Date: 2005-09-09
From: Chairback Leanto

To: Sidney Tappen Campsite
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: light rain

Last night¢s rains had borne out my prediction but about 3 AM, strong winds picked up blowing away the humidity and giving us a beautiful sunrise. All of us are normally early risers - today, I was the first up at 5:45 but the others followed suit quickly. Rabbit was the first to leave so won¢t likely see him again. Buckeye moved ahead of me while I was filling water at the shelter¢s source located down the Trail northbound (and I mean down, a 100' drop). The nice weather aided in making the Chairback ascent and subsequent rambling among the flat rocks of the ridge a pleasure. Quite a contrast to yesterday. The only problem was following the blazes, both in the initial rockfield descent of Chairback and the flat rock/ridge walking. Although flat, the rock had roughness such that you don¢t want to fall here unless you want to lighten your load by giving blood!And speaking of giving blood, one unexpected pleasure from this entire hike to-date (I hope I¢m not speaking too soon!) is the nearly total lack of mosquitos. I¢ve sustained maybe 3 bites on this trip and only once did I feel compelled to lather myself at bedtime (where I succeeded in getting repellant in my eye - not fun!). Someone told me that mosquitos left from mid-August onward so my decision to hike now was sound in this regard. They¢ve even been absent from the ponds.After gradual descents along the Chairback ridgeline, the Trail passed over 3 short but noticeable knobs. At the second one, I caught up to Buckeye eating a snack so I joined him. Oly came by but couldn¢t stop because his hip bothers him if he doesn¢t keep moving.Buckeye moved on before me. It was on the steep descent to the West Branch of the Pleasant River where I encountered a familiar-looking hiker in white hair hiking south. ¢Henry, you¢re going the wrong way!¢ Hadn¢t seen him since Speck Pond Shelter but he appeared to be a day ahead per the trail registers. After reaching Monson, he secured a shuttle and is hiking back to Monson. I asked him about the woman and her son I had met near Grafton Notch who were hiking up to Speck Pond; I was concerned about the late hour. ¢They made it by 8 and were in good spirits. He was actually her nephew. Her name was Barbara.¢ Knowing that they made it made me feel better.Not long after Henry and I passed, the hiking had become easy as I descended to a logging company road and the West Branch of the Pleasant River which presented the next ford. Wide but shallow; with warm water, a pleasure. Again, I stopped mid-way to scrub my legs of the muck inevitably accumulated when hiking in the North Woods. Yes, I know that it seems inconceivable how one¢s right foot can brush the left leg in ¢normal¢ walking, but this isn¢t normal!In addition to Buckeye and Oly, the other side included an AMC/MATC ridgerunner and a middle-aged woman named Wendy who was embarking on her first backpacking trip. She was in good spirits, buoyed no doubt by the fine weather and the upcoming easy section of Trail.Yes, this upcoming section is a very gradual uphill to Carl Newhall Leanto where the Trail takes 5.5 miles to rise 1,200'. By the time I finished lunch, all the others had left except for the ridgerunner (I didn¢t get his name) who accompanied me as far as the Gulf Hagas Trail junction and tried unsuccessfully to persuade me to hike a portion of it.   No, I want to allow time to cook dinner at Newhall so I can get to Sidney Tappen campsite tonight and have one of the next peaks - Gulf Hagas Mountain - behind me. En-route we talked about many issues including the environmental impact of us hikers on the Trail in fragile areas such as mountaintops and mossy meadows. I didn¢t want to come across as a complainer but I mentioned that the many neglected blowdowns were resulting in impromptu side trails. Of course, I also talked about the dangerous descent down Bemis which nearly resulted in my quitting. But I believe MATC on the while does an excellent job considering how remote and spread-out the Trail is. Like many clubs, they don¢t have as many volunteers as they¢d like.We met Wendy at the Gulf Hagas Trail junction. Now, I don¢t normally push this but she asked me how to mount her pack so of course I demonstrated the over-the-head technique. The ridgerunner had seen me do this and expressed his misgivings. Well, I used to be intimidated also but I wouldn¢t do it any other way (unless I¢m on a narrow ledge). So now, I¢ve made another disciple in Wendy.Easy trail - I¢m at Newhall by 3. What a contrast to yesterday¢s slough! The only factor giving me pause before moving on is missing the company of Oly, Buckeye, and others at the shelter which would now include 2 SOBO college girls and Wendy. But with tomorrow¢s plan to hike all the way to Cooper Brook Falls Leanto, it made sense to cover the 1.8 miles and net of 600' elevation today yet.So dinner¢s done and I¢m off. Back into steep ascents - Gulf Hagas Mountain is typical: 800' in .9 mile. Fortified by my dinner, I made it in 41 minutes.   Some rock steps helped. The reward was my first clear view of Katahdin along with the looming Whitecap mountain, tomorrow¢s hike. The descent to the campsite was manageable. A nice flat grassy area greeted me perfect for tenting but likely to result in heavy dew overnight. Having seen very fresh bear scat on Gulf Hagas, I found a good bear-bag tree to hang my food. No one else came by in either direction as I bedded down before 7 on an increasingly cold night. Wore the fleece in the sleeping bag on this, my second night alone on this hike.