Date: 2003-09-05
From: Carl A. Newhall Lean-to (1840ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ) 

To: East Branch Lean-to (1240ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ) 
Miles today: 10.9

Aloha! UP and down, UP and down, UP and down, and UP and down, down, down, down. That¢s a pretty good description of my hiking day. Just the hiking part though. The mental part was all over the place.You know right off the bat that we started UP the moment we left the shelter area. Nothing new in that at all. It was a hell of an UP too. I¢m thinking there was a slight reroute thrown in making it even more of an UP than it needed to be. I huffed and I puffed my way up the Gulf Hagus Mountain (2680¢) to immediately turn around and go back down to the Sidney Tappan Campsite (2450¢).   That was a lovely campsite. Had I had the umph last night I would have loved camping there. I highly recommend it for anyone passing through later. From there it was back UP the West Peak (3178¢), then a steep down only to turn around and go back UP Hay Mountain (3245¢). Are you seeing the roller coaster in today¢s hike?   The slight down to follow of course turned and went right back UP the White Cap Mountain (3645¢). This was the spot where I thought I would be the happiest today but it ended up being one of the saddest.White Cap Mountain is not only the last true mountain climb we have prior to Katahdin but also my first actual view of Mount Katahdin. Though it looked so far away, it didn¢t look as far as some of us might have like it to be. By being on top of White Cap Mountain and seeing Mount Katahdin on the way UP, we all knew that our Grand Adventures were winding to an end. Slowly maybe but the end nonetheless. There were seven people atop White Cap Mountain (Coffee, Old Corpus, Gutsy, Thirsty Boots, Tom, Vermont Pete, and me) all enjoying the sunshine, a bite of lunch, a couple of soft laughs, and some wonderful introspective silent moments. With such a gorgeous day now upon us, it was a strangely pleasant but almost whispered atmosphere on top of that mountain. Or at least it was for me. As always, I lack the words to describe either my view of the world around me at that particular moment in time or the mood surrounding others or me. It was a wonderful moment but also a very sad one. I will always remember being on top of that mountain with those individuals and it will always hold a very special place in my heart.I did try to surprise Coffee while we were up there but alas, that didn¢t quite work either. Several times in the past week or two I¢ve enjoyed surprising him with a tasty avocado for our lunches. Granted I don¢t like carrying the weight but they sure are tasty and the surprised look on his face is worth it. Today I pulled out one that I¢ve been diligently checking each and every day waiting for the perfect moment for presenting it. This morning the skin was of the perfect texture and color. Or so I thought. Coffee was surprised when I presented it to him as if it was a new sports car. Unfortunately, upon cutting it open we found nothing more than a rotted, well past its prime, avocado. It seems I waited to long. Oh well, I tried. We¢ll both just have to wait for the next restaurant.From the top of White Cap Mountain we went down, down, down to where only Coffee, Gutsy, Old Corpus and I are camped tonight; a quite nice shelter and camping area. It looks like Coffee and Old Corpus are going to get to enjoy the big new shelter all to themselves while Gutsy enjoys a lovely campsite down by the pond and I tucked not far away. Interestingly enough, each person has mentioned enjoying the fact that it is just us here tonight. Our core family if you will. We arrived early enough to spend the evening cooking over a fire, mending my pack, enjoying two-thirds of Somemores (missing the chocolate), and chatting. It¢s been a lovely day and it¢s ending with the perfect company. These are the people that I¢ve hiked with the most and have become a major part of my ¢03 trail family. For that, I¢m very thankful.We just ended our evening together doing something that I never thought I would do ¢ bible reading. I believe I¢ve mentioned that I¢m not the most religious of people and reading the bible is not something I do often, if at all. There is a small New Testament bible that¢s been left in this shelter. We all just blindly opened the bible, jabbed our finger on a passage and read aloud what had been selected. It¢s kind of interesting to hear what comes out. Strangely enough each of them somewhat worked in nicely with our hike and Gutsy and Old Corpus actually selected the same verse. (Trying to get a point across?) It was definitely a different way for me to end an evening, and not a bad way at that.Okay, time to call this quits. I need to refigure my food situation. Since we added another day to this hike, I¢m running low on just about everything. I should probably figure out just how low I am. I¢m sure I¢m basically okay but going into White House Landing day after tomorrow is going to be close. Thank goodness for lodges and short order windows in the middle of the Wilderness! Good night!Blood, Sweat & Tears: no tears yet, but they¢re coming.Aches & Pains: does melancholy count?Moans & Groans: less than 75 miles to go¢¦ waah!Critter count: According to the register, Wench saw a moose from this shelter a couple of days back. Does that count?Count down: 67.8 miles