Date: 2006-09-02
From: Cloud Pond Lean-To

To: West Branch of Pleasant River
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Kathump, Kathump, Kathump, Kathump,,,,,,,,,Kathump, Kathump, Kathump, Kathump.¢Is that a moose¢ and then zippers from Jangle¢s and Shasta¢s tent. ¢It is! It is!¢ As I emerged from my tent they stood on point like a bird dog over a quail looking at the moose. At this time it was still mostly dark but just light enough to see. Right behind our tents about 100 feet in the middle of the pond was a huge female moose. She was walking around in Cloud Pond eating and this was an awesome thing to wake up too. I have wanted to see another moose since New Hampshire and this one was the first for the girls. Sometimes you only get a quick glimpse of one as they run off, but this one was just standing there. After the early morning excitement was over we left the moose alone and got back in our tents. At this time the cool morning sunrise breeze was blowing and since we were just beside a pond it felt even colder. The moose continued to walk around (Kathump, Kathump, Kathump, Kathump¢¦.) and feed on the aquatic vegetation off the pond floor for about and hour before disappearing into the forest. H-bomb and Jelly Bean were disappointed of the moose news because they camped over by the shelter and didn¢t get to see it. I enjoyed the rest of the morning at camp sitting by the pond and enjoying the views until one of the southbound hikers that stayed in the shelter last night come over and squatted down to pump water between me and the pond, Now this area was at its greatest 3 feet long. I don¢t want to seem sore about this subject but out of the entire perimeter of the lake this guy has to bend over right in front of me blocking the good view of the pond with his big old dirty A**. That was entirely uncalled for. Some people just haven¢t got a clue and you wonder sometimes just how they make in the real world. This morning poor Baro is getting around a little slow and has started to swell around the eyes. Not really sure what is happening but he seems to think hives. This continually got worse at Chair Back Gap Lean-To He had to take a long break to muster up enough energy to continue on hiking. Just after the lean-to we crossed Chair Back Mountain were we ran into a girl that met Map Man and Robin earlier on the trail. From what I gathered she seemed to think that they weren¢t too far behind us at this point. If you don¢t remember they are the couple from St. Louis that started hiking on 4/2 at Amicalola Falls State Park with me and we continued together up until Hiawassee, GA. Just on the backside of Chair Back Mountain was the 200¢ descend on stone steps that we heard about and yes, they were steep. Shortly after this we came to Woods Road. This is the place that we have been seeing signs about now for a while. The signs were offering a Bar-B-Q for hikers and it just happened to be today. Since we made it to the road just before the next scheduled shuttle we decided to wait. Promptly on time a grey SUV pulled up and a lady got out of the driver¢s side followed by a man on the passenger side. They introduced themselves as the Pine Family and began to tell us about the cookout, their family, and the other hikers that were already there. The lady ¢Tall Pine¢ hiked the 100-mile Wilderness with her sister back several years ago as she finished up a thru hike on the AT and every since then they put on a huge cookout during Labor Day Weekend. They have a cabin a few miles up the road and shuttle hikers back and forth from the trail to it for lunch and a place to stay. We all agreed to go so we loaded up and headed down the dusty road. A few minutes later we pulled into the driveway of a rustic cabin and there were people everywhere. On one side of the cabin were little bunkhouses and the other a huge fire pit and several grills cooking hamburgers and hot dogs. The Pine Family said to make ourselves at home and to treat ourselves to what ever we would like. As we introduced ourselves and made our rounds there were two south bounders that warned us about stealth camping in Baxter State Park. They were caught by a park ranger and now have a healthy fine to pay. Even though they were headed south and not from the state of Maine the ranger took all of their information and wasn¢t going to budge off of their fine. We took turns stoking the fire, eating, sharing stories, and napping while at the Pines making for a great afternoon. As late afternoon started to set in we began gathering our gear to return to the trail. The Pines offered us a place to stay for the night but we all decided to return to the trail and make an attempt at making it up the Gulf Hagas Trail before dark. We ended up riding to the trail in the back of a pick up truck along the old dusty road with one of the pine relatives. Interesting enough though he stopped at a few locations and pointed out Mount Katahdin across several ponds. He said it isn¢t unusual to see moose standing on the edge of the ponds but we didn¢t see any today. Shortly after getting back on the trail around 6:45 pm we ran across a few guys camping just before the West Branch of the Pleasant River. They thru hiked in ¢99¢ and had all gotten back together to come hike the Gulf Hagas Trail. On there initial trip they liked it so much they decided to come back and do a reunion hike and spend a few days in the wilderness. To this point our group had almost ruled out taking the side trip to do the Gulf Hagas Trail but after talking to them decided to squeeze it in to our plans. We ended up camping on the riverbank just past them with plans to get moving really early in the morning so we could make the Gulf Hagas Loop and still put in some big miles. Since it was nearly dark we set up camp quickly and took it easy the rest of the evening wondering if Baro was just going to explode from the swelling. Tonight at the Pleasant River: Jangles, Shasta, H-Bomb, Baro, Jelly Bean, The Class of 99 Hikers, and I.