Date: 2016-07-07
From: Pierce Pond Lean-to

To: Moxie Bald Lean-to
Miles today: 22.8
Weather: clear sky

Today was pretty bleak; exhausting, long and wet. I don't know if I really slept at all last night; tons of bugs kept me awake, and if I wasn't swatting them, someone else in the shelter was. Not sure why I didn't just tent out. I was the first one moving around in the shelter this morning, and felt bad for waking people up around me, but it was already late for us; we took a chiller morning because we knew we had Harrison's waiting for us. Seal Tree was sleeping on the ground again. I guess the fort didn't work out too well. It was overcast and drizzly as we packed up to head to breakfast. First off we crossed the Pierce Pond Dam, which is made of sketchy dilapidated fencing and logs, and might've been a ford in higher water. We then headed down to the spur trail to Harrison's and once more crossed the crazy pallet bridge. We headed into the main cabin and checked in for breakfast, while Mr. Harrison was flying around the kitchen getting everything prepared. The cabin itself is quite an amazing place: it's exactly what you think of when you think maine hunting cabin: uneven wooden floors, bookcases, a bearskin rug, moose on the wall. There was even an old pool table that had shims under its legs to keep it even. There were about a dozen of us for breakfast, not including the German couple, who are apparently old friends of our host, and we all sat down to eat. First up was eggs and sausage, which were tasty, and then the famous 11 pancakes. They were thin like crepes, and had fruit fried right into them, and combined with real syrup, were some of the best pancakes I've ever had. But even I barely finished, even after taking a break. It was a ton of food. Loved it. We headed out through the drizzle - after I enjoyed the use of a flush toilet - and made our way over the four miles to the Kennebec. The terrain - which looked very tame on the guide - was actually quite rugged, with a lot of little climbs back up the riverbank, rocks and log bridges. There was one especially fun bridge where the railings sloped downward and finally left you balancing on two thin logs. The trail wore on my nerves. There were some very pretty cascades to our right, though.We eventually made it down to the Kennebec, where a big sign tells you that camping is not allowed. The ferry was on the other side when we arrived, and hung around there waiting for some sobo to get out of the outhouse that is up on the bank. hrmph. While we were waiting, though, some friends showed up! Sorority Steve had been camping just past West Carry Pond and had gotten up very early. Apparently Heath Bar was just behind.The canoe can only carry two at a time, so when it finally came across, Seal Tree and I went first. We had to put on PFDs and sign waivers. I was up in the bow and was frustrated with the guy in charge in the stern because you're supposed to paddle on the downstream side in the stern when ferrying, and he was on the upstream... The flow was not strong enough to make too much difference, but cmon. Seal Tree and I hung out on the other bank waiting for Lightning and Goldie. It's a shame there's no camping allowed, it's literally a perfect camping spot over here. Once we were all across, we pushed on, but immediately we hit a road. Seal Tree and Goldie both wanted to head into the small town of Caratunk where there is a general store, but Lightning and I just wanted to get going. So we parted ways and pushed on. This next section was on old logging roads next to streams, and was actually quite lovely, the sort of hiking I was expecting from these more flat sections of maine. Lightning and I paced each other and moved very quickly. We were at lower elevation and the deciduous forest was more reminiscent of Vermont. Eventually we came to the first of two big climbs on the day, Pleasant Pond mountain. It actually seems like a pretty well-used day hiking trail, so the tread was very wide going up, similar to Stratton. The top, though, was a different story. It was cold and foggy and drizzling and blustery up top, and I was not enjoying myself. more like UnPleasant Pond Mountain. The open ledges - which I'm sure are spectacular on a good day - were just conduits for cold air, and I rushed along trying to keep warm. Since it was raining a lot, I had not checked the elevation profile, which would have shown me that there are about five false summits heading down the other side: as it was, I just got pissed at the mountain, because I kept thinking it was over just to find another rise in front of me. Lightning and I had gotten separated just before the summit but met up right near the bottom. Seal Tree caught up with us as we bottomed out onto Moxie Pond Rd. We crossed the stream, didn't