Date: 2005-08-05
From: Horns Pond Lean-to's

To: West Carry Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: light rain

We slept in until 6:15am. It was a very warm night last night. It was still warm out this morning when we got up. No moose sighting last evening either.We started our day by finishing the hike to the top of the South Horn of Bigelow Mtn. It was windy at the South Horn. We hiked to the West Peak of Bigelow where it was VERY windy! We had to hold on to rocks to keep from getting blown over. We then hiked to Avery Peak. We took pictures of the Lookout Cabin and the plaque on Avery Peak.We then headed to Little Bigelow on the northern end of Bigelow Peak. At the sign for Little Bigelow Summit, we celebrated reaching the 2,000 mile mark! We picked fresh wild blueberries and made a marker. We placed the blueberries on the ground in the formation of the number 2,000. We took a picture of it. Hikers who came by later that day and the next, told us they saw the "2,000" up on Little Bigelow Summit. Of course, we ate handfuls of blueberries while we were up there.We hiked down to Little Bigelow Lean-to to fill water at the spring there. As we filled water and made lemonade, it started to sprinkle and the clouds moved in. We decided to go the extra 50yds to the Lean-to to take our lunch break. Just as we got to the Lean-to, the skies opened up and it rained hard for 10 minutes. It is always nice to watch a rain storm from the "dry-side". Stick showed up about 15 minutes later, and he was soaked. As we always say, "It's all about the timing." After about a 45 minute lunch break we headed on. We still had to do the 7.3 miles to West Carry Pond Lean-to.We got to the Long Falls Dam Road. We looked forward to this road because Southbounders had told us this is where the "2,000 Mile" marker is painted in the middle of the road. We took pictures of it. We had also hoped for some trail magic here, but no luck.We hiked on and finally got to West Carry Pond Lean-to at 5:20pm. We set up our tent, and filtered water from the pond. The pond was absolutely beautiful. It was big, more like a lake. We saw fishing boats out on the pond. This is the first pond/lake that we have used as a water source. We have always used springs or streams. We were told by other hikers at the shelter that the spring at the shelter was dry.A southbounder by the name of "Painfully Slow" tented next to us. She had olive oil spill all inside of her pack. What a mess. She had it in a flip-top bottle. The bottle was then inside a ziploc, which was inside of her food bag, which was inside of her backpack. Needless to say, but we will anyway, the cap opened and the ziploc leaked. The olive oil filled the food bag, which then leaked into the backpack. Long story short, olive oil was EVERYWHERE! She took everything down to the pond for a good washing. When she returned to her campsite, she set up a clothesline to dry everything out. Now here is the best part, we have travelled more than 2,000 miles and we have never seen this. CLOTHESPINS! She clipped everything to the clothesline with big plastic clothespins. Can you imagine lugging a dozen clothespins in your pack? This is even exceptional for a new southbounder. It was hard to comprehend this until she informed us that it took her 14 days to get through the 100-mile Wilderness. FOURTEEN DAYS! Now THAT'S exceptional!We cooked dinner. It was our favorite, chicken quesadilla pasta. Unfortunately, it is not sold everywhere. If it was, we would have it at least once a week. We added our last CAN of chicken to it. We have been calling cans of chicken "chick-o-bricks". They are like little round bricks in your pack. Why don't they sell chicken in the pouches in the stores around the northern part of the trail? It was nice to get the weight out of Boston's pack.We are looking forward to crossing the Kennebec River tomorrow on the ferry. We are also looking forward to "Moose Crossing". It is a concession stand 0.2 miles off the trail. We think we will get pizza and ice-cream there.In bed at 8pm.