Date: 2004-07-08
From: East Branch Lean-To

To: White House Landing Wilderness Camp
Miles today: 21.9

Trail Day 108 -        Trek to White House Landing.daily miles 21.9 on ATWe saw our first moose, a young one, browsing on shrubs by the trail as we left the shelter and crossed the East Branch of the Pleasant River. It resembled a lanky horse and it ran away when it saw us. It was a rainy day. There were two climbs and a long gradual descent ahead of us for the next 17 miles. We wanted to make it to White House Landing, a hostel on a lake in the middle of the wilderness. This required hiking over 22 miles. We started at 8 am and did not reach the dock on the lake until 7 pm. We met Ghost, a southbounder, who was hiking the northern third of the AT after already completing the middle third this year. He would then travel down to hike the southern third to finish his thruhike: a novel method. It rained hard all morning. We stopped briefly twice: to fill up with water from a spring and to snack on gorp by a sand beach at Crawford Pond, standing under fir trees to keep out of the rain. On a good day, this beach would make a make an excellent swimming spot, but today it was too cool.At Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to, we lingered for lunch. In front of the shelter was a swimming hole at the base of a waterfall. It was still cold and rainy and the water was not very inviting for a dip. The trail was an easy grade but it was full of puddles. We walked on many boards placed over bogs, sometimes extending for 10 or more planks in a line. I had to focus on each step to keep my balance. We met a southbounder sitting by a logging road. His knee pain prevented him from going on and he was awaiting a shuttle out. Boo's Goose, a northbound finisher, had called Shaw's in Monson on his cell phone to request the lift. Goose is a college student from Mississippi who hikes light and fast. Boo is his girlfriend so he is Boo's Goose. He would arrive at White House Landing two hours before we did. It took him 3 hours to go the distance we traveled in 5 hours. The mosquitos were very agressive now and would be so for the remaining two days that we closed in on Katahdin. They locked onto arms and legs and bit us even as we hiked. It was annoying and difficult to watch the trail and swat mosquitos at the same time. Deet did not hinder them for long. I must have killed hundreds. I stopped to look at the map at a road crossing and was immediately swarmed by mosquitos. I had to get moving fast or I thought I would end up like a victim in a Hitchcock movie or a Steven King novel. They did not bother Michael as much. His chief enemy was buzzing flies dive bombing his head. He said they persisted even after he caught them, spit on them and threw them down. He also had problems with gnats flying into his eyes. He complained about it and said I was lucky to wear glasses.   We were exhausted by the time we reached Potaywadjo Ridge. My back became sore as usual after 4 or 5 hours of hiking and we were going for 9 to 10 hours today. I stopped at the privy on the other side of the ridge to smear vaseline on my chafing bottom, another chronic problem on long days. We could have stayed at the shelter, but we were lured on by the promise of quality time with Ben & Jerry's, a hot shower, real cooked food and a bed. It was growing dark in the forest as we followed a winding mile-long blue blaze trail through a bog to the dock. There we could squeeze an air horn and a boat would come to carry us across the lake to the hostel. You cannot imagine the relief we felt as we stood on the dock waiting for that boat to come. We would escape the bugs and stay in a comfortable bunkhouse for a couple of days.