Date: 2013-06-30
From: Little Swift Pond River Campsite

To: Bemis Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 12.9

DAY 21MILES ON AT FOR DAY- 12.9MILES TOTAL FOR DAY- 12.9Thankfully no rain when we woke up! Taking down your tent and packing up is MUCH easier when it's not raining. Had an awesome breakfast of banana bread oatmeal with Reese's in it. Can't beat peanut butter and banana combos. We headed out a bit later than usual because we got in so late so we left the tent site around 9:30am or so.The weather was beautiful but of course the terrain was still mucky. When it's flatter it's usually like that in Maine and most of our day was going to be flat AKA mucky. I ended up slipping a bunch... more than usual but nothing too bad. We came upon Sabbath Day Pond which had a beautiful sandy beach and decided to have lunch there. It was cool because my Aunt Tina and Uncle Mike do trail maintenance on the North Country trail so I got to learn A LOT about trail maintenance. They also just know a lot about the outdoors so they were a fun crew to have around. After lunch we headed on until we reached where highway ME 17 crosses the trail. The trail comes down a steep decline to it but had an awesome view overlooking Mooselookmeguntic lake. A tongue twister huh? Just down the highway at an overlook were two boys that were yelling my aunt and uncles names. Apparently they were Slips and Mutt. I guess while my aunt and uncle were waiting for me the day before in Rangley they met these guys. I had seen their writings in the trail logs but never thought I would catch up to them. But here they were! They were both young looking guys, who had apparently been endulging in some booze while in town. We said hi and introduced ourselves and then they headed down the trail ahead of us.We had to head down lower, ford a small stream, and then head up Bemis Mountain to get to the lean-to. As we were all putting on our shoes back on at the other side of the ford, Cosmo passed us. He was headed to the same shelter as us but he was flying. The hike up wasn't too intense but it was the first elevation we had really hit so far. As we neared the shelter we met a guy named Redwood. He was staying at the shelter with his son and doing a section hike. Thankfully he gave us the good news that we were very close to the shelter and that he was just out on the rocks enjoying the views and getting away from the bugs.It was 7pm so we were getting in later than usual. Unfortunately when you get in late that may mean you don't have a spot in the shelter and this was the case. When we got to the shelter it was full with Redwood and his son, Slips and Mutt, Cosmo, and a NoBo named MudBug so we just set up our tents on some nice sites. Thankfully tonight we got to cook together and all talk since we weren't forced into our tents by the rain. Cosmo and Redwood came over to chat too. Cosmo brought up my trail name and mentioned that he thought it didn't really fit me, didn't have anything to do with me personally as a thru-hiker on the AT, and that the person who suggested it wasn't even a through hiker. These were things I had already thought about because I had sort of felt the same. He said, "The one thing that's unique about you is that you have all these different people coming out and joining you on the trail. It's like they want to protect you and are inspired by you but you draw them to the trail... kind of like a magnet." Apparently him and Nightwlaker had talked it over and agreed I should change it to something relevant to that fact an I liked magnet so I said, "OK deal " Magnet was my new and official trail and. It fit and I loved it Before we went to bed I went down to chat with the other guys. It's so interesting to find out about other hikers and their routines. For example, MudBug would eat the same thing everyday... 4 snickers bars, 4 granola bars, and a mountain house dinner. I would get sick of it. As we talked, Nightwalker showed up and squeezed in the shelter. I guess I could have squeezed if I had wanted to but oh well. I headed back to my tent and just in time before it began to rain. Although it was the second night in the rain in my tent, I have to say that nothing seems more calming and peaceful to fall asleep to than the tapping of rain on that thin material separating you from the outside world.