Date: 2019-08-06
From: Carl Newhall Lean-To (ME)

To: Unofficial Campsite MM2102.1 (ME)
Miles today: 11.3

Last night I kept having dreams that I was somewhere and the lights would get turned off. At one point in the dream I was trying to swim in a pool and in another, I was in my grandma¢s kitchen. I have no idea what that means, but I woke up with the song ¢18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses¢ in my head. SC was not familiar with the song, so I sang the chorus. SC thinks that the line ¢10 more miles on his 4 day run¢ might have something to do with it. We did 10 miles yesterday and we now have 3 days left in the 100MW. Anyway, I got up early and first thing I noticed was that there was a tent right next to ours that wasn¢t there last night. They must have been really quiet because I had no idea they were there. I then trekked across the brook to visit the privy. When I came back, I started making breakfast. I heard hoofsteps. It sounded like a horse. I stood up and not 15 feet away was a moose. I told SC, ¢Wake up. There¢s a moose.¢ while getting out my phone to get a picture or video. I ended up taking a video. Then, here comes a second one! The first was a female, and this second one was smaller, so I¢m guessing it was her calf. Anyway, our first moose! SC was surprised at how big they were. Also, everyone back in Indiana was telling her how aggressive they are, so she was also surprised that they basically ignored us.Today we were to climb another mountain. This time it would be Chairback. We got going a little earlier than usual because of the moose excitement. The 2 sobos we¢ve stayed with the last 2 nights passed us early in the day. Neither of them had trail names yet, but one was super good about taking care of his feet, so I decided he should be Dr. Scholl. If it sticks, it will be the first trail name I¢ve bestowed on someone. We probably won¢t see him again, though. He¢s moving faster than us even though he just started. The other sobo is also faster but he is doing this side trail with waterfalls today that adds some extra miles.Another first for today was our first ford! A ford is when you get to a creek or river that doesn¢t have a bridge and there are not rocks that you can use to hop across. Apparently it¢s been a dry summer because there have been other places where the guidebooks have said we would need to ford, but we managed to find ways to get across without getting wet. The West Branch Pleasant River was not one of the places where we could rock hop. We took our shoes off and put on our camp shoes (we both have a pair of knock-off Crocs that we wear around camp) and crossed the river. It was about 20 yards wide but even the deepest section came up to mid-calf on me. After the refreshing ford, it was time to start up Chairback Mountain. It seemed to take forever. Every time we went up for a while, the trail would go back down again. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever make it to the top. A guy coming down said, ¢Do you have a climb ahead of you!¢ Ugh. At one point I was walking across these wide, flat rocks. It was easy hiking and it reminded me of hiking in New York. Anyway, I look up and see this rock face ahead, of me and thought, ¢Oh no, I¢m going to have to go up there!¢ Eventually I get to the part where it goes up. On Guthook this is marked as a ¢rock slide.¢ It¢s basically a pile of large, jagged rocks. It was not a fun climb but I¢d rather go up it than down. I get to the top where there are some nice views and cell service.The next lean-to is not much farther from the summit. We stop by and sign the register, but it¢s still early and there¢s no water. We cross another mountain. This one is called Columbus and then find an unofficial campsite just .3 miles north of a stream. We set up our tent, and the sobo who took the waterfall trail shows up. He sets up as well and he and SC make the .6mile round trip for water. I find a spot not far away that is filled with moose poop. I mean, this might be some sort of moose gathering place. Maybe we¢ll see moose 2 days in a row!