Date: 2017-08-13
From: Carl Newhall Lean-to

To: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: clear sky

This morning I hit the trail early, getting moving while the other guys ate breakfast or continued to snooze. Before I left though, I got to watch one of the section hikers attempt to dry out his underwear. With his cookstove. It was all going really well... he was holding them over the stove with a stick and there was steam coming off them as the water evaporated until he decided they were dry enough and turned them over. In the crotch was a huge melted hole, the edges still steaming. He disappeared behind the shelter and came back with hiking shorts on, declaring the underwear to be still functional, but that my friends, is why you just accept the wet underwear and get hiking. Which I did.I crossed another bog and then the trail turned uphill to cross a series of hills which constituted the only real elevation for the day. The morning was sunny and the air had a pleasant chill to it as I headed uphill, though the shirt still came off almost immediately to reduce the sweating.  I stopped and filled up on water at the tiny spring at Sidney Tappan Campsite, grabbing enough to last for the next couple miles of mountains. The trail was pleasant and I passed a couple other hikers during the morning as I made my way over the mountains. Finally I topped out on White Cap mountain and stopped and had a snack of summer sausage, cheese, and crackers while I took in the view. Some low clouds, below me, drifted over the landscape and I could see them dumping some rain just to the west of me... weather that would probably be coming my way. Supposedly there was supposed to be a view of Katahdin from here but it was hard to tell... there was a hulking shape in the distance, blanketed in clouds, which I supposed could've been the mountain, but alas my augmented reality mountain identifying app wouldn't show me mountains that far away (and didn't work particularly well anyways) so I couldn't confirm. I headed down the mountain, stopping again at a rocky overlook which stretched out away from the side of the mountain and poked out through the tall evergreen trees which densely packed the slopes. From there, now about eye level with me, I could definitely see some clouds, rain pouring out of their undersides, heading towards me. I took the downhill as quickly as possible given the switchbacks which wound through a lovely stand of birch trees, their white bark and emerald green leaves giving the forest a vibrant and cheerful quality despite the impending storm. The first rumble of thunder rolled past me just a little ways from the shelter and I resigned myself to getting wet... in typically hiking fashion, some unreasonably short distance away from cover. But this time luck was with me and I stepped into Logan-brook Lean-to JUST as the rain started coming down, quickly intensifying to a downpour. I didn't have anywhere in particular to be, so I set my bag down, pulled out my lunch, and sat inside and watched the water stream down off the roof and listened to the large rain drops make a consistent drum-roll on the metal roof. I caught up on the shelter log, seeing Lookout having come through here a couple days earlier, as well as a couple other familiar names, but enjoyed my half hour break as the storm passed. About halfway through a couple other hikers that I had seen earlier in the morning joined me, having not been so lucky in their timing of the storm, and we all waited it out. As the last rumbles of thunder were fading into the distance behind us the sun came back out and starting doing work to dry everything out. As I left the site I noticed two things... some SOBOs had told us that this shelter was COVERED in moose droppings and that we definitely shouldn't stay here, which it wasn't. And that the sun only dried off the plants on the half of the trail it was facing, meaning my right side was soaked while my left side was pretty much dry. The trail down off the mountain descended quickly but was great trail and so I moved quickly. After crossing a gravel road I walked through another forest rockfield, the rocks only visible in a couple of places where the moss and trees hadn't completely covered them yet, and heard some logging going on in the distance. In a couple of spots I found some small blueberry bushes, mainly growing in small sunny gaps between the trees, and soon came upon the next shelter. I didn't stop here, just popping in to check the shelter log, and noticed that Lost hadn't signed, which meant that she was definitely still behind me. It being 2pm and the next shelter only 8mi away I headed out, crossing over Pleasant river and heading back into the woods.The trail headed up over Little Boardman Mt, little being the operative word, as it was only a 400ft climb and hardly seemed to deserve being called a mountain. I did get a bit of cell service at the top and was able to confirm that I'd have a ride back from Katahdin from TopBunk, which was helpful. Down the mountain, across a road, and to a beautiful sandy beach on the edge of a small lake and I was down. Sitting on the sand in the warm sun, looking out over the small waves which the light breeze kicked up on the water, and chatting with a SOBO who had decided that this was as far as he was going today... can't get much better. As we sat there a couple more SOBOs showed up, include Rowdy, who I had last seen in Franklin, NC, and her dog Steve. She had made it to Pearisburg, VA, got caught in a vortex for a while, realized she wasn't going to make it, and had flipped north, a NOBO-gone-SOBO flip flopper. Anyways, after the better part of an hour sitting at the beach I decided that I had better get moving and so reluctantly shouldered my pack and headed out... this really would've been a nice place to camp with the sound of the waves gently lapping on the shore. I followed the trail most of the way around the lake and then followed the lake's outflow off into the woods. I also had the realization that I REALLY should've signed the log at the last shelter... I had assumed that it would be obvious to Lost that I was heading for the next shelter, based on the mileage, terrain, and shelter spacing, but in hindsight I realized that that wasn't terribly obvious at all. Whoops...The trail for the next 10mi was a gradual downhill and so wasn't difficult and I was moving along well. About 2mi from the shelter I caught a short glimpse of something on the trail ahead of me... definitely 4 legged, about the size of a larger dog, but which bounded off into the woods with superb grace and presumably scampered off, because I saw no more trace of it. I have no idea what it was... its grace and speed seemed feline, but that would be a BIG cat... like, mountain lion big... mountain lions aren't common up here but I had no desire to stick around and confirm a sighting either way, so I double-timed it to camp, every so often glancing behind me to make sure nothing was following me... not that I would've probably been able to pick out as stealthy and skilled a hunter as a mountain lion. I made it safely and found a small, mostly flat patch of ground to setup my tent on since most of the other spots had already been taken. I guess it must be a weekend because there are definitely more people out than usual, but my little space suited me fine and I brought my cook stuff out onto the rocks in front of the shelter to eat. The shelter sat up on a small rocky outcrop and just in front of it a river flowed past, forming a large pool right in front of the shelter and with tumbling cascades of water both upstream and downstream. I washed off, filtered water, and cooked dinner as everyone conversed about our respective hikes. And then guess who rolled into camp... Lost! And she brought wine! Five liters of wine! Holy crap! She had found a ride into and back out of town and an angel bought the wine for her to share with everyone at camp that night. TRAIL MAGIC. IN THE "WILDERNESS"! The wine made dinner a lot more lively as 5L of wine is still a fair amount for the 10 or so people that were hanging around the shelter at the time. We all filled our cook pots with wine, the only cups available to us (and the epitome of trail classiness) and enjoyed our dinners and some extended conversation that lasted until a little after sundown. Lost had also brought more fudge with her, maple flavored this time, and between the wine and the fudge, I definitely couldn't hold a grudge for her ditching me for the past two days. But we agreed that next time I had to carry the wine.Tomorrow we head to White house landing, which is apparently a hunt/fishing camp set on a lake that will come and get hikers from the trail via boat if you call. They have a bunkhouse and amazing food from what we've heard, so should be a good time. We're only 14mi away and we gain a total of 140ft of elevation tomorrow, so should be a pretty easy day.