Date: 2004-08-11
From: Monson, ME (Shaw's hostel)

To: Long Pond Stream Lean-to
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Started at: MonsonEnded at: Long Pond Stream Lean-toMiles: 15.1Well we left Shaw's a bit late this morning and entered the 100 Mile Wilderness. Very exciting! We had heard so much about this portion of the trail. It supposedly is the most isolated section of the AT. It will be nice to spend a longer than normal stretch without civilization. We are going to stop at White House Landing half way through but we will be ready for the break by then. The sign entering the Wilderness we interesting; I don't know about taking ten days of supplies though?We actually did decent miles today and it felt great, but it was a long day. The trail was very pleasant with water everywhere...ponds, streams, waterfalls. We ate lunch with Leki and Camel at a spectacular spot called Little Wilson Falls. One thing we've heard about the Wilderness is that there are no bridges and you actually have to ford a lot of streams. Well, today we had to cross three streams, so if this is any indication, it is going to be very wet for a while.The last ford we did at dusk and it was a bit "sketchy". There were three places to cross. The first was a long skinny log streched out between the two biggest boulders in the stream. The log was wet and slippery and it was pretty high above the rappily moving water. It didn't look too hard, but in the unlikely chance that you fell, you knew that it would be real ugly. I held my breath and scampered across. After getting to the other side I realized that was a bit risky since we were pretty tired at this point, so I told Heather and Leki it might be better to find an alternate route. Heather found another log upstream a little that looked even harder, but would not result in such a harsh fall if she lost her balance, and with careful concentration she made it across. Now I've got to tell you about Leki's little adventure. In fact I think I need to start a new paragraph for this one...So, Leki comes up to the stream, stops for a second, and looks around perplexed. I knew this would be good, so I got the camera out and started to tape his dilemma (he has no problem with this; he likes the camera). The next fifteen minutes or so were the funniest on the trail so far. First Leki goes to the log that Heather crossed on. He was tired and now it was really getting dark. He starts to inch his way across the wet log one millimeter at a time. No really, so slow that I had to turn the camera off a few times to save tape. Just as he gets to the middle of the log, where the water is streaming fast under his shoes, he stops. I hollered out...Come on Leki, let's go! He doesn't even look up, but instead he begins to pivot 180 degrees around in order to go back the direction he had just come. He thought he was about to take a digger. So, then he comes back down and takes another look at the log I crossed. He just says, "No way!". I though we might have to leave him there! So, then he goes downstream a few feet to find a set of boulders. It looked like it might be possible to get across there without taking a dive. Some how he managed to get across, but it must have taken ten minutes and he looked like a yoga instructor. At one point he was completely horizontal with one hand on one rock, his butt on a second, and his feet on a third. I was doubled over laughing while trying to film the whole thing. But, he made it!! We didn't get into camp until after dark, which we really don't like to do. It makes it tough to just hang out or get any reading done, because people go right to sleep. We could tell that it was just about to start pouring down rain on us and we were very tired, so we wanted to sleep in the shelter. Normally we would set up our tent so we wouldn't wake people up, but not tonight. There were three people asleep in the the six person shelter and they had their gear strewn all over the place. I mean they had crap everywhere. They were even sleeping with their arms and legs covering the entire sleeping area. Heather said, "Lets just go put up our tent"...just as lightning and rain started coming down. So, I immediately went over and gently shook one of the women in the shelter and said "Excuse me but there will be three more people sleeping here tonight." She slowly and reluctantly started moving her stuff while making faces and hoofing sounds. Hey, don't give me crap about doing this; this is why the shelters exist...they are not your own private palace. Anyway, we all slept happily ever after...dreaming of the trail...Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net