Date: 2015-08-06
From: Caratunk, ME

To: Moxie Bald Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: overcast clouds

We left the inn after breakfast and set out late. I was feeling so much better and refreshed. The terrain was flat though covered with rocks and thick, tangled roots, as usual. The earth was still muddy and we frequently sank in deep, black puddles. We also had a couple of overflowing streams to ford; although they were only ankle or mid-calf deep, I resigned myself to having permanently wet feet until the end. A portion of the Trail was flooded and small fish had taken up residency. They glided through the Trail as we splashed along. Fish on the Trail!I forgot to mention this yesterday, but the Trail follows the historic Arnold Trail. Here's the story: in 1775, B. Arnold lead a force of 1,150 Revolutionaries to mount a suprise attack on the British. He marched towards Qu©bec, but only around 650 men made it as the boggy, swampy, thick forest was too much;the planned attack was ultimatly unsuccessful. When I get stuck in the mud or slip and land in a dirty puddle, I think about these men, with their heavy packs, toting huge muskets, completely ill-adapted to the wilderness. Those poor guys.We hiked up Pleasant Pond mountain, the first substantial climb of the day. I don't really remember the ascent, although the view was nice. The numerous day hikers is what mostly caught my attention. We started back down when an evil cloud floated above us and poured rain on our heads. It was only a brief shower, but I was so annoyed as it was just enough water to wet the rocks and turn the rock sidewalks into rock slides. Early on in NH, we had met a group of SoBos who had told us that they had experienced maybe one day of rain. I thought they were lying: how can I receive so much rain and not them? Then, we met many Maine residents who told us that it had been a dry season. What? We crossed the NH-ME border and it started raining. Then we had more showers. Then hail storms. So, Maine residents, you can thank us for bringing the rain to your gardens. And to any hiker stuck within a 10 mile radius from us: I am so, so sorry.We arrived at the shelter around 5:30. We talked to some section hikers for a while and we decided we could push on and try to make it a shelter further, 4 miles away up and over Moxie Bald. If we could manage this, it would really help us for tomorrow and we could make it into the town of Monson.We set out. The climb was sustained but very reasonable. We ran up the rock sidewalks and leaped over roots; I was amazed at our speed. The sun was low in the sky and our bodies cast elongated shadows that stretched out along the mountain's facade. We arrived at the top but could not stay and enjoy the sunset as we saw dark clusters of rain clouds being propelled towards us by strong winds. No no no no no no, not again! We ran down as fast as we could, though it wasn't very fast: decidely, I am bad at downhills. There were many instances where we had to step over deep, abyss-like cracks between the rock boulders. The final stretch to the shelter was along a significantly less steep path and we made it to the Moxie Bald shelter at 8:00 PM. The sun had set and we were dipped in the mountain's shadow and all was dark. Rain began falling so we set up our tent in record time.- Axon