Date: 2007-08-31
From: Long Pond Stream Lean-to

To: West Branch of Pleasant River
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

(Willie)Today¢s ambitious plan called for 20 mile day over one of the hilliest stretches in the 100 mile wilderness. Yeah like it said it was pretty ambitious and it didn¢t take long to figure out that we probably weren¢t going to make it anywhere near that far. First off, when my alarm went off for an early start it was still raining. After the rough day we had yesterday I couldn¢t convince myself that I needed to get up until after the rain stopped, so we didn¢t get out of our bags until a bit after 6:00. When we were just about ready to head out I noticed that my water bladder that I filled last night was flat and empty. Not only was it empty, but the bite valve was missing. We searched all over the shelter, but couldn¢t find it anywhere. My only guess is that somehow it fell off and then a mouse or chipmunk ran off with it. I needed to be able to carry water so I plugged the end of the hose up with duck tape and filled up a Propel bottle to drink out of. The duck tape leaked a little bit, but it seemed to hold back most of the water.So we definitely didn¢t get the early start that we had hoped for so the next best thing we could do was try to push the pace. Well, that lasted for about a half an hour worth of slippery rocky climbing up Barren Mountain. The rest of the 3 mile uphill remained slow going so by the time we got to the top we knew that there was no way that we were going to make it 20 miles today. Besides, there was no smart reason we needed to try to push in over some pretty rough and wet terrain. And incase we needed any other reasons to ditch our big mileage day, about 4 miles in it started to rain a little bit, and the drizzle remained with us until mid afternoon. From the top Barren Mtn we cautiously made our way about 8 miles further over Fourth Mtn, Third Mtn, Columbus Mtn, and bunch of other non-named bumps on the topo map to the Chairback Lean-to where we stopped in for a late lunch at 3:00. We had thought about staying there, but when we got there we ran into some of the most unwelcoming people we¢ve met on the trail. They wouldn¢t even make room for us to eat lunch in the shelter! So much for the signs in the shelters that say that thru hikers gets first priority. The fuzzy atmosphere made us want to throw down our lunch and head back out into the rain as quickly as we could.From the lean-to the sloppy climbing continued up to the top of Chairback Mtn. before we started one of the rockiest downhills on the trail. Thankfully the Chairbacks vertical version of the Mahoosuc Notch didn¢t lasts long and soon we were back to the normal wet roots and rocks that we¢ve been on all day. After about 15 miles we came across a bag full of trail magic. We were both exhausted after a tough day so the Whoopie Pies and sodas sure did hit the spot We decided that trail magic in the 100 mile wilderness was a sign so we set up our tent a couple of tenths further down the trail along the West Branch of the Pleasant River. After two really rough days in the wilderness, it sure would be wonderful if things could start to turn around a bit tomorrow.