Date: 2013-09-13
From: Otter Pond parking

To: West Chairback Pond
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I knew it was going to be a strange day the moment I woke up and saw what time it was, 7:30am. I looked down at Cash and Sky Pilot and they were both still asleep, so I got up, quiet as a bull in a china shop and went and got my leftover sub sandwich from the fridge and sat and ate it while staring at the Maine map in the break room and the way it looks now, I only have about 5 inches to go!When I got back to the cabin, I knew one of them had something on his mind, so I asked, "What's on your mind?" That's when he said, "I don't think we should go today. It rained all night, my clothes are wet and they're calling for seventy percent chance of rain today." (Folks, remember a couple of days ago I said I'm going to be hell to hike with because for the first time on this hike I now have a deadline to meet? Well I'm anal when it comes to doing something once I say I am.) I simply said, "I have to go, and I understand if you feel the need not to. I wish I could stay another day but I have to be there." No one wants to hike in the rain, and to my surprise, he understood, and said, "Let's go." These two guys are the best out there. The loyalty we share towards one another can't be beat and I'm glad we all met. It's just too bad it wasn't earlier on!We hear from Lady and DB Cooper that they had a hard time making the two water crossings we had yesterday, since there has been so much rain the water levels went up. We are very glad we did those 18 miles yesterday. So now we're ready to leave and Phil takes us by the post office and Cash finally gets his package. He's been at least a day or two ahead of it for awhile. Then it's off to the gas station for some last minute stuff and we're on our way. On the way to the trail we see three deer (the first deer we've seen in Maine) and turkeys in two different locations, just no Maine moose yet! Phil drops us off and at 11:30am we start our .08 climb to the AT. The trail is nothing but a river. The plan today is only to do 10.9 miles to the shelter, since we had a late start. Cash takes off, rope burns on his legs and a heavy pack and within minutes, he was gone. On the other hand, Sky Pilot and I are sliding all over the place. It starts to rain and then stops. This will happen all day. The trail has large puddles to get through or try to go around. This is also what we see the whole day - steep climbs, steep descents along with mud, roots and water rushing down the trail. It made for a wonderful day. I can't remember how many times I thought, "There's a rock," and then I stepped on it only to have my foot disappear in the mud. And then it happened...Sky Pilot falls. When I turned around, he was hurting. He said he caught himself but landed on his wrist. A couple of minutes later and he said he was fine. I sure hope he is. We all remember that a fall on the wrist is what took Odat out of the hike. We have one more hill to climb and now it's starting to rain and it's getting dark, so we decided to tent near Chairback Pond. We'll see Cash in the morning.One more thing, I put all my breakfast food in the food drop box that Phil is bringing out in four days. Looks like I'll be having tuna in the morning. I can't wait!