Date: 2012-09-13
From: Bald Mt Lean To

To: Horseshoe Canyon Lean To
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 175: Another beautiful, sunny day with temperatures reaching the upper 70s. We start off the day in tee shirts and fleece pullovers, but within a couple of hours, we are hiking in tank tops. Sparky and Passionflower leave camp before us this morning with the plan to have their breakfast on top of Moxie Bald. SilverGirl and I arrive at the summit of Moxie Bald at about 9:00 and find them sitting there. Sparky calls out to us that they can see Mt Katahdin. I take a long look to the northeast, and sure enough, I can make out a very faint mountain sitting all by itself way off on the horizon. It looks a million miles away still, but at least we've now gotten our first glimpse. After a long morning break on top of Moxie Bald, we descend back down into the woods, heading towards Bald Mountain Stream where we plan to stop for lunch. We arrive at the stream at about 11:30. There are some open rock faces here leading down to the stream that provide an excellent spot for us to sit and bask in the warm sunshine as we eat. SilverGirl, Sparky, and Passionflower take their shoes and socks off and soak their feet in the cool stream as small fish nibble at the dead skin on their feet. We spend about an hour at the stream before finally crossing over and moving on. Following nice terrain, we walk another 4 miles before arriving at the Piscataquis River. The river is about 30 yards wide and has an overhead rope draped across its width to assist hikers as they ford. One by one, we cross the river, holding on to the overhead rope as we pick our way across. The cool water feels wonderful on my sore, aching feet as I cross. Several other hikers arrive at rhe rivers edge after we have crossed, and it is fun to watch them cross behind us. The final 3 miles of our day are very easy as we walk beside the Piscataquis River the entire way. Reaching Horseshoe Canyon Lean To at 4:30, we can not find suitable tent sites near the shelter, so the four of us decide to look for some spots down closer to the river. We are lucky enough to find a spot close to the river with just enough space for our 3 tents. As I cook dinner, SilverGirl and Sparky gather wood and set up a fire ring at waters edge. We all have dinner there as the sky slowly dims and the first stars start to appear. After dinner, we just sit by the warm fire and star gaze. Sparky has an app on his phone that tells us what each star in the sky is when he points his phone towards them. As it gets very dark, the milky way comes into full view, slashing a diagonal streak across the sky above us. We are also blessed to see a couple of shooting stars, hopefully a good omen for a safe completion of our journey next week. It is days like today and nights like tonight that make for truly magical memories that will be with us forever. Tomorrow, we will walk into Monson, our final trail town before entering the 100 mile wilderness leading up to Baxter State Park and Mt Katahdin. Tomorrow's journal entry will probably be the last until we summit since ther will not be any WiFi Service anywhere. Wish us safe passage.