Date: 2006-09-01
From: ME-15 (Monson, ME)

To: Cloud Pond Lean-To
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: broken clouds

The first thing on my mind this morning was the 100-mile wilderness. Since we are in the last town before entering the wilderness I couldn¢t do anything but think about the next 100-miles. More importantly we only have 114.5 miles until we reach Katahdin and that was definitely on my mind. Thinking about all of this and breakfast at 6:30am I started moving a little earlier than normal. Baro and I made our way out of the garage apartment, that we stayed in last night, behind Shaw¢s House, and over to the main house. When we got into the dinning room we had to make our biggest decision of the day. How many of each breakfast item we wanted to order. This is how it works around Shaw¢s. If you order #1 you get one of everything that they serve and if you order a #2 you get two of everything and so on. If you want a #10 they will fix a #10, but get ready because you have to eat it. I ended up with a number three and was comfortably stuffed after finishing. To top breakfast off we finished the left over cake from Shasta¢s birthday last night. Once done with breakfast and cake we finished packing, said our good byes, and caught the morning shuttle back to the trailhead at 9:00am. The first section of today¢s hike was really nice and for the most part flat. What a great way to enter the wilderness. Everyone really enjoyed the easy terrain because our packs were a little on the heavy side with enough food and supplies to make through the 100-mile wilderness. We were a little confused though because one would think that after walking 2,000 miles someone would have placed a sign marking the start of the wilderness, but we never saw one. We all took this section a little slow because we were on the hunt to see a moose. This section seemed ideal because there were little ponds everywhere but unfortunately no moose. Around 10:15am we took our first break and noticed that Baro was starting to come down with something. He didn¢t feel too good but continued on to hike like a champ. Shortly after the break the trail got a little hilly as we passed Little Wilson Falls (around 60¢ of falls) on the left and took a drastic descend down to Little Wilson Stream. There was a rope stretched out across the stream and a good log foot walk across it. This was noted in the guidebook as a ford, but we were able to hop the log walk instead of getting our feet wet. About 3 miles later we weren¢t so lucky because we had to cross Big Wilson Stream and it was definitely a ford. Jelly Bean went first then Shasta and I followed. As we reached the other side Jangles showed up and in one quick motion slipped her crocs on and crossed right behind us. When Baro showed up it was truly a different sight. He first threw his trekking poles across the stream and tied to cross without them. He managed to make it to the other side dry only after a few close calls on the slippery rocks. After everyone managed to cross we sat on the river rocks for a few minutes letting out feet dry so we could put our socks and shoes back on. Around this time Rhubarb the rubber chicken came out and taunted Jelly Bean with a honk or two creating a few good laughs. Just up the hill from the stream we crossed a set of Canadian Pacific Railroad Tracks. Our guide book says to be cautious of fast moving trains and this was further emphasized in the journal at the Wilson Valley Lean-To 4/10 of a mile further. One entry mentioned that the midnight train is extremely loud and fast. We decided not to stay but rather push on toward Cloud Pond Lean-To another 9 miles up the trail. On the way I noticed that the book mentioned a fire tower on Barren Mountain and could see it from Barren Ledges. It was still 2.3 miles away but I got excited and started thinking about the tower that Donkey and I stayed in back around New Jersey. I pushed on rather fast and the closer I got the more disappointed I became. When I got there the old fire tower had seen better days because the entire top was gone and the only thing remaining was the iron frame. This didn¢t stop H-Bomb, Jelly Bean, and I because when we got to it we took turns climbing what remained for a phenomenal 360-degree view of Maine¢s Wilderness. By this time it was getting dark and rapidly cooling off so we pushed on to Cloud Pond Lean-To. The trail into the shelter was really rough and the Lean-to didn¢t have a good view of the pond but the tenting area did. Shasta and Jangles decided to share a tent, Baro set up his hammock, and I pitched my tent where we all had good views of the lake. We just knew we would see a moose since it was getting dark but just never did. After a quick dinner we hit the sack for a good night¢s sleep back on the trail and our first night in the 100-mile Wilderness. Tonight: Jelly Bean, H-Bomb, Shasta, Jangles, Baro, two southbound hikers, and I.