Date: 2005-07-20
From: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to, ME

To: Summit of Old Blue Mountain, ME
Miles today: 14.2

14.2 miles todaySummit of Old Blue Mountain, Maine I got started later than normal today. I had my coffee and breakfast and was hiking by 6:45am. I came up on a cow moose just 30 minutes into my walk. She was right in the trail and when she saw me, she moved off into the woods about 20 yards away and stood there watching me. I got a nice picture of her head because that was all that was showing from the woods. She is the 8th moose I've seen on this hike. I walked on because she seemed so nervous and in a little while I came up to the first nobos of the day. She-ra who looked to nice and clean to be a thru hiker, but she is. Then her friend, Ranger Super Danger, came hiking up in her underwear. She said she was at a lean-to and a boy scout spilled hot water on her. It was just more comfortable hiking in underwear...looks nicer too!! I hiked on and for some reason, I turned to have one more look. ;-))) I ran into Hellboy and the Beast just before I got to Hwy 17. They said that Bob from Gull Pond Hostel was sitting down by the road. I got there just as he was pulling away and yelled out to Honey and they stopped. Honey is from The Cabin in Andover where I'm heading to tomorrow. I asked her what she was doing riding with Bob. Her van was at the parking area and Bob was just taking her to it. I told her I'd be in tomorrow and she said she would pick me up at South Arm Rd about 7:30 in the morning. That's nice because it's a hard hitch from there sometimes. I'll only get in about 3 miles tomorrow...I'm ready for a nero. I stayed by the road crossing for a 1 1/2 hours. There was a nice breeze and the sun was shining, so I unloaded my pack and layed everything over the guardrail to dry. It was a great spot to stay for a while. There was almost no traffic and the view of the lake was very nice. It was about 10am when I finally repacked and started walking again. I went down into a valley before starting a climb up to the First Peak and then the Second Peak of the Bemis Mountain Range. It was beautiful up there with some nice long distance views. I hiked on and got to Bemis Mountain Lean-to. When I went to the spring to get water, there was 6 Smirnoff Ice bottles in the spring. It looked good so I tried one with my lunch. It was so good that I had a second. That one almost put me to sleep. :-)) Jive and Metric stopped by and got some water while I was at the shelter. I hiked on and met the maintainers for this area. A nice couple that really likes taking care of the trail around here. Near the top of Bemis Mountain, I ran into a girl that said; "Stumpknocker!" I didn't recognize her, but I remembered her name, Skirt, from last year. She said Bear was looking forward to having me at The Cabin. The next guy I ran into remembered me from last year too. His name is Hiking Bear. He's finishing up his hike from last year. I passed a nobo by the name of Flash Gordon. Now I think I've heard that name before. ;-)) I got water before making the climb up to the summit of Old Blue where I'm spending the night. When I got to the summit there was 2 nobos that went by the name of Team Vanity. They seemed thrilled to meet me and I don't know why. Is someone setting me up for something?? Actually, they said they had hiked around Hippie and she talked alot about me...uh, oh. They hiked on and I made my dinner. It is beautiful up here. The wind was blowing and I started getting cold...what a nice feeling that is after the last two humid days. This has been a fantastic day. The temperature was warm, but the humidity was much lower.  I haven't been pestered by many bugs in the last 4 days either. I'm laying here on a big rock that fits my body pretty well, in my sleeping bag, looking up at a full moon and beautiful night sky and I have it all to myself.