Date: 2011-06-26
From: Monson, ME

To: West Branch of Piscataquis River
Miles today: 12.1

Finally back on the trail after a day and a half in Monson. It was great to relax for a couple of days, but it was rainy and gloomy the whole time, and after being so active so far, spending 2 days in a small town with nothing to do gives you too much time to think, especially about what you're missing like home and family. We both needed to get moving again. We did enjoy spending some time with other hikers in town though, like Mike, Frosty, Purple & Carnivore. Dragonfly took off yesterday, I figure we may not see her again. Scout, Nunchuks and Big Red left, but I think we may run into them again soon. We made it to Shaw's breakfast yesterday morning, definitely lived up to all the hype. I wish we'd had room for more, but I think it will be some time still before we get that insane hiker appetite. I was also able to get a 3L water bladder at an outfitter down the road in Greeville, which is awesome because we have both been drinking out of just Beka's 2L bladder and been having to stop and refill 2-4 times a day (poor planning on my part). Also got some awesome resupply at the IGA there, and we mailed half of it on ahead to the post office in Caratunk so we can carry just enough food for 3 days instead of enough for 7 to get to Stratton. We also mailed home some stuff we could do without - like excess clothes, some of Beka's 1st aid stuff - to lighten our pack load. We're understanding quickly why people start counting ounces out here. Beka's knees were still hurting though, and they swelled quite a bit after sitting around for a while.We caught a late morning ride back to the trail with Mike and leapfrogged with him most of the day. It was actually kinda tough to get started again, especially since Beka's knees weren't feeling much better, but it didn't take long to get back into the swing of things. We both decided we need to talk more on the trail to keep our spirits up, because it's easy to just quietly get lost in your own thoughts while walking, which can be a demoralizing thing. The trail south of Monson is pretty smooth, though we had an early detour because a beaver had flooded a section of the trail. We had to ford a few rivers, and we've just started taking the time to don our crocs for the fords instead of getting our boots and socks wet. We've started noticing that most major river crossings have tentsites, so we passed Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to and risked going to the Piscataquis River. It paid off with a really nice little site right beside the river. It was a thigh-high ford, so I carried Beka's stuff across for her, which had me fording the river back and forth 4 times. When we finally got all our stuff across the river to the tentsite, I looked down and there was a leech stuck to my leg! It was just a small one, and I got him off before he started sucking. Mike got there a little after us, but it was still early so he decided to push on, he'll probably be hiking with his headlamp tonight. It was nice to have the tentsite to ourselves after spending 2 nights in a small hostel with 10 other people. We're still trying to decide if we want to go all the way to Springer. It's not a question of commitment; this a hard thing to do and it takes a unique type of personality to do it.- Ryan