Date: 2005-09-24
From: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to

To: Nahmakanta Stream
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: clear sky

I give up! I surrender! I am no longer the early riser. This morning, who beats me out of the sleeping bag, Tink! Tink, who doesn't believe the world exists before 7:00 was out and about before I was! My mouth fell open when I saw her and she just started laughing. She knew what my reaction would be. I therefore, as of this morning, resign my status as the early riser. It did get cold last night. Colder than it has been in awhile. At one point I woke up and saw that everyone was completely buried in their sleeping bags. The temp got down to the low 40's. We haven't had those temps since the early days of the hike. Today was going to be an easy day. The profile showed level, early PA level, which meant good walking. We were shooting for a campsite a couple of miles past White House Landing for a total of 15 miles or so. Gypsy left first and I followed shortly after her. What a perfect day. The air was crisp, the sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, and the trail was flat. Perfect walking! I moved along at a pretty good clip when I passed Gypsy. We both marveled at how good a day it was. She was having a snack but I didn't want to stop yet. Just before 11:00 and just before the first shelter I saw someone coming south. I stopped and stared. It was Hopeless Hiker, whom I hadn't seen since Trail Days. He was doing a flip flop. We chatted a bit and then we moved on. I stopped at the shelter briefly and that is when Mouth caught up. He said he had learned that White House Landing served lunch till 1:00 and then closed till 5:00. We looked at the time, around 11:30 by now, with 3 mles to go. We figured we could do it so off we went. That lasted for about a mile. We ran int a sign that pointed to a view of Katahdin. We walked to the lake side and sure enough, there it was. All I have to say is Wow! It rises up out of nowhere, big and beautiful. There were no clouds around so we could see every detail. Just magnificent! We comented on how it would be the perfect summit day, a Class 1 day for sure. Weather for a Katahdin summit is broken down int four categories. Class 1 being a perfect day and Class 4 is where no one is allowed up. Class 2 and 3 are considered worse days, but you can summit. 2 and 3's usually mean a cloud covered and/or rainy day. We decided not to pursue the lunch, but to wait for the girls. We wanted to see their reactions when they saw the mountan. Thrifty was first in and his reaction was as expected. Gypsy was next, followed by Touk, and their reactions were just as great. We all sat there for an hour, enjoying the sun and view. Tink never made it by time we left but Touk said she had stopped at the other lake we passed so she was probably hanging out there. We arrived at White House Landing at 2:00 and blew the air horn. The buildings are on the other side of the lake and when you sound the horn the owner comes over, in a boat, and picks you up. What a nice place! It would be great to live there. We had a couple of hours before they opened back up so we just soaked up the sun and read. After awhile we hrd the horn sound again and when the boat came back it carried Tink. At five the camp store and grill opened and we placed our orders for our burgers. We had heard about these burgers and they lived up to our expectations. A pound of meat was in each burger! When they were delivered there was little to no talking as we inhaled them. And inhale we did. Funny thing is, at least for me, I could have still eaten more! A pound of hamburger meat, bun, potato chips, and I could have eaten more. What appetite! Shortly after six we were on our way bac across the pond. We retraced our way bac to the trail and found a place to set up camp just before dark. There was a freeze warning out for the night so we all made sure we were ready to be bundled up by early AM and it was time for bed.