Date: 2003-10-14
From: carl a newhall lean-to

To: monson, me
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: broken clouds

this morning i talked briefly with the two northbounders that were pretty much asleep when i got to the shelter last night. they told me that i had a fairly easy hike down to the west branch of the pleasant river. that is good. i need something easy to start off my day. according to my master plan- i would be doing roughly 26 miles today in order to get into and get out of the town of monson tomorrow. that would be easy enough if it weren't for this whole ankle thing. it is still swollen and still hurting.so, i took my sweet time making for the river. i got to it at ten o'clock. i sat beside it for a while just looking at it. i had to ford this thing and i knew that it was going to be cold. i finally took off my boots, strapped on my sandals, and waded right in. and, it was cold. it was take my breath away cold. it was pain in my gut cold. luckily, it wasn't too deep. just wide and cold. after what seemed to take entirely too long- i finally reached the other side. i dried off my legs as quickly as i could, and sat and watched as two dayhikers made their way across the river. it was rather amusing watching them. i'm sure i looked the same way. cold. i don't care how tough you think you are- that river was cold.i walked half a mile and came to a gravel road. i decided that this seemed like a nice place for a break. just remember, though, you are doing 26 miles today. right. i'll remember that. my mind might be thinking 26 miles, but my ankle thinks i'm crazy. it hurts. my knee hurts too. i must have banged it in the fall also.so, i sit by this gravel road in the 100-mile wilderness and i watch car after car drive right on by. yep. they have cars in the 100-mile wilderness. lots of cars. one car pulled over and i chatted with dick simmons and his wife, marge, for quite a while. they were even nice enough to give me a bag of doritos and some candy bars before they left.a couple of northbounders, bebop and don't stop, showed up and i chatted with them for a while and shared my chips with them. they left and a truck pulled up and parked. a man, woman, and their dog got out and walked down to the river.i continued to sit and watch the cars drive by and soak up the sun, knowing that the 26 miles was slipping further and further away with each passing minute. somehow, deep down inside i knew that i was coming up with a new plan. i knew that i didn't need to be walking on this ankle. i knew that one of these cars was going to give me a ride to monson. i knew that the winners of the 'give grizzly adam a ride to monson' game had just parked right beside me and walked down to the river. i'm not sure if they knew it at the time, but, it was true. today was their lucky day. (now, hold on a second. you're telling me that you are going to hitch a ride out of here? doesn't that mean that you would be missing part of the trail?) yeah, and your point is? (well, my point is that if you did that, then you would no longer be what we like to call a purist. you would no longer be a true thru-hiker. you would be a..... you would be a ....... i can't bring myself to say it). say what, man? out with it. (you would be a.....yellow blazer- meaning that you would follow the yellow blaze of the road instead of the white blaze of the appalachian trail). yep. i guess you're right. i would be one of those dreaded yellow blazers. those damn non-purists. i would no longer be following every white blaze, following the crowd, going with the flow. well, you should probably know that that is fine by me. it is like i told shoeless jon not long before i embarked on this journey- i am out here for the sake of hiking and for the sake of adventure. the appalachian trail is more a matter of convenience than a goal. i am out here to be hiking, not just to be hiking the AT. this is where the Lord has me right now, so this is where i am. if my journey involves me riding in a car, then so be it. i will ride in a car. if my journey involves me skipping a part of the trail, then so be it. i will skip a part of the trail. i'm not going to lose any sleep over it. i think entirely too often too much emphasis gets put on whether or not a person passes every single white blaze on their trek from georgia to maine. they become a slave to the white blaze. did i have fun? did i have an adventure? did i make the most of each day given to me? did i meet new and interesting people along the way? did i see incredible things? did i learn new things about both myself and the world in which i live? did i grow deeper in both my faith and my walk with my God? those are what i hope to answer yes to. not, did i pass all of the white blazes and become quite miserable in the process. who cares if someone is a purist or a yellow blazer or a blue blazer? did they enjoy what they were doing when they were doing it? that is the important thing. and, now, i step down from the soapbox so that we may move right along.it wasn't too long before the man, woman, and their dog returned from the river. and, it wasn't long before i was sitting in the back seat of the truck with the dog, shadow, talking with art and fay as we drove to monson. shadow didn't know what to do with me in his back seat. at first he wasn't having it, but eventually he decided that we could be pals so he laid his head in my lap and took a nap.what a pleasant couple art and fay were. they, of course, were fascinated by what i was doing. i enjoyed telling them about my trip thus far and enjoyed learning about them. as soon as they found out that i'm a photographer, art was passing his camera back to me and asking me if i could fix it. i was happy to take a look at it. we eventually made our way to the town of greenville and took a short side trip up to moosehead lake. moosehead lake was gorgeous. it was big and beautiful. i enjoyed getting to see it.art and fay finally dropped me off at the post office in monson and wished me luck. i thanked them for the ride and waved as they drove away.i picked up a package that was waiting for me at the post office. then i walked down to the monson general store. if you are ever in monson, then make sure you stop in the general store and say hi to tim. such a great guy. i just went in there to buy a pint of milk (one of the first things i do whenever i get into any town is buy a pint of milk. that is probably what i miss the most when i'm on the trail. i sure do love my milk. and, that powdered crap isn't going to cut it as a viable substitute when i'm hiking) and ended up staying for three hours. like i say- tim is a great guy.i walked down the street to the pie lady's house (one of the two hostels in town) and knocked on the door at six o'clock. she was already in her nightgown and said that she wasn't expecting anymore hikers this late in the season. i have a feeling that i'm going to get that a lot of places i go. now, showered and in my very own room watching tv, i know i made the right decision by not pushing the 26 miles. my ankle is still rather swollen, but doesn't hurt quite so much.plus, they are calling for rain tomorrow and who wants to be hiking in the rain?