Date: 2006-09-15
From: Logging Rd south of West Branch Pleasant RIver

To: Stealth spot in saddle just before Fourth Mtn
Miles today: 9.0

Friday, Sept 15, 2006 Logging Rd south of West Branch Pleasant River to stealth spot in saddle just before Fourth Mtn. N to S, 9 miles, plus 0.5 from trailhead to AT junction with logging road. A one-night two-day backpack.Amoeba¢s had a mostly sleepless night. She falls asleep sometime between 4:30 and 6:30. At 6:30 she wakes up in the middle of a vivid nightmare. In the dream she¢s living in a group home. A friend comes to see her. She tries to explain to that friend she¢s in the group home because of a terrible mistake. Really, I¢m normal, she says. At first the friend believes her but soon decides she¢s nuts and cuts out.Amoeba packs up her big internal/external frame backpack, the only backpack she has that's large enough to hold her tent, a bulky but sweet 2-person tent that she and Purple Rose will share. Purple Rose is carrying the poles, stakes and water filter. Amoeba¢s pack weight is probably 25 pounds. Though not a lot of weight, the thought of carrying it makes her dread today¢s hike. She knows she¢s going to be heavy and off-balance going over Chairback.On the logging road are flattened remains of one of last night¢s springing frogs, then so full of life, now squashed, run over by one of their vehicles. So far, a ¢down¢ day.C¢mon, Amoeba, fix your attitude.OK. This morning Purple Rose presented Amoeba with a jar of homemade Mayhaw jelly, a Southern delicacy. Gotta look back in the journal to find out who had raved about this jelly, someone from the South, perhaps Alabama. Amoeba had mentioned it to Purple Rose, and then Purple Rose had gone out and found it!We¢ll have to have it together on hot biscuits! Amoeba will keep it in the car until they¢re all at a place where hot Southern biscuits are being served.Hello to Chad and Cornbread. Booking. Energized. Big smiles on their faces. One more bump, they say.Hello to the Professor and Jesse James. After Katahdin, they¢ll flip to PenMar. When you get to VA, stop at Bears Den, says Amoeba.Hello to Bama! You should write to the Croc company, Bama says.   I can see why you say that but I don¢t want to endorse a product or acquire a sponsor, says Amoeba. I¢m lucky enough to have found something that works for me. Hiking in Crocs doesn¢t work for many, maybe even most, people.The mountainside is covered in spruce, with just a little fir mixed in. Scent is subtle, not so pungent as all fir. Higher up, more fir creeps into the mix and scent is stronger.Hello Mountain Jam. Started in Hanover (where he usually hikes) headed towards Katahdin. He may cut the hike short at Caratunk or Monson.Hello to 3 men and a woman who started in Monson, also headed towards Katahdin. They have only 10 days to hike and have come to realize that they¢ll end south of Katahdin. Next comes a man they¢re hiking with, the Preacher. I told them the 100-mile Wilderness was easy, he says. I¢d forgotten about the tough parts. Perhaps because when I was here before, in 2001, I experienced the Wilderness as a thruhiker in top condition. My hiking friends now know the Preacher lies, he says.A nice rock scramble that would have been a blast without the packs, and then an impressive stone staircase.From the top, perhaps that¢s Katahdin? Thinking about the people up there today. Who? Circuit Rider, Sherlock, Mulligan, Irish?At the shelter, should we eat lunch or finish the climb? They finish the climb which pushes lunch back to 1:50 at the summit of Columbus Mtn.Hello O2beehiking and Soundbite John.Hello Karuna Mile, I took a spill, almost fell off the mountain, she says.Hello to Cosmic Punchline. I¢m ready to be done. I can¢t wait to get this backpack off.Nice clear-running MATC spring right on the trail, south of the summit of Columbus Mtn.Hello to Moe, Burkenstock (sweating, trying for West Branch tonight), Ponch, Brain Freeze, Indiana, Wrong Way. Fun going SOBO and getting to meet the same people several days in a row.A spruce grouse on the trail calmly walks off into the woods.A few leaves fall on Amoeba¢s hands and backpack but she¢s too tired to care. Fix that attitude, girl. Stumpknocker¢s way ahead of you already.Rusch Hour, Fiddlehead and Baldylocks. Rusch Hour tries to call his dad on Amoeba¢s cell to tell him not to come to Maine yet because they¢re running behind schedule. No signal. Amoeba says she¢ll keep trying for a signal and will try to get the message to Rusch Hour¢s parents that his dad should not leave for Maine until Rusch calls him from White House Landing, maybe on the 18th or 19th. Zig Zag, Purple Rose and Amoeba find some soft flat sites for their tents in the saddle just before Fourth Mtn. Tents up. Backpacks unpacked. What¢s this? Amoeba finds a 1-pound rock in the bottom of her pack. Vaguely she remembers picking that up, liking its contours. Where? She can't remember. Whatever, it¢s not gorgeous enough to keep carrying. She thinks it¢s clean enough to leave. She lays it on another rock. If a geologist happens by, he¢ll/she¢ll be headscratching. How in heck did this kind of rock get here? Supper. Dark at 7:30. 10 dark hours for sleep.