Date: 2003-08-31
From: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to (880') 

To: ME15, Monson (1240') 
Miles today: 9.0

Aloha! Burrr...! I don't know what ill winds blew in last night but they definitely blew in cold! No one wanted to brave the elements and climb out of their sleeping bags this morning. Mountain Dancer was freezing, Don Quixote put on every piece of clothing he owns during the night, CeeBee kept tucked in with her wooly hat on most of the night, Coffee kept his tell-a-tubby suit on while making coffee, and Old Corpus mentioned freezing from the bottom up as he curled deeper into his bag. Me? Well actually... I had a toasty warm night tucked inside my 5 - 10 degree bag. As a matter of fact, I even had to come out of it for a short because I was dripping wet with sweat... while nude! My bag is way warm! Too warm for right now but then again, 30 degree temps in August? Maybe not.Once finally up we all did get moving pretty quick. With a deep breath, off came the jacket and pants and on went the backpack. I'm normally fine within minutes once walking. As much as I want to hike like everyone else with jackets and pants on, I can't. It drives me nuts to have to stop continuously to take off a layer. The first stop is normally within something like five minutes too. Just can't do many clothes when participating in a sweaty activity no matter how cold. Grin, bear it and go!Today's hike was an easy enough one with limited mileage. The only thing worth mentioning would be the fording of the east branch of the Piscataquis River. Like its West Branch, this 50-foot-wide East Branch can be tricky during periods of heavy rain. That however wasn't the case today. Had I missed a rock I might have gotten my ankles wet. Maybe. No scare here.Coffee, CeeBee, Old Corpus and I hiked along together while Mountain Dancer continued to hike with Don. It was another lovely day to hike at a leisurely pace. We did try to push some due to Old Corpus's schedule of having to meet a shuttle in Monson but it wasn't enough to even count. As a matter of fact, he left us right after lunch once he realized that we really were meandering.Lunch was spent sitting on a rock or the damp ground in the middle of nowhere. That was my goof. When lunch had been mentioned we all took out our trusty maps, agreed where we thought we were, compared it to the data pages and decided that it would be nice to have lunch next to the river we were going to cross, only .4 miles away. Leaving our decent lunch spot we took off for the river. All at my suggestion. Well, approximately three miles later we gave up and had lunch on the trail at no place in particular. It seems none of us can read a map when food is the subject. We had actually been 3.4 miles from the river. When we did stop it ended up being about .2 miles from the desired spot. Just couldn't get it right today.This is when Old Corpus left us to get to his shuttle. Coffee, CeeBee and I continued our leisurely trek to town arriving at the road just as planned. That's where the hitching fun began. I don't know but I'm beginning to think that Coffee is bad luck for me when it comes to hitching. This time 45 cars passed us before a woman parked in the lot across the street offered to take us to Monson. By that time Mountain Dancer and Don Quixote had also joined. It's hard enough to get a hitch for three people but five is next to impossible. This wonderful trail angel took all five. She's a goddess! She had just delivered her husband to the trailhead to hike the 100 Mile Wilderness and knew immediately we were long distance hikers and were going to Monson. She even delivered us directly to the Shaw's doorstep. Again, a trail goddess. Mahalo nui loa!Shaw's Boarding House offers hikers, hunters and snowmobilers a bed in the main-house bunkroom or private rooms for singles or doubles. I had made reservations for Coffee and me in a double and Old Corpus and whomever in another. His roommate turned out to be Don Quixote who was originally passing through town but opted to stay with the gang in the end. He knows a good group when he sees one.Even before anyone took a shower we were off to the local barbeque house. You would have thought none of us had eaten in years by the way we talked. Food, both eating and talking about it, is probably the highest priority a hiker has. Food is all we really care about. With a million plus topics we could discuss, we always seem to round around to food. Sad, very sad.Anyway, with what was supposed to be Texas barbeque, but wasn't, filling the belly, I could now do the important things like take a shower and get ready for dinner. Again with the food! It was good too. An AYCE dinner consisting of turkey, potatoes, gravy, green beans, beets, milk, coffee, and ice cream with raspberry sauce. Yummy! I still can't believe I ate that much right after having finished off a barbeque sandwich, rice and beans and a piece of corn! What a piglet! This eating thing has to be gotten under control before going home or I'm going to scare the hell out of anyone that sees me eat! That, and I put the two dress-sizes I've lost back on. NOT!There's quite a crowd here tonight. I believe the Shaw's said something about 25 people in-house with 18 of them participating in dinner. Two special people staying are Wench's parents. That's cool. They drove in from Florida today to see Wench and Hotdog and then pick them up again in a few days for a wedding. An interesting tidbit is that it's taken them 1900 miles and four days to drive here while it's taken Wench slightly over 2000 miles and six months to walk here. I wonder which was more scenic?Someone who didn't join us for dinner was Mountain Dancer. He has headed home. He did join Old Corpus in the shuttle back to Caratunk to pick up his car and then returned to say aloha. Such a wonderful and sweet man. It was so awesome of him to come surprise us and hike along for three days. I have to repeat this - there's nothing like the class members of '01. They are the best!   Mahalo Mountain Dancer for your continued support. I hoped to be able to do the same for you as you complete your Grand Adventure.One other thank you goes to Char for the mail drop I received here. I'm all set for food for the first section of the upcoming 100-Mile Wilderness. My packages from you are all the envy. The snap peas are scrumptious! Mahalo again for all your hard work and support.I do believe it's bedtime. Even though it hasn't been a hard day I'm quite tired. My bedtime seems to be getting earlier and earlier. Maine has kicked my tush and the ol' bod knows it early in the evening. It's still all-good though. No complaints, none at all. I love this job! Goodnight.Blood, Sweat and Tears: too easyAches and Pains: right knee feels the fall. Grinding the teeth a smidgeon on the downs.Moans and Groans: grocery store wine selection - Thunderbird, Boones Farm, Arbor Mist, and Mad Dog 2020... not a chance!... waah!Countdown: 114.5 miles