Date: 2005-08-05
From: Pierce Pond Lean-to

To: Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 19.6

Miles hiked today : 19.618.7 AT miles + 0.3 mile of side trail + 0.6 roadwalk mileI woke up this morning at 6:00 a.m. and took my time getting ready, as I had only 3.6 miles to cover before the 9~11 a.m. time slot for the canoe ferry across the Kennebec. I ate my last breakfast food, noting that I'd be eating a single granola bar for breakfast for the next 2 days, as I had mistakenly thought I'd be able to resupply in Caratunk. At 7:15 a.m., I finished packing and hiked out.The trail was marked poorly and I ended up turning around without realizing it. I thought it strange when I came to a privy so soon and quickly realized what had happened. I reoriented and hiked on, crossing the outlet of Pierce Pond via a boulder dam, which allowed water to flow through and hikers to walk across. The entire stretch of trail this morning passed alongside the outlet as it cascaded over boulders and raced through narrow channels. At 7:45 a.m., I took a steep downhill side trail to see the splash pool of a large waterfall and returned to the AT at 8:00 a.m. At 8:55 a.m., I arrived at the South bank of the Kennebec and waited for the ferryman to show up.At 9:05 a.m., I spotted the ferryman across the river. Steve Longley is his name and he's been ferrying hikers across the Kennebec for the last 18 years. Yesterday, in fact, he shuttled his 16,000th passenger and there was a journalist, Dave, present to document the milestone. Dave was also present today and was taking photographs and asking questions about my hike. He told me I could read the story about Steve online at www.mainetoday.com. Steve was very friendly and talkative and ferried hikers across 2 at a time. First come, first serve was the rule, so I went on the third trip with Bones and got to hel paddle. The water was 6~7 feet deep where we crossed, which would have been a difficult ford indeed. It turns out that there were rock bars upstream that would have been safer to ford, but I was happy to be in the canoe, which actually has a white blaze painted on the bottom of it, as it's the official AT route. I reached the North shore at 9:40 a.m. and 5 minutes! later, I was crossing US201 into Caratunk.I needed to call Opa to see whether he was going to meet s in Monson and also wanted to send my e-mail, so I walked to the post office, which housed the only payphone in town. Along the way, I spotted a large cooler which read "Free to AT hikers only." Trail magic and just when I realy needed it! I opened the cooler and found snacks, dinners, and a few individual portioned packages of pop tarts. I took 2 packages of pop tarts and some snacks to last until Monson, then continued onto the post office. I briefly spoke with Opa and he said that he was going to give the trail another shot, so I'll meet him in Monson on Sunday! After sending my e-mail, I walked with Michael and Sean to a restaurant, which turned out to be a trailer with exhorbinant prices. I purchased a couple items and then hiked out, returning to the AT at 11:30 a.m. I figured it was going to be a long day, as I had 14.7 miles more to hike before my day would be over. As such, I was somewhat annoyed tha! t I'd wasted time waiting for the trailer restauant to open.Out of Caratunk, I made good time and quickly covered 5.7 miles to the side trail to Pleasant Pond Lean-to, arriving at 1:40 p.m. The side trail was 0.1 mile and I still had 9.0 miles to hike, so I bypassed the lean-to and began the steep 1,160 foot ascent of Pleasant Pond Mountain. I reached the summit at 2:30 p.m. and might have made it sooner, if it weren't for the plethora of wild blueberries growing along the trail. I'd spot them and couldn't help but stop to pick and eat them.The descent from Pleasant Pond Mountain seemed to go on forever. At 3:10 p.m., I stepped on a long, slippery rock ledge and landed hard on my right elbow after my feet shot out from under me. Cha-ching, fall #38. The pain in my elbow went away within a few minutes, though it was soon replaced by a raw, scraped feeling when I slipped on another wet rock at 3:40 p.m. Cha-ching, fall #39. Same fall style, same elbow, and a tiny bit of blood. I was overly cautious on the remaining slippery slopes and narrowly avoided a couple more falls.At 4:50 p.m., I finally stopped for a break. I hadn't taken a break since the trailer restaurant and had been rationing 1.5 liters of water for what turned out to be 11.9 miles. I was in a clearing with powerlines and the blueberry bushes were thriving. Perhaps because of the magnetic fields? After 10 minutes of happily munching on blueberries, I pushed on to cover the final 3.0 miles to Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to.At 5:10 p.m., I reached Moxie Pond and rock hopped over the Baker Stream ford. I really needed water, as I only had approximately 1/4 liter remaining. The few water sources I'd encountered, however, were less than appetizing. One was runoff from a beaver dam and another was a milky white swamp. Thanks, but no thanks. I must have been motivated by the thought of the stream at the lean-to, as I covered the 3.0 miles from the powerlines to the lean-to in 1 hour flat, arriving at 6:00 p.m. It probably didn't hurt that the terrain was fairly level with an overall elevation gain of 310 feet.At the lean-to, I drank my remaining 1/4 liter, then gathered and treated 4.4 liters of water, waited 20 minutes for the treatment to take effect, then guzzled another liter to quench my thirst. Next, I cooked a big dinner, which burned to the bottom of my cookpan while I was busy checking out the elevation profiles for the upcoming sections of trail. My meal was fine, though it took awhile to scrape off the cooked on noodles. After dinner, I settled into my sleeping bag to journal and read.Tomorrow will either be an easy 13.0 mile day with a ford of the West branch of the Piscataquis River, or a more difficult 22.0 mile day into Monson, which would see me fording both the West and East branches of the Piscataquis River. It all depends on how I feel after climbing over Moxie Bald tomorrow morning. Either way, I'm planning on staying in Monson on Sunday evening before I venture into the 100-Mile Wilderness.Bedtime at 10:35 p.m.