Date: 2005-08-07
From: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to

To: Shaw's Lodging - Monson, ME
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: broken clouds

Miles hiked today : 9.19.0 AT miles + 0.1 mile of side trailI woke up at 5:00 a.m. this morning, though it was so cold that I went back to sleep until 6:05 a.m. It was still rather cold at that time, though I put on my fleece and kept moving to stay warm. I ate breakfast and hiked out at 7:00 a.m.At 7:55 a.m., I reached the East branch of the Piscataquis River, which was another ford that required me to change into my Keens. The water was very chilly this morning, though I reached the far side of the river at 8:05 a.m. and "rebooted."Hiking on, I reached a sign at 9:25 a.m. informing me that only 3.4 miles remained to ME15. the highway into Monson. 15 minutes later, I caught the scent of something sweet and spotted wild raspberries. I chugged a liter of water so that I'd have a storage container and spent 10 minutes picking berries, which I saved for later.At 10:55 a.m., I reached ME15 and got a hitch into Monson after 20 minutes from a gentleman named Jones. He told me that he and his sister had thru-hiked in the early 70s and were known as the Bobbsey Twins. After a 10 minute ride, Jones dropped me off at Shaw's Lodging and I went inside.I was greeted by Pat Shaw, requested a room in the bunkhouse and made reservations for breakfast. Bones was in the television room and after taking my gear upstairs to the bunkroom, I joined him for a snack. After a bit, I headed down to the general store to purchase lunch, as well as snacks and breakfast items for the 100-Mile Wilderness.After eating lunch and dropping off my groceries, I headed to the laundromat and journaled in front of Hebron Lake while my clothes were washing. After my wash was finished, I returned to Shaw's to pack my foodbag and set aside all of my extra clothing to mail home. I decided that I wouldn't need cold weather gear, my second wicking shirt, or my second pair of capilene shorts for the next 114.5 miles. By weeding those items out of my pack, I'm guessing that I've shaved at least 3 pounds off of my pack weight.At approximately 4:30 p.m., I was sitting outside making telephone calls when Opa showed up in a truck with his son. I greeted him and we spent about 30 minutes catching up over the past week. He told me of his daughter's plans to meet us Thursday evening at Nahmakanta Lake in the 100-Mile Wilderness. It may be that they're bringing fixings for a BBQ!I was waiting for Michael and Sean to return from Greenville before I headed to dinner, when I had another reunion, though this one was quite unexpected. Frenchie and El Jefe showed up at Shaws! I'd heard from other hikers that had caught up to me that they were trailing by a day for quite some time and now they'd finally caught up. They'd just eaten at the local BBQ restaurant and said it was about to close, though Michael and Sean still hadn't returned from their earlier hitch into Greenville. As the restaurant was about to close, Opa and I, as well as a few others, hightailed it over there without them. There was a sign on the door that said "Closed - Out of Food." Grr.Opa and I, as well as the others walked up the street to a gas staton that made pizza, where I ate the better portion of an excellent taco pizza. After dinner, Opa and I went to the hostel where Frenchie and El Jefe were staying and watched the tail end of "Meet The Fockers." They'd been given an entire cherry pie for free at the BBQ restaurant, which they kindly shared with me. After the movie, I returned to Shaw's to finish journaling before heading to bed.Amazingly, I'm nearing the end of my journey and the only major obstacle before Mount Katahdin is the 100-Mile Wilderness. Happily, it appears that I'll be summiting Katahdin with many of my favorite people of the trail.Bedtime at 11:00 p.m.