end up needing to ford it, and went a few more hundred yards into the woods before stopping for lunch. Lunch raised my spirits a great deal. The humor of the past couple of days has been centered around Moxie Cola, a soda found pretty much exclusively in northern New England, which we have become obsessed with since Stratton. It's kind of polarizing in terms of taste, because it's bitter and almost like licorice. We all really like it though, and have taken to inventing different ad campaigns and commercials for Moxie, most ending with us saying in a 1920s sports announcer voice "Moxie! It'll give ya moxie!" With Moxie Bald approaching, these jokes were at an all-time high. We headed off from our lunch spot and made our way over to the start of the climb up Moxie. Seal Tree had his usual post-lunch burst of energy and was significantly ahead of Lightning and me until most of the way up the climb. The climb was tough, with a fair bit of switchbacking and scrambles. To make things harder, the skies began to just open up on us about halfway up. There was a bad weather bypass trail, and I don't really know what other time it would've been more appropriate to take it - it was a downpour, and we had heard lightning nearby. But we decided that the trail was for HIKERS WITHOUT MOXIE, AND WE HAD TONS OF MOXAAAYY. We took shelter under a cave about 2/3 up and regrouped, egging ourselves on, and also hoping that Goldie was alright behind us. The summit opened up to a series of parallel spines of rock, all exposed to the wind and rain. Fortunately the weather had improved mildly, but still was awful. We headed up to the cairn on the summit, only to realize we didn't know which way the trail led down. We tried a number of routes before realizing that the trail did not actually go over the summit, and we had missed a turn about a hundred yard away. Seal managed to see the cairn first and led us the right direction. The descent off of Moxie was very sketchy, a lot of bare, open, slanted granite, and I slipped a number of times. I led the group down, and was moving pretty quick though. Leader is always a wet job on these rainy days, because you end up hitting all the little trees and shaking off droplets onto yourself. I brought back a trick from the long trail and hit all the little trees with my poles before touching them to stay a little drier. My poor shorts though; they never really dry on days like this. I was very glad to finally bottom out from the descent, and we made our way the little bit to Moxie Bald Lean-to. We were hoping for an empty shelter so we could spread out and have a nice dry place to cook dinner, but unfortunately, it was already mostly full: There was one middle aged Sobo woman, and then the French flying pigs family whom I'd met in Gorham! They have been skipping around doing pieces of trail in Maine here and there, and are headed at least to Monson. Unfortunately, they take up quite a bit of room, and it looked like there would be two spots, max, in this small shelter. I was somehow able to convince my crew that I was deserving of one of them, and Lightning claimed the other spot. Seal Tree was happy to hammock anyway.Goldie showed up about 20 minutes later, looking bedraggled and depressed. I'm not sure why, but Goldie does not use a pack cover, and so her things were pretty wet by and large because of all the rain. Goldie and Lightning did a bit of haggling over who would get the spot in the shelter, with Lightning originally allowing her the spot if she would set up his hammock for him, but I believe he just went off to set it up himself in the end, leaving Goldie the spot. She looks like she needs it right now. The Sobo woman proved herself not to be particularly nice: she took up a great deal of floor and hanging space in the shelter and would not forego any part of it, and also explained how she left her hiking partner behind without really much preparation or warning. Not cool. Around 5 or so, another Sobo came in wondering if there was "any room at the inn," so to speak. We told him no, unfortunately, with 7 already in a 6 person shelter. We told him with the numbers we saw today, the next shelter should be pretty empty. He bravely decided to push on over Moxie Bald, and we wished him luck. It was good to get some food in me and be in dry clothes. But today took quite a toll on my morale. Besides the rain, it's become increasingly hard to be in contact with my parents and Ali. I miss Ali dearly and really want this trip to be over as soon as it can so I can see her. She's in an incredibly stressful first semester of grad school, and I worry about my lack of communication. Fortunately, tomorrow is a chance to dry off and communicate. So those are good. Monson. The Hundred. Should be about another week on the trail. Wow.