Date: 2008-08-14
From: Chairback Gap Lean-to ME

To: Logan Brook Lean-to ME
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: clear sky

Day 179 Thursday August 14 ¢ Logan Brook Lean-to ME - Miles Today: 17.1 Total Miles: 2104.8Wow, we survived the night with the mystery man and had another fairly uneventful day. We got up around 5:00, hauled all of our belongings to the side of the shelter and packed our bags as quietly as we could. We left our sleeping shelter mates about 6:00 as we headed down the trail.   The trails continue to be much better than what we had a week ago. There were some muddy spots, but, all in all, good trail. We did over 17 miles in about 9 hours, averaging almost 2 mph with breaks. Not bad compared to what the trail used to limit us to. Brakeman jokingly says the trails are so dry that he is waiting to see a tumbleweed roll across them. They aren¢t THAT dry, but compared to what we had over the past couple weeks, they are extremely dry. Everything is relative. Just as the day hiking in the rain towards the 501 Shelter in Pennsylvania has become our benchmark for cold, wet, miserable days, the trails before Monson have become our benchmark for wet horrible trails. Anything better than those two extremes is quite bearable.The only dilemma we have now is that we are running out of supplies. We're out of allergy meds and due to Grasshopper's latest challenge, we're running real low on toilet paper. Each day lately we borrow baby wipes from other hikers. She is feeling better, so hopefully we won't have any more of those issues or the sinus issues. Here we come Katahdin, with or without enough TP!We opted out of taking the 5-mile Gulf-Hagas loop trail that is reported to be the ¢Grand Canyon of the East¢ with numerous waterfalls. It¢s not the official Appalachian Trail and we really did not have the energy or time for 5 more miles. Nearly all thru-hikers bypass it, as we did.Today, we did the last of our mountain climbing until Katahdin. There were 4 summits, the last one - White Cap - was supposed to have views of Katahdin but we couldn¢t see that far in the distance. We saw some ranges but we really don¢t think they were far enough away to be Katahdin related. While on the top of White Cap, we heard thunder in the distance, so we hightailed it 1.5-miles down to the shelter, arriving at 3:15 and nabbing the last 2 spots in the shelter. We had just enough time to freshen up and filter before another hour-long downpour. Such sweet timing. We were sprinkled on a couple times today but, all in all, the rain has diminished to just afternoon showers. It's a packed house here tonight. There are 6 hikers in the shelter ¢ 2 sobos, an older couple attempting the 100 Mile Wilderness for the second time, and us. Four more hikers are tenting. Another hiker arrived just as it was getting ready to downpour and asked if there was any more room in the shelter. The 2 sobos said it was a 6-man shelter and we¢re at capacity. We always feel bad when we don¢t make room for others. That¢s the second time on this trip we have not done so. Brakeman after watching the guy starting to setup his tent in the rain ran out to offer help, but the man declined. Now we really feel like heels. The man later came up to the shelter to cook his dinner under the roof eave and nearly injured himself as he slipped jumping over the wet board in front of the shelter. He went down hard and fast.I'm not quite sure where all the hiker traffic is coming from, but hopefully the amount of traffic at the shelters will decline so that we get clear sailing the next 4 days into Katahdin. We had a really good day. From here to the end, it's basically flat terrain! We're looking forward to giving our knees a break. It's 6:20 and everyone is getting ready to crash for the night. So I guess we¢ll call it a night and get ready for T-minus 4. Just 71 more miles to go! Goodnight.