Date: 2006-07-06
From: Monson, ME (Shaw's)

To: Long Pond Stream Lean-to
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: scattered clouds

6:57 p.m. I'm pretty mad at myself for not writing about yesterday yesterday. In town it's always tempting to skip journaling. Anyway, yesterday was a lot of miles (more than we've done for a while, and more than we'll do again), but we walked very fast. First thing in the morning was the hill of the day. 1250 ft or so up to Moxie Bald. The mountain isn't a particularly talked-of one, nor a tall one, but it was a cool spot. Apparently, on a very clear day, you can see Katahdin from the top. It was, amazingly, another nice day. It was somewhat humid and hazy though, so we couldn't see nearly far enough. After spending a few minutes there we began the descent, which was an almost mirror image of the moderate climb we had just done. On the elevation profile the terrain from the bottom of Moxie Bald to the road into Monson was practically dead flat. In reality there was a series of annoying hills, but it didn't really make the day much harder or slow us down any. For parts of the day, the trail was as wet as we've ever seen it, mud or rocks covered by 6 inches of water. When we were a little higher, however, the trail was beautiful and smooth, covered with pine needles. We had 4 fords yesterday. The first wasn't actually supposed to be a ford, but we had had a big, long, heavy rain/thunder storm the night before, so everything was swollen. The crossing was easy though. The second one was wide and not too fast. I didn't notice the high water particularly, except that the low areas on either bank were flooded into swamps. Oh, well. The third ford was scary. If I've been scared before at high spots or slippery rocks, I still think this crossing was my most nerve-wracking moment on the trail. The biggest problem was that the river diverged around an island just before the place we were meant to cross. The bank didn't widen at all, though, so the river was fast because it was flowing through a narrow channel. Plus the water was higher than normal. Moses started crossing confidently, and before we knew it, had been washed off his feet and dumped a bit downstream. He stayed calm, kept his pack on, and never really lost control all the way, so he was back on his feet in no time. He then made the second part of the crossing with no problem. I was pretty worried as Kaptain and I started across. On Kaptain's recommendation, I leaned froward sharply into the current as I took slow, tiny steps laterally across the river. I tried to always Keep 3 points of contact, moving a pole or a leg only when I had the others firmly rooted. It became difficult, however, because I wasn't strong enough to replace my pole upstream once I moved it. The current constant pushed it back towards my body and pushed me backwards also, from the waist down. Had the footing been stable , it might not have been so bad, but the rocks were slippery and sometimes moved underfoot. Kaptain stayed right next to me the whole time. Several times I almost was washed over. The consequences probably wouldn't have been that bad, but I really didn't want to find out. I really hope that that ford (East Piscataquis River)was the worst we'll encounter. I think it should be if we are spared heavy rain. The final ford was nothing compared to the last. It was only just above my knee and the current was slow. From there to the road was a bit muddy, but a cruise. After 5-10 minutes of hitching, we got a pretty sketchy ride from 2 guys in a pickup truck that went past, the reappeared, having come back to give us a lift after all. I was sitting on a chainsaw, and there wasn't a tailgate. Great. Our last hitch, though. Kind of sad. In Monson we went to the P.O. and general store, then headed to Shaw's, a boarding house/hostel that's one fo the most famous in the north. The beds were great, and I took a shower (though hardly got clean). The other occupants were all SoBos, and quite the characters! Two of them had actually already done the PCT (!) last year, and two others seemed pretty new to the whole thing, which makes sense because they've probably only been out for 8 days or so. One of them was the loudest person I have ever met. Literally. He kept talking as if he knew everything and was this great thru-hiker, when it took me almost a thousand miles to consider myself one. Plus he was saying all this crap about how thru-hikers should always get shelter spots, etc. Oh, well, it takes all sorts, plus it was entertaining. We went to dinner at "The Pub", which was excellent, and Kaptain and I left a message for Lockjaw and talked to Sunshine and Boomer. That was cool. This morning I enjoyed a delicious breakfast of hashbrowns, 3 eggs, 3 pancakes, and 3 cups of coffeee. Left the table stuffed, as usual. We then hung around a bit, talking to SoBos more, packing our gear, hitting the P.O. and store again, and the like. At 9 a.m. the lady from Shaw's gave us a ride back to the trailhead. It was nice knowing we only had to do 15. We stopped for lunch near some huge and beautiful falls, followed by an easy ford. The rest of the day was uninteresting, although there were some sections of nice trail. Overall, the afternoon dragged a bit. At another ford (that wasn't supposed to be one) we stopped for quite a while. It was only about a mile or a mile and a half from the shelter, and a beautiful spot. .7 before the shelter was a proper ford, almost waist deep but not too swift. I was only a little nervous crossing it. We just wore our crocs the rest of the way, so now I can say I've hiked in my crocs! Right now we have less than 100 miles to go. 99.4. Five more days of hiking before we do the big climb. It's hard to believe. Tomorrow will be hard and long. It will be our hardest day left. It's a beautiful night. We built a fire. I think I'll turn in early. Kaptain's already lying in bed, awake and pensive. I will miss this so much.