Date: 2016-07-09
From: Shaw's, Monson, ME

To: Cloud Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 19.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Thank goodness for real beds. I slept so incredibly well last night and woke up to the smell of bacon! ugh, what could be better? I did a little packing up before heading downstairs for breakfast. It's crazy how much food I have for this section. We're planning to move quickly through the hundred, but dang. It's a heck of a lot, and my pack's gonna be heeeavvyyy.Breakfast was absolutely spectacular. Easily the best homefries I've ever had, bacon, eggs, and to top it all off, blueberry pancakes. Yummmmm. The French Flying Pigs made it in for breakfast this morning and I watched AJ, one of the employees, make a cairn out of pancakes for the kids that was absolutely adorable. Seal Tree was hilariously late to breakfast and very bleary-eyed. I bet he could've slept for six more hours. His pancakes took a while, and he got antsy in his funny way. Folks went next door to make some resupply purchases from Poet's store, and I tagged along and bought some more snacks! Eventually, we were all saddled up to get going. I felt swanky in my new gaiters. I also decided that I liked hiking without my shorts so much that I would see if I could do that whole hundred without them! I did keep them around, because they're a piece of memorabilia if nothing else at this point. A bunch of us piled into the truck: Lightning, Goldie, Seal Tree, Wonka, Bananas and I all heading northbound, and three southbounders. Steve said he had pushed himself pretty hard and was looking to take a day off. Poet gave us a bit of a pep talk at the trailhead, where the 100 begins, and I felt a little bad for the Sobos to whom he jokingly just said "you've got a long way to go." We took a picture with the whole group, and then, we were off. A few hundred yards past the trailhead, we all took pictures with a signboard signaling the beginning of the 100 mile wilderness, which dictates that you should have 10 days worth of food. yeesh. If I had to carry that much food, it might actually take me ten days! The morning was full of very small ups and downs which passed in relative ease. Wonka and I led the group, which slowly splintered off over the course of the day. The highlights were Little Wilson Falls, which were a wonderful cascade down a big boxy rock formation, and the Big Wilson Cliffs, where Lightning and I took a short break to enjoy the view. The day was overcast but not unpleasant.Just before starting the climb up Barren Mtn. in earnest, I stopped to make one final sign on the trail. 100 miles to Katahdin. Holy shit. We rack up a hundred miles like it's nobody's business these days. I remembering the feeling of being on Albert mountain in North Carolina, that sense of incredible accomplishment, the first hard hiking, the first resupplies, getting used to the trail. It all seems impossibly long ago. Now here I was. A hundred miles to the end of my journey. I paused to get the last flowing water of the day at long Pond Stream and then began to climb Barren.The climb up was pretty brutal. Yeesh my pack is heavy. Probably the heaviest of the whole trip. As I climbed it became foggier and foggier. The trail sent me up ravines filled with roots that felt more like climbing than hiking. The trail passed two viewpoints, but I didn't stop, because it was impossibly foggy and I was getting very cold with all the damp. I climbed the second portion of the mountain and paused for a second near a dismantled fire tower at the top before continuing on. We had decided to push to nearly 20 miles today in order to set ourselves up to get to Katahdin Stream in 5 nights, but that meant staying at a pretty sub-par campsite in the form of Cloud Pond Lean-to. It is about .3 off-trail and 200 feet below it. Its water source is the stagnant pond. I'm sure it's very beautiful on a clear day, but it was foggy and cold and depressing today. I was the first to arrive of our group, and claimed a spot in a shelter that was almost full already with Sobos. One was an older man from Canada to whom I took a shine. Most were younger, just out of high school. And finally, there was a girl who had decided to set up her tent in the corner of the shelter - WHAT? I asked if she was drying it out, to which she said "No, I'm just one of those." Those....? People who set their tents up inside shelters? Hate to tell you, you are unique. I waited to set up any of my things because I knew they would just get damper and damper the earlier I set them out. Lightning, Seal Tree and Goldie showed up and set up their hammocks behind the shelter. I went and talked with them for a bit. Wonka also showed up and finagled a spot in the shelter next to me. It's funny how these sobos think. It's not that I don't recognize this kind of thinking, it's just that I haven't experienced it myself for months. One of them showed me his hiking poles which he'd proudly fashioned from miniature golf clubs. Fun, but they literally weigh like three pounds each. Another showed up and asked if there was any room left; we unfortunately had to deny him, and he asked one of his southbound friends (who clearly don't like him very much) if he could borrow the other's tent to set up instead of his own. No dude. No. Sorority Steve showed up! looks like he bagged on the idea of taking a day off and got shuttled out just about an hour after us. He's a positive energy to have around, always talking about the memories he's making. He does talk a lot. I had Mountain House for dinner for the first time since like Daleville VA. I decided to splurge to save on weight for this last bit. But it honestly doesn't fill me up like ramen can. Shoulda packed an extra ramen for each night to throw in or something. The final part of today was pretty exhausting. I am just itching to get to Katahdin and each impediment seems like a rebuke. It would be one thing if I could enjoy a lovely view from the tops of the mountains. But unfortunately this weather is just making the miles miles, the climbing is tough without being really redeeming. But I've got really only one more day of mountainous climbing. We're aiming for another big day tomorrow.