Date: 2007-08-10
To: 3 miles n. of Cooper Brook Falls lean-to, ME
Miles today: 10.5

10.5 miles todayTenting3 mi n of Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to, ME.I slept great last night! I even noticed that when I turned over in bed that my legs didn't hurt as much.Yesterday was 3 days of the muscle soreness, so I was hoping that would be the peak of pain.I didn't get up until 7am. I looked out the window at a brilliant, clear lake and was very happy about where I was here at White House Landing.I did hear a loon's call a number of times during the night, but they were from quite a distance...still very nice to listen to though. :-))I sat around looking out over the lake until just before 8am when I walked up to the lodge for breakfast....and COFFEE!!! :-))What a great way to start my day...a beautiful lake, a loon's call, leg muscles feeling better and breakfast with COFFEE!!! :-))The blueberries in the pancakes were just picked by Linda right here at White House Landing.I decided to stay and eat lunch (another 1 pound burger), then get a boat ride back across the lake and walk some today, since the ol' legs were feeling better.I took my time packing up after I resupplied from White House Landing.I walked back up to the lodge at 11am and Linda made me another 1 pound burger....umm, umm!!Von Moose decided to walk out right after lunch too, so when he got packed and we paid our bills, Ben drove us across the lake.Bill went along to make sure Ben did OK. Next year Ben will be picking up the hikers across the lake all the time.Von Moose wanted to walk with me for a few miles, so we walked up the tote road and turned south on the AT at 1pm.We ran into Walking Stick'75 soon after we started walking. He was headed into White House Landing. He's been sectioning the Trail since 1975 and is going to finish it this year....that's amazing that someone can stick with a goal that long!Not long after we left Walking Stick'75, we ran into Farenheit, Running Wolf and Trip who were all just finishing their nobo thru hikes.It had been 45 degrees this morning when I woke up, but it warmed up into the mid 70's this afternoon.I have been very pleased that the bugs are no where near as bad as last year. Even Bill said last year's bugs were the worst he's ever seen up here.They almost drove me crazy last year, so I just smile when someone complains about the bugs out now. :-))Von Moose and I walked to Antler's Campsite. I showed him the tentsite on the point, thinking maybe he'd stay, but he walked on to Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to. He said he doesn't want to mess around with his tent in the mornings.I stayed and ate the rest of last night's pizza I had packed out. Then it was so nice on the point, that I stayed for about an hour listening to the breeze in the pines and the small waves running up the shore.A little red squirrel kept coming right up to me begging for food. You can tell he's been well fed by others.I took a few close up photos of the friendly little bugger.At the rate that I've walked the last couple days...about 10 miles a day, my ol' buddy Chief could almost keep up with me. ;-))I was walking along and saw the first and second piles of bear scat that I've seen on this walk.I walked on till I had about 3 miles left to Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to and I found a nice flat spot near a noisy stream and set up my tent for the night.Those 4 hikers I saw early in today's walk were the only hikers I saw all day. I'm really surprised by the lack of people walking the Trail right now.I was reading a book before I left White House Landing and I came onto a sentence that I liked; "This is a lonely life, but it is very healthy; and one does not much mind anything when one is well".That's a fitting sentence describing a sobo thru hike. :-))Another great day on the Appachian Trail. :-))