Date: 2009-09-20
From: Caratunk

To: Pierce Pond Leanto
Miles today: 3.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Yesterday, continuing from where I left off, was a day of errors turning out well. Not only did I get a place to stay when my plans seemed to go amiss, I also got gloves and also had lunch. After getting clean and clothes clean I opened my food box. My crackers did not make the journey well. I will have lots of crumbs to thicken my soup but nothing much to put my cheese on. Also, for some odd reason, I failed to put in my flat wraps (like a tortilla but oblong and made out of whole wheat and flax). I had another jar of jam and peanut butter but nothing to put them on. There is no store here but the problem was solved when the kitchen sold me 4 humongus bagels. They will be heavy but tasty. I did come up with one of my thin socks missing. That is not disastrous as I have been carrying 4 pair of sox. But it is annoying. At least the thin socks dry quickly. I will just have to wash them between towns. The lodge was hopping with partying people in the evening. Well, it was Saturday night. I am not the partying type so I was grateful for my nice cabin set away from the lodge. It was a really nice place to stay and all worked out well for me. I went back to their restuarant just before 5 and had a caesar salad and a bowl of ice cream. That took care of dinner. I hope the Sterling Inn gets their chlorine pump fixed and it is probably fine for other hikers when that is fixed but not for me on that night. I spent more money but appreciated the amenities. So, Today: Today is a lovely day. I slept 10 hours last night and appreciated the flush toilet only a few steps from bed when I had the need. I packed up and went over to the lodge for breakfast. Ox was the only other hiker here so we ate together. It was a buffet breakfast. I had some really good granola with lots of strawberries and blueberries, a couple of pastries, honeydew slices, 2 hard boiled eggs, 3 pieces of French toast, 3 pieces of bacon and coffee. Nice hiker breakfast. I also took an apple for the trail. You may wonder why I spend so much time talking about food if you have not been on the trail before. It takes a lot of energy to long distance hike and you cannot really carry enough food to satisfy you on the trail. I do bring a lot of food but, especially this trip, I am always hungry. Must be all those roots and rocks. So a good portion of idle hiker thoughts while going uphill or down are spent contemplating what the next meal will be, especially when it will be town food. When on the trail, basically, I eat like a pig. When I am off trail and at home I am on a low fat diet. Here, I just eat whatever is possible to get in my mouth. Even at that I notice that in the morning when I lie on my back there is a concavity where my belly is instead of its more normal convexity. Enough about food. Ox and I were delivered to the trail head. We shook hands and he headed north and I headed south. The weather was beautiful. It is supposed to get up to the low 70s today. it is like summer came back. Crossing the Kenebeck River is by canoe. This is a service provided for the AT after a hiker drowned, I think in about 1980. I reached the riverbank and found my canoe ferryman enjoying the sun on the riverbank. After signing a waiver saying I wouldn't sue if I drowned, and getting a life vest on, I climbed in and helped paddle across. It was actually kind of a fun way to cross the river and I had been looking forward to it. My ferryman said I had chosen an excellent place to do a nero. (Instead of taking a day off in Caratunk, I had planned to take two neros (short days)). So my plan was to stroll the 3.7 miles to the shelter. And so I did. It was a lovely day walking by Pierce Stream all the way. Multiple waterfalls of all sizes abounded, color spots of red and yellow glowed by the river in the woods and the sunlight made the water sparkle. And I strolled. The trail was pretty nice with a few steep rooty, rocky places to remind me it was the AT in Maine. I was in no great hurry to get anywhere today and I thoroughly enjoyed strolling along. The map description said there was a waterfall by a pool about 2.3 miles after the Kennebeck. That sounded like a perfect spot for lunch. (I left the river at 10:00.) It was indeed a perfect spot for lunch. But the description did not mention that the .1 mile from trail waterfall was .1 mile straight down over roots and rocks. I contemplated taking off my pack but did not want to sort out my lunch stuff. So I told myself it was training for the Mahoosuc Notch and carefully picked my way down. The waterfall was indeed lovely and I enjoyed my lunch. It was very nice not to rush anywhere and take the time to enjoy the falls. After climbing back up the hill I continued on. There were more waterfalls close to the trail but the best one was the one I climbed down to for lunch. I finally met a few hikers: Chief Wa and the two Bills. There were also a couple day hikers headed to the falls. Before long the trail led across the dam of Pierce Pond (a fairly big lake) and to the shelter. When I visite the privy, I took time to fill the privy bucket with leaves and such. You are supposed to put in a handful when making a "solid deposit" and the bucket was empty. On my nero day I certainly had the time to fill the bucket. This shelter is right beside the lake looking out at the water, nice. I unpacked and wrote this journal. It is indeed a nice place to take a nero. I hope my feet and knees appreciate it. My other senses do. I took a lovely bath and washed my socks and sweat band bandana. My baths are quick. Standing naked in the forest bathing with cold water encourages quickness. But the breeze blows you dry almost instantly and so far, I have never been surprised by another hiker while naked. I do listen well though, for the click of hiking poles or speech when in a compromising condition. It was a nice, restful afternoon. As I was finishing dinner Stickman and Sweet Lou and Mat came. Stickman set up his tent a ways away but Sweet Lou and Mat stayed here. Sweet Lou built a nice fire and I sang Holden Evening Prayer in honor of it being Sunday. Sweet Lou said he didn't mind though he was Jewish. The sunset was particularly lovely, casting orange light in the sky and reflecting orange on the waters of the lake. It was a lovely Nero and a beautiful end to the day listening to the crackling fire and life is very good.