Date: 2013-08-30
From: Chairback Lean - to

To: Carl A. Newhall lean - to
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: light rain

Start Chairback Gap Lean-to, mile 2097.4Stop Carl A. Newhall Lean-to, mile 2107.3Sleep lean-toCell noneHiked 9.9 miles Northbound 78.6 miles remainingHiked 154.9 miles 2013 ATOld Goat's notes:We retrieved the food we hid in the woods 18 days ago. I worried that when we got here it would be unusable by either an animal or human getting to it or something happening to it. Well everything was fine and we are now happy campers. While we were at our cache I had just put the ammo can back where we had it hidden when I heard a vehicle. I walk down to the vehicle I discovered it was from the Appalachian Trail Lodge shuttle driver dropping off a hiker. These are the folks I'm hoping we can hire to drive us back to our car. I asked the driver if he could take the can back to Millinocket and we'll meet up with it when we finish. This will save us from doubling back to get it once we have our car. The hiking off of Chairback Mountain was a rock climb and very difficult. I had forgotten that part so it was a surprise to both of us. The second part of the hike was much better. After we picked up our food the hiking was easy for about 2 miles, we gained elevation gradually but we were able to take full steps so we moved right along. Check 6's notes:We discovered a mistake yesterday that could affect our Trail Journal entries at some point. When we left Monson, we left our phone's charging cord in our car. We have a backup battery pack with us, with which we can charge our phone on the trail IF we have the USB charging cord. When we discovered it last evening the other guy in the lean-to has an iPhone, but Apple changed the plug to the phone with their newest version. We need the older, wider phone plug, so we couldn't borrow his. Same with a guy at this lean-to tonight. AARRGGHH! Why did Apple decide to change their plugs this year??!! We hope to find someone in a lean-to with the plug we need so we can charge my phone. If we don't, we'll start sending our emails from Old Goat's phone until his gets too low on power. If we run out of power before we finish, please don't worry if you don't hear from us. We'll be back in touch immediately when we get power again. The best thing would be to run into someone with the plug we need so we can use our charger!With rain in the prediction, I'm extremely afraid of going over Whitecap Mountain tomorrow. If it doesn't rain it will still be hard, but if it rains I'll be in terror a lot. This is the LAST high mountain before Katahdin...and the map profile confirms that. YAY! We've decided that if the weather is crappy when we get to Katahdin we'll count our hike up Katahdin in 2009 as our finish. If the weather is gorgeous, we'll hike Katahdin this year. We'll see what we do when we get there. We figure that since we went up Karahdin in 2009 (our attempted thru-hike year) it can count!My fear of possibly doing Whitecap in the rain got to me today. Poor Old Goat...we had quite an argument until he calmed down and realized I just needed to emote. I feel bad for him when I get so upset. It always works best when he can keep himself out of whatever I'm emoting. Unfortunately, sometimes it's about him. I love you, Old Goat, thank you for calming down and loving me in spite of myself. Sent from my iPhone