Date: 2006-07-17
From: Monson, ME

To: Rangley, ME
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: light rain

I woke up and had decided that since we had our cars in the area, I would use them to my advantage and do a shorter section today as a slack pack.That meant we would skip the next section from Stratton to Caratunk until the heat broke in a couple days.I told Mrs Gorp that I would like to walk a short section today and tomorrow, then when the weather eases up with less humidity, we could come back and walk into the Bigelows to fill in that section.She agreed and seemed happy to still have a hiking partner.I called Shortcut and got to talk to her before we left for breakfast and I got to wake her up at 7:30. :-))) She was alright with that and we talked a while before I needed to get moving. Mrs Gorp and I stopped and ate a sit-down breakfast first. I had a pretty good Greek omelette and lots of coffee.We headed towards Stratton and Mrs Gorp dropped me off at the trailhead that crosses Caribou Valley Rd at 10:20am.I walked north from there and she drove back around to the Stratton trailhead, parked her car and started walking south.It was just an 8 mile section, but it still had a pretty good climb up over both peaks of the Crockers.I was soaked within a few minutes, but kept a good attitude because I knew it was going to be a short day.One of the neat things about slacking like this is that you get to see things around the trail that you would never see if you were just walking through.Caribou Valley Rd trailhead was 4.3 miles from the paved road and at times the gravel road got pretty rough.I put on my headnet early because the gnats were dive bombing my eyes again. The good thing was that so far, there wasn't many mosquitos and no deer flies out.There was a real nice and heavy smell of fir trees on the climb up to the South Peak of Crocker Mountain.I took it slow and had a couple breaks on the climb. I was enjoying the climb and once in a while, a nice breeze would kick up.A short ways before I got to the summit, I saw a sobo that looked familiar. It was Mark who I'd met in the 100 Mile Wilderness, but he now has a trail name...Super Nova.He took that name because he's from Nova Scotia, but now lives in Dawson, Yukon.I talked to him a while about that and he said he lives with his girlfriend up there in her cabin that is off the grid.He said he really likes it up there.I walked on up to the summit and then headed another mile over to the summit of North Crocker Mountain where I sat down and ate lunch.I was still soaked from the high humidity and heat, but once again, a little breeze would come once in a while and after climbing about half a mile this morning, I was able to take my headnet off because there were no bugs at the higher elevations. :-)))Beater got to the summit walking south just as I was leaving. I met him in the wilderness last week.A short while later, Ryan came walking south. I had also met him in the wilderness.He asked me if Frogcaller had summited Katahdin. I told him that she had.There's been a number of hikers that asked how Frogcaller did...not once did they ask how I did. Hey, I climbed Katahdin too. :-)))I passed by Brit, another sobo, then I saw Yolanda Vega (that's Mrs Gorp's trail name when she walks south on the AT). I was surprised to see her already...she's flying today and I'm just mosying along.I came to a stream and there was a sobo there by the name of Duncan. I tanked up on some nice, cold water and filled my bottle before walking on.I got to the trailhead and drove Yolanda Vega's car around to Caribou Valley Rd. She was already walking down the road and had walked about half a mile before I got there.We drove into Stratton and stopped at the White Wolf Inn. Yolanda had told me about their lobster and crab bisque and I had to try a cup of it.It was really good!! I could have eaten alot more, but didn't want to interfere with my dinner later on.That's another benifit of having a vehicle to slack with...good food every night. :-)))We are walking the trail between Rangley and Oquossoc tomorrow, so we headed over to Rangley and got a room (with air conditioning), then went out and I had some haddock chowdah (that's how they pronounce it up here) and a hamburger with fries.This slackpacking sure is nice. :-)))I called Mailar when I got back from dinner and he said he would meet up with us tomorrow at Stratton after our walk and bring us a couple Big G's sandwiches. He brought me one of those to the trailhead in Rangley back in '04 and they are huge!!...and very good. It will be good to see Mailar again too. Ha!! Just kidding Mailar...it would be good seeing you even if you didn't bring those Big G's sandwiches. :-)))