaxed some in the sun before moving on.After lunch, the question was whether we would be able to get to the Logan Brook shelter before dark or not. It wasn't super far (5.4 miles) and the trail had been mostly good (although with lots of muddy areas) but there were four mountains in between. The three of us decided to hike to a camp site 3.2 miles away and see how long it would take and how much time we'd have left.The camp site was quite nice and had a really nice spring. It was just before three, which is a hard time to decide whether to stay or go. In the end, we decided to stock up on water in case we needed to stealth camp before the shelter, and went for it. By now, we only had three climbs left, Gulf Hagas mountain having been just before the camp site. Just before leaving, we also ran into Boomeran, the Southbounding Doylie, who informed us that White Cap mountain was not bad at all. White Cap was the last and highest of the climbs before the shelter, so this was good news.Usually Sasquatch an I hike at our own pace, but I had said we should stay together for the last stretch, in case I found a stealth site and thought I wouldn't make it. Stretch stayed with us as well, so the three of us hiked up West Peak, Hay mountain and finally to the top of White Cap mountain. I was setting the pace, being the slowest hiker in this group.We made much better time than I expected and once again had very impressive views from the top. We took a bunch of pictures but the top was cold and pretty windy, so we didn't stay long.On the way down, there was a distant view from Katahdin too. There was some discussion about which mountain was Katahdin, but I am pretty sure about my pick!When we got to the shelter, there was only one person here. Tent and hammock sites were limited but we all found a spot and quickly set up in the last daylight. We ate in the dark, but you don't really need to see what you eat anyway, especially if it is freeze dried pouches or ramen noodles! Tomorrow the terrain changes to relatively flat. We have a fairly short day planned and should have no trouble getting to our planned destination. Since we are getting a food drop a few miles after, it doesn't really pay to go further. Hopefully the trail is in good shape and Sasquatch won't fall too often. He has lost track of how many times he's fallen, but I think it's in the neighborhood of 10 in three days. I have fallen 9 times this hike (2 of which were in the last three days too). I think his lack of hiking poles is not helping, but fortunately he hasn't gotten injured. He did apparently fall in a bog today and had to rinse in a stream, but I wasn't there for that, so no pictures. Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?