Date: 2004-09-07
From: Moxie Pond, ME

To: Day 132: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to, ME
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: clear sky

On AT Day 132 I got up at 4:00 a.m., ate breakfast, snuggled in my sleeping bag for a while and then packed up and hit the trail around 6:30 a.m. under overcast skies and temperatures in the low 50¢s. I covered the 2.8-miles and 400-feet in altitude change to reach the Bald Mountain Lean-to in less than 90-minutes. In fact with my newfound speed I soon caught up with my AT through hiking friend, Mushroom as he was making his way from the Lean-to up 1,300-feet to the 2,629-foot summit of Moxie Bald Mountain, 2-miles away. The climb to the top of this mountain was simply exhilarating, with numerous large boulders and rock faces to traverse and it culminated in, as the name of the mountain implies, a tree-less peak with a spectacular 360-degree panorama of the surrounding mountains poking their heads through the cloud cover that still blanketed the valleys. I took lots of pictures.As I was just leaving the peak I found an unmistakable footprint of a large moose. What a moose was doing on this barren peak will always remain a mystery to me, but I am now even more impressed with the athleticism of this seemingly awkward beast. A little further down the trail, there were some gorgeous views of the partially cloud covered Bald Mountain Pond located 1,400-feet below in the valley that I captured on my digital camera. Just over 2-miles from the summit, I reached the Moxie Bald Lean-to on the shores of the Bald Mountain Pond where I stopped for pictures and my morning snack.About two-miles later, I came to the first of two river fordings for the day. This first one, across Bald Mountain Stream, was not particularly challenging but I did need to don my water sandals, unlatch my pack straps and wade across the knee deep, cool but not really cold water. The current was significant, but not scary. The second fording was about five-miles later across the West Branch of the Piscataquis River. This was a fording that I had been worried about for months, ever since first reading in the guidebook that it could be dangerous during high water conditions. So when I reached the river, I took off my pack, donned my water sandals and explored my various options with my pack still on the shoreline. I am sure glad that I took this precaution, as there was clearly a right and wrong path across the river. When I first got to the river I couldn¢t even see where the trail left on the other side. It turns out that you needed to walk into the middle of the river, turn upstream, cross a small island, and then climb back down into the river again to continue northward on the AT. Other options leave you with rushing water that is easily waist deep and something that I did not want to attempt. Once again the water was not particularly cold so it was more refreshing than punishing. Months of worry were finally over and I now had a new sense of cautious confidence.After completing this challenging crossing the AT paralleled the river, providing numerous vistas, and I had a relatively easy time covering the remaining 3.1-miles of the day¢s 15.8-mile hike to reach the Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to by 4:40 p.m. I was disappointed, however, that this site did not provide a very good selection of campsites, and I was forced to pitch my tent on a rather steep incline. The next, and rather unexpected challenge was getting to a water source as the guidebook said that it was either on the AT or at the river. Unfortunately, since I found no water on the trail I was left with making a surprisingly steep climb down from the trail to the river ¢ not a particularly easy thing to do carrying a bunch of water bottles and my 100-ounce water bladder. By the time I returned from this ¢expedition,¢ Mushroom had arrived and was laying out his sleeping bag in the Lean-to. I warned him about the challenging water run he had to make, but he insisted that there must be an easier source. Well, as I found out the next day, he was right, there were two water sources (a spring and a small brook) less than a half mile north on the trail ¢ why the guidebook didn¢t mention these locations is curious.The highlight of the evening, however, was my discovery of a folding outdoor chair at the Lean-to. It¢s amazing how comfortable it is to be able to lean back in a chair as you eat your dinner and read before going to bed. I¢ll certainly try to remember these lessons after I return home when my AT hike is done.