Date: 2007-09-30
From: West Chairback Pond Island

To: Gulf Hagas Cutoff
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: clear sky

Ultimate YogiMy hammock placement was perfect and the sun rose just to the left of my feet. The loon started calling again in the pre dawn hours. I watched the sun rise then fell back asleep for a bit. When I woke up the crew had the fire going again to cook breakfast. I just ate my pop tarts and started packing up camp. Once everyone was ready, we started the shuttles back. I did one trip then returned for the last load of gear. The wind had stopped and the water was calm. We didn't notice how clear the water was yesterday. We could clearly see the bottom and could make out spots where moose had walked across. Back on the mainland we got hiking around 10:30. The trail went up columbus mtn then down and back up to chairback. Misplaced and I stopped for a break admiring the amazing fall colors. The mountain was multicolored from the valley up to where the forest changed to spruce-fir. It was a pretty cool sight. We could also see Katahdin peaking in the distance. I hiked down the rock slide on the back side of chairback then cruised to the west branch of the pleasant river.I ate lunch on the riverside then changed into my crocs for the ankle deep ford. There were no rocks to hop across but the water wasn't deep. On the otherside I put my shoes back on and talked with the ridgerunner. We were near the gulf hagas, a 5.2 mile loop hike featuring 5 waterfalls, a very popular local hike. It can be accessed from another logging road. A lot of day hikers were coming back and were interested in my hike. Misplaced and I yogied 4 granola bars off one woman. I ate one then gave the other to stone age. As I was about to leave a group of 15 college students on a class trip were finishing their weekend hike. I started talking about how hungry we were and they all took off their packs and started throwing food at us. We scored a feast! They gave us oranges, apples, pop tarts, smoore ingredients, carrots, candy bars, cheese, bagels with cream cheese, and tons of other snacks. None of them could really figure out why we were so excited for their food. When we t!old them about hiking from Georgia they couldn't figure that out either. The crew caught up and we ate all the food right there, except the smoore stuff. I actually felt close to full and hiked on.The trail went through the hermitage, a stand of old white pines over 130ft tall. They were strikingly beautiful and towering over the river. I hiked on and got to the gulf hagas trail. Misplaced and I got ready to slack pack it. We hung our packs in trees to keep the animals away and started on our way. It was already 5 and we knew we would have to do the return trail in the dark. All the waterfalls are on the way out so we would have seen them all, but we would have had to walk fast. We made it to the second fall and were awestruck by its beauty. There was no way we could rush through it so we turned around and went back to our packs. The plan was to camp .7 north on the AT where camping was legal then do the 5.2m Hagas trail in the early am. The crew liked the idea so we hiked to the "hagas cutoff trail" to camp. We found a spot by the stream and set up camp. I just ate dinner and smoores for dessert then climbed into my hammock since tomorrow would be a big day. As I was laying in my hammock a mouse tried to chew through my food bag that I hung on the hammock line. I could feel him moving around. I had to hang my food bag in a tree. Hopefully he won't get it or I'll have to have him for breakfast tomorrow!Today's StatsStarting Point:West Chairback Pond IslandEnding Point:Gulf Hagas CutoffMileage:8.1Elevation Gain:2120ftElevation Loss:2590ftHiking Time:6:25Weather:Cool Sunny BeautifulPain Factor:3