Date: 2005-09-07
From:  Trailside Campsite

To: Full Goose Shelter Site
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: clear sky

More sounds of civilizatino woke us up this morning. This time it was a chip mill or a saw mill. Every time a tree would hit the blades we could ere the whine of the machine. Papermaker said "It sounds like they have a bearing going out." Now there is a job for him. We can hike around the country listening to noises from industrial plants from a distance and then make sales calls. I was somewhat amazed that we were both still alive after sleeping out in the open like we did. Funny how a thin sheet of tenting can make one feel so much safer. Just before lunch time we came to the New Hampshire/Maine border. I paused for the meaning of the sign to sink in. I have really done it. I have walked to Maine. Two years,one serious fall,two hurricanes and about 4.5 million steps later I have gotten to the border. We take each other's picture and decide to take an early break for lunch. There was plenty of sun,a little breeze and a new state!! After a nice break we started back up the trail,or we started back down the trail. Heck,I don't remember. All I remember is that the only water souce was 3/10's of a mile off the trail and we were out of water. It was tempting to stop here for the day,but we pushed ahead. We committed to hiking to the next shelter. We should have committed ourselves to the closest mental institute. Of course we didn't realize that at the time. We hiked over Mt.Carlos then the west peak of Goose Eye Mountain,then the east peak of Goose Eye Mountain,then we hiked or rather crawled hand over hand over the north peak of Goose Eye Mountain. I was beginning to think we were going in a full circle. I realized later that the song "She'll be coming round the mountain" had to have been written here. We hiked or rather slid down some crevices that would have made a fat man skinny. Papermaker took his first fall today. It wasn't too serious. I told him at least he fell in the direction we were hiking. I would have hated to haul him and his pack up a cliff to get him back on the trail. He did not seem to see the humor in that. I think he was more embarrased that he slid all the way down the rock face on his backside. At one point as we attempted to scale the rock face of one of those silly goose mountain peaks,I paniced. I was a good fifteen foot up the rock face when I just could not move my foot for the next step. I could not look up,nor could I look down. I broke out in a cold sweat and hung there suspended like something out of a Spiderman movie. Only there wasn't a net below me and this wasn't a stunt. Well ,I guess it was a stunt. A foolhardy stunt at that. What was I ? A fifty three year old intelligent woman doing out here clinging to the side of a mountain for dear life? Of course I realized that if I fell off I would not only bounce all the way back to Gorham,but I would never be able to answer why I was out here in the first place! I calmed myself down and took a step and then another until I was once again on flat ground. That lasted all often minutes before we were back to climbing up the sides of more rock faces. From the north peak of that silly Goose Eye Mountain,the trail took a sharp nose dive and for the last mile of the day,we were doing a near vertical descent most of the time. Poor Papermaker's heart never did quit racing after that last precipice we had to climb. He is afraid of heights anyway. I kept telling him it would be okay,just don't look down. He asked how he would know where to put his feet if he didn't look down. So for him it was a lose lose situation. He kept muttering "What am I doing out here? I don't even like hiking." I made it up to him when we got to the campsite by cooking his favorite meal. Rice A Roni. Of course he usually likes to have something with the Rice A Roni,so I fixed him some GatorAde. Some how I don't think he was much impressed. I was impressed with him though. It was a terribly hard hike today,and here he is,laying right next to me,snoring loud enough to keep the bears away. I am certain he is dreaming of more hiking tomorrow,because every once in a while,his legs go to jerking! I check our milage we have more miles left than we have food. Something has got to change or we will be in trouble big time.  Bumpkin                           5 Million Steps for Polio Appalachian Trail GA-MA Bumpkin More in 2004