Date: 2009-10-08
From: Wilson Valley Lean-To

To: Chairback Gap Lean-To
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: overcast clouds

The sun came out in the morning after another fierce night of rain. Seriously though, where does all this rain come from? And, why is it trying to dampen the last leg of our AT thru-hike!? I left the shelter before most of the shelter inhabitants were still getting out of their sleeping bags. I recognized that, at the pace I was going, I had to get moving to make it out of the wilderness. The first obstacle that lay in my way was the Long Pond Stream ford. The river was raging with water, very deep in some sections, and then if you followed the river down just 25 more feet, there was a precipitous drop ¢ a huge waterfall that bellowed the sound of thundering water. Instead, I bushwhacked my way upstream, attempting to find a place where I could cross safely. There was another log that jetted its way out to the center of the river, but it was still several feet deep if I had fallen off. Finally, I decided to brace myself and started out on the log. Soon enough, the log dipped into the frozen water and I was left to jump off and hold on before the current took me away. I searched for rocks that were high out of the water to ensure that I wouldn t get soaked up to my abdomen. It took full concentrate, as one slip and you would be going under. Fortunately, I made it to the other side, but it was another big ford. I knew that the next shelter was close, so I scurried along, finding Pacer and Mayaguez heading southbound. These were the other two 67 year olds hiking the trail and they looked a bit battered from the wilderness. They, too, had decided to jump up to Katahdin and hike south, as they were afraid that the park would close and that they wouldn t be able to summit. Smart thinking. They also told me about Jungli and how she tried to cross the next ford without using the rope that was hanging above. As she tried to cross the river, her body was swept away by the rapids and she ended up downstream, before pinning herself against a rock and managing to climb her way out. She was okay, a bit shaken up, but all of her belongings were completely drenched and she was nearly frozen by the time she arrived at the shelter. The two of them also warned me that the upcoming ford was the most powerful on the trail. Knowing that I had just crossed what I thought to be the craziest ford, I brushed it off. We embraced and wished each other well as we continued our respective journeys.So, then I came to the river that doesn t even have a name in the AT Companion booklet. The river split and the first section that I crossed required some rock jumping and concentration. But, once out on the island, I saw what Pacer and Mayaguez were talking about. The rope hung over the section that had lots of rocks, thereby making the water flow even faster. I initially started off not using the rope, thinking that crossing the river just above where the rope was would be the better option, as it didn t seem as fast. But, I found out quickly that I would have water up to my chest and would be swimming with my pack on if I went that route. So, I went back to the drawing board (i.e. the rope) and started to plan the way across. I started out with the rope realizing that I had made a serious mistake. I was hanging on to the rope with only one hand and had my poles in my other hand. I should have collapsed them and attached them to my bag. So, here I was, not even a third way across and struggling to keep myself up. The water was flowing very quickly and I was honestly getting a bit scared about being swept away. So, I sat back, held on tight with my one hand as best as I could. Then, all of a sudden, a savior Southbound appeared at the other side of the ford. He shouted,  Throw me your poles!!! Throw me your poles!!!  He was right, so I concentrated, managed to get my footing on the riverbed down below (mind you the water was up to my hips) and with one strong motion, I pulled my left arm back as far as I could and hurled the poles some 10 feet to the riverbank, nearly hitting the southbounder in the process. Having freed up my other hand, I was able to navigate the rope much better, but it was still a crazy, crazy ford. Now I could see why our entire Vortex group named it  The Into the Wild River , a reference to the Into the Wild movie, in which Christopher McCandless was forced to abort his river crossing and return to his school bus in the Alaskan interior. At the Long Pond Stream Lean-To, I reunited with Chef, Beechucker, and Jungli, who informed me about their own crazy exploits of crossing the last stream. We all were on the same page of moving on and getting out of the wilderness and I wanted to make sure that we were all on the same page about the food drop and that we may need to get it sooner than we had originally thought. So, I stayed behind and constructed a long-detailed note for the others letting them know approximately of where we would be and when we would be hoping to get the mail drop. Upon reaching Barren Mountain at 2,660 feet, the fall foliage was just magnificent. There was a huge valley filled with millions of trees, all with a variety of fall colours, with a backdrop of another large ridge in the distance and a beautiful lake that extended far in the distance. I could see for miles and miles and knew that we were the only ones out in the wilderness for...again, miles and miles. It was an incredible feeling. In relatively quick succession, we hit a number of large mountains that surprised us in difficulty ¢ Fourth Mountain, Third Moutain, and Columbus Mountain, before finally making our way to Chairback Gap Lean-To. Chef had left us a note at the West Chairback Pond Trail, saying that he went off with his fishing rod (forgot to mention earlier that Beechucker and Chef bought a fishing rod together and had a disastrous, but hilarious experience attempting to fish in the wilderness). I had caught up to Jungli again and we both knew that we had to keep getting some more miles in. As we approached the shelter, a fire was already burning outside, to which Beechucker was tending. There were two section hikers in the shelter, who ended up snoring up a storm all night, and then Odin! We had caught up to Odin! Our excitement was short-lived, however, as Odin told us that he had had enough with the trail and was getting off the trail the next day at the logging road. Either a friend or his family would come pick him up and he would head up to Katahdin and summit that weekend to end his thru-hike. I told him how much I appreciated his energy out here on the trail and he said that upon meeting up with us over a month ago, he had the most fun out on the trail. Looking back, it really was a great month and the Vortex became one close family. That night, Jungli kicked me while I was sleeping, accusing me of snoring. I woke up and realized that it wasn t I who was snoring, but Beechucker! So, I used a whisper shout to say,  Pssss, it s not me! It s Beechucker. Why are you kicking me?  to which Jungli replied,  Well kick HIM then!!! . I then proceeded to kick Beechucker in the back and told him that he was snoring. The next morning, Chucks went on and on about how it was actually me.