Date: 2010-08-27
From: Little Swift Pond Campsite

To: Poplar Ridge Lean-to
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: scattered clouds

27th August Friday ¢ 15.5 miles to Poplar Ridge Lean-toThe shining sun woke me up this morning. I can tell the pond will be nice and flat again because there isn¢t a breeze. I can¢t get over how beautiful the view was last night. Everyone else went to bed and didn¢t see it. The whole world was silver and black. It felt like being in a movie.It¢s too early for Conan and Backward. They sleep late. Today I¢d like to get started early to make a quick run into Rangeley for a buffer supply of food. Making Stratton on the amount of food I¢m carrying might be difficult. Honestly, I don¢t need anything but I¢d really like some coffee. Lately I¢ve realized that I have plenty of time to see every town that I¢ll encounter from now on. It¢s a luxury afforded to me since becoming a member of the 10 miles/day plan.On the way out this morning, I could see the tracks of the creature we heard last night. The hooves definitely look like a moose! The broken branches and limbs look like a truck drove through the trees last night. What a shame that we couldn¢t see it in the darkness. Conan and I talked about taking the canoe out on the pond to get a closer look at the moose but we were afraid to disturb nature.Extremely muddy everywhere this morning. You walk through marsh land to get around these surrounding ponds. Several times I fell off the bridges and into black holes when I wasn¢t watching where I stepped. I¢m walking while staring out across the edges of the pond hoping to catch a moose in the corner of my eye. The trail became rather pleasant, much like a road as I approached the highway. Strange for us to have such an easy trail while approaching a road crossing today. We usually pay dearly for the conveniences of town. The hard part must be on the other side of Rangeley!There are at least 20 cars in the parking lot by the trailhead when I arrive. I eat gum-drops with one hand and hitchhike with the other for a little while. A blue Taurus pulls into the parking lot and drops off two hikers. One of the hikers steps out of the car and waves me over to the Taurus. Awesome! I¢d just got here and now I¢ve got a ride to town.The drivers name is ¢Rocky¢ and he¢s a section hiker. Rocky is about to drive to Katahdin. He fills me in on some of the technicalities associated with Baxter State park. We discuss the $1000 fine for illegal camping within the park. Rocky tells me that the park is very meticulous and clean. The whole park is pristinely maintained. Glad to hear it! He doesn¢t inform me of anything I hadn¢t already read about. He did mention the Appalachian Trail Lodge in Millinocket, Maine offers shuttles from Abol Bridge to Baxter State Park. I¢m starting to wonder about the logistics of meeting Lish at the end of my thru-hike.Rocky takes me to IGA and offers to give me a ride back to the trail afterwards! I get some blueberry coffee (what?), peanut butter, M&M¢s, and couscous. I saw my first Maine lobsters in the aquarium! They had a giant stuffed moose head with tiny horns on the wall inside the grocery store. Dead animals seem to be a common decoration around Maine.Cheeseburger shows up as I¢m walking out of the store. I tell him if he hurries that he can ride back to the trail with Rocky. I politely ask if we can wait for Cheeseburger and Rocky obliges. We wait in the parking lot as the German takes his time in the grocery store. Rocky shows me a funny shirt he¢d purchased in Millinocket. The company belongs to Postcard, called ¢The Artful Hiker¢. The shirt