Date: 2015-08-02
From: 0.1 Miles Past Barren Ledges

To: Carl A Newhall Lean-to
Miles today: 0.0

We started early at 6 am and summited Barren Mountain where we climbed the ladder on what was left of a tower to get an amazing 360 view. We then descended and climbed Fourth Mountain, Mt Three and a Half and Third Mountain. The climbs were not too bad relatively speaking but each had a wicked straight down descent for a segment and there were still lots of wet muddy sections. My left Achilles started to protest on the descents. We found wild blueberries on the summits and I stopped to pick and eat a few on Mt Three and A Half. Unhinged passed by and so did Peter Pan whom I had not seen in awhile. Wookie found a snake in a bush. We stopped for lunch at Monument Cliff on top of Third Mountain which was an amazing view. Peter Pan was already there. Hyrobics and Chimney stopped and chatted but didn't sit. August went by quickly without Spice. We wondered ....We moved on and stopped at Chairback Lean-to briefly but Chairback Mountain was only half a mile away so I chatted with Peter Pan about his exciting post AT plans while we climbed Chairback Mountain and took a break at the top. There were so many blueberries!! I picked and ate until I had to tear myself away because it was 2 pm and we had only covered 10 miles! And I wanted to see waterfalls later. So we descended Chairback which had stone steps and a boulder scramble descent. More blueberries along the way but we had to be disciplined or we would never get far plus I had already eaten a lot! Today was gluttony day as I seemed to be eating a lot of snacks too. Randomly the muscle in my quad which is near my inner right knee started feeling tight and eventually really started hurting especially stepping down in a descent. I kept hiking but it started to feel stiffer and stiffer. I let Wookie pass and slowed to a very slow pace as each step down hurt more and more. I was okay on flatter trail but the up and down terrain was tough. On a descent, Cliffhanger passed me. I was really hurting and began to worry that I wouldn't be able to hike much more today and wondered what would happen if I would be able to make it to Katahdin. I finally made it to Katahdin Works Rd where Wookie, Hyrobics, Chimney, Cliffhanger and Peter Pan were all hanging out. Vic and Phyllis, parents of Scooby were waiting for him and Murphy's Law but had root beer and oatmeal pies for us. I hobbled in and sat down and enjoyed one of each. Wookie and Hyrobics offered me Ibuprofen but I have not taken any pharmaceuticals at all on my hike and didn't want to start yet though it was very tempting! I wanted to see how the pain progressed and didn't want to mask it. We had to ford the West Branch Pleasant River a half mile later which felt good on my feet. A family had just crossed the river and the mom was interested in my through hike. We crossed the river to find Finn and Ridgerunner Moxie on the other side. I hadn't seen Finn since Eckville Shelter! He was hanging and helping Moxie. I filtered water and soaked my knee. It was flat to Gulf Hagas Trail which is where the waterfall loop intersects. I had wanted to hang out here but we had taken a lot of breaks and it was 5:30. We crossed the stream and went 0.1 miles to the first waterfall which was cool. But no time to swim or hangout longer since there wasn't much camping between here and the lean-to. We had 4.3 miles left to hike to the shelter. My knee had started to stiffen again so I knew it would be a long 4 miles. Eventually I found a modified gait that minimized how much stepping up and down my right knee had to do. Fortunately the trail was relatively flattish to sloping up with some ups and downs in between. I made it to the lean-to by 8. August, Peter Pan and Cliffhanger were there. Unhinged was tenting just before the Brook before the lean-to. I set up my tent, Filtered water and ate. Scooby and Murphys Law stopped by so at least I got to meet them.