Date: 2008-09-30
From: Cloud Pond Lean-to, ME

To: Sidney Tappan Campsite, ME
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: overcast clouds

I was right last night when I said my tent was going to be wet this morning....it was soaked!!! I stuck my stove outside the tent door and brewed my Stumpknocker's Blend coffee from White Rocks Coffee House in Dallas, TX....Thanks Nancy and Bob!!! :-) I packed up after breakfast and stuck everything outside the tent, then took my bandana and wiped down my tent as best as I could. It's amazing just how much water comes off the tent when its soaked. I walked the .4 miles back to the Appalachian Trail and started walking north. I think this section of trail is tough...there's lots of little six foot ups and downs....mud holes and rotted puncheons, so you just can't make very many miles. I descended 500 feet to Fourth Mountain Bog, walked across some puncheons and took a few pictures of the foggy bog, then ascended Fourth Mtn. I caught up to Willow on that mountain. I knew her from walking near her back in TN. We talked a while, then walked on and caught up to Long We Tru. She greeted me with a big "Hello Stumpknocker!!" We all talked for quite a while, catching up on other nobos we know before I walked on. I climbed Third Mtn and Columbus Mtn before getting to Chairback Gap Lean-to and taking a break. I sat there and ate an early lunch before walking on. I climbed Chairback Mtn next, then made a steep down before a fairly easy walk towards East Chairback Pond. There was a long downhill to West Branch of the Pleasant River. I forded that river. It is quite a long ford, but very shallow. I always walk right into a ford with my running shoes and let them dry out afterwards while I'm walking. It's just the easiest way for me to handle these fords...and there's a lot of them up here in Maine. It keeps my feet clean. :-) I started a 2,000 foot climb to Sidney Tappan Campsite. It was a long walk along Gulf Hagas Brook. I passed by the side trail to Gulf Hagas without stopping after walking through a bunch of towering white pines. I've walked through Gulf Hagas before, so I just kept climbing. I ran into the first southbond walker I've seen today on my way up that mountain...Poptart '02, the local ridgerunner. He was moving faster than I thought he could because it was late in the day and he still had a few miles to go. He looked up and said; "Stumpknocker, you are really moving slow this year". Hummm....wonder if that was a cut? Ha!! :-) We talked for about 5 minutes and he headed on down the mountain and I kept climbing. I rock hopped over Gulf Hagas Brook, then passed by the side trail to Carl A Newhall Lean-to without stopping. I had a steep climb to the summit of Gulf Hagas Mtn before descending to Sidney Tappan Campsite. I was the only one there, so I took my pack with me down the hill to the spring and filled up my water bottles, then came back up the hill and found a flat spot to set up my tent. I got into the tent right at dark and was using my headlamp to eat dinner when I heard a moose get excited about my being in the area. I'm not sure why it got so excited, but it was making a blowing noise as it tromped off through the woods. That reminded me that I heard a moose earlier today way down in the valley making a bellowing sound. I'm guessing that has to do with it being rutting season. Another great day on the Appalachian Trail. :-)