Date: 2005-09-13
From: Antler's Campsite

To: White House Landing
Miles today: 6.0

I sat on the dock and peered across the lake at the camp refered to as "White House Landing." It was much larger than I had expected. I had already blown the air horn requesting the boat, and watched as a man put the boat in, and pulled out with what appeared to be two hikers. The boat pulled out to the middle of the lake and hooked a 90 degree turn down the middle. It was close enough, as it turned to pull away, for me to recognize Mud Pumpkin and Stats being taken back to the trail. As the powered away, I heard Mud Pumpking yell "Maaayyyffflllyyyy" as both she and Stats waved goodbye. Six miles further into the camp yesterday, and I would have caught up with them. Of course, I would have had to swim across the water since it would have been dark and they would not have come to pick me up.Antler's had been nice, but I had high tailed it out of there early. I had been startled by some strange section hiker peering through the bushes at me before wandering into my campsite uninvited, muttering "good morning." It does not help that I'm not really a morning person, and require a little time to awaken fully. His unwanted presence was certainly enough to get me moving though.Bill came back after dropping off the others, and picked me up at the dock to ferry me over to the camp. As we pulled up I saw Crazy Legs sitting on the porch. The first words out of his mouth were "You staying or going?" "Staying", I said..."you?" "If you are staying, then so am I he said." I was giving Crazy a ride home from Katahdin, so the poor fella had to wait on me.The camp was very nice. I rented the small, single cabin with a powerful propane heater, and then headed for the showers until it was time for dinner. There was only one shower, which must be a pain when they are full, but it was very nice, clean and hot. There was no washer and dryer, but they pointed me in the direction of the bucket and scrub board. I did not realize scrub boards were still made.Dinner was at 11AM, and I was first in line for the fully loaded, one pound cheese burger. It was fantastic, but I was still hungry, and got a triple chocolate brownie. I was going to wait until dinner for the large homemade pizza. I got some snacks to hold me until 5PM. I cleaned up, organized my gear, resupplied, paced until dinner, and read "The Entity." The pizza was very good, and I actually had some leftover to pack out for lunch the next day. Linda put it in the refrigerator for me til the next morning. Linda, Bill, and their son Ben are super nice people. The also keep an incredibly nice camp. Everything is clean and organized, and appears to flow very smoothly. I had heard positive and negative comments from people prior to arriving at the camp, but I found them to be nothing but nice and hospitable. A section hiker there remarked on the prices, but when the closest town is 30 miles away, things are going to cost a little more.I crashed early for the evening, and got up around 1AM to go find the privy. As I got back to the cabin, I glanced up at the stars. They were absolutely gorgeous. I sat down on the steps for about an hour, and looked out over the lake listening to the long haunting cries of the loons over the water. These moments were some of the most beautiful and peaceful I had experienced on my hike. The hike was drawing to a close. I would miss this peaceful simplicity.The next morning was AYCE blueberry pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Yum! This had definitely been one of the more enjoyable stays on the trail. I headed out to the boat after breakfast, and myself, Crazy Legs, and a section hiker named Nancy, climbed into the boat for the ride back to the trail. Thankfully, Bill was taking us up the lake, so we would not have to hike the 1.3 mile long approach trail.It was time for the final days of the hike.