Date: 2020-10-07
From: Logan Brook Lean-To

To: Potaywadjo Spring Lean-To
Miles today: 23.1

It rained overnight, but stopped before dawn. Supposed to rain throughout the day. I discovered one of the mice had chewed into my toilet paper baggie, which I keep in the outside pocket of my pack, and moved some strips inside the pack as if creating a nest. Grrr! The toilet paper has no scent, so why did the mice get into it? I'll have to stow it with my food next time. These shelters in northern Maine all have serious mouse infestations. Which is no surprise - I see slovenly backpackers have left trash and food scraps at every one. I am beginning to rethink my aversion to declaring war on the mice.Slippery leaves made for slow going downhill to Logan Brook Rd, one of the many points Shaw's shuttles to. The tread didn't improve once the trail leveled out. In fact the leaf bed thickened, hiding roots and rocks. Peak autumn is now passed and the trees are rapidly shedding their loads. Even worse, I was continually avoiding deadfall branches. I stopped often to remove several dozen large branches to the side. This low elevation forest trail is the worst. I've noticed that deadfall has littered all of the low-lying forest sections since Caratunk. Some of it is fairly recent, but much of it looks a year old or more. Often whole trees or branches far too large to move blocked the trail and I had to bushwhack around. But even the smaller branches are tripping hazards. I tend to catch them between my feet and trip myself. Especially if I'm also twisting to avoid slippery roots and rocks. I was able to maintain a faster pace, close to 2.5 mph, but the extra effort to avoid slips and falls was tiring. At East Branch Lean-To I rested, and watched a chipmunk run about, approaching me closely, running between my legs. He wouldn't pose, as he darted in circles around the shelter in seemingly random fashion. I passed only a lone backpacker all day. He greeted me with "You're the only person I've seen all day!" But that was all I could get out of him.The sun teased me in the late morning as I wondered if the rain would come again. It felt almost warm, or at least not cold. Around noon I reached a sandy beach on Crawford Pond and stripped down to take a dip in the clear but frosty waters. The bottom was sandy well out from shore and would make for a relaxing summer afternoon. In October, it's good for a quick bath and cool down. The wind remained calm, allowing me to air dry in comfort. The pond (lake, really) was tranquil with a barely rippling surface and silent golden forests lining the shores. I conjectured there wasn't another human for at least two miles in any direction, and possibly far more.I stopped by Cooper Brook Lean-To to check the log entries. What I found in addition was a lot of trash. Someone had hung a plastic bag full of trash from a rafter, and two peanut butter jars, one of them full, lay in the dirt under the platform. I gathered up everything I could find, including trash from the fire ring (if it's not paper, it probably won't burn entirely so pack it out). I hauled the bag out with me.It started raining again in the early afternoon. A light but steady rain. The kind that gradually soaks everything and ruthlessly erodes your morale. My earbuds started acting up again. Between that, my pack weight, the trash bag, the rain, the deadfall, and the slippery terrain I could feel my mood souring. I reached Jo-Mary Road, a major shuttle and resupply point for many hikers. Some of the folks behind me will be getting food drops here and possibly returning to Shaw's for a night. I've had no cell service so couldn't arrange a pickup even if I wanted it. My pack still has five days of food and I've been feeling it. I had to rearrange how I pack it to lower the position of the food bag closer to my center of gravity. Keeping it at the top of my pack made it top heavy and put too much strain on my shoulders. I left the trash bag by the road with a note. I knew Shaw's would be by in the next 24 hours and could truck it out. Animals may get to it, but they could have reached it at the shelter too. My original goal was Antlers Campsite on Jo-Mary Lake, a scenic and popular spot and a reasonable twenty mile day. But the rain wasn't letting up. I had no desire to put up my tent in the rain and pack up a wet tent tomorrow. When I arrived at 5 pm I saw two tents back in the trees, and the pine forest provided fairly good cover. But since I had daylight I moved on, seeing no point in staying by a lake in lousy weather. No sunset or sunrise would be seen. And tonight is supposed to fall to freezing so I prefer to stay dry. Three and half miles later and just at sunset (if the sun had been out) I reached the empty Potaywadjo Spring Lean-To. The water source is an artesian spring that hikers compare to the nectar of the gods. It's good alright. Though it's just a clear pool to dip in, no flow. It was still raining, and the rain strengthened for a few minutes after I settled in, making me content with my decision not to tent back at Antlers. Two mice are resident here, though they largely stayed clear of me. Some thoughtless backpacker had left snack foods on one side of the shelter, including a tiny wax-wrapped wheel of cheese. The mice were greedily removing it from the wax, and cooperated in dragging it across the floor and down through a crack underneath the shelter. Well, at least they'll be fat and happy, and hopefully too full to come exploring for my food.This is the two-thirds mark in the 100 Mile Wilderness. Two more days should bring me to the base of Katahdin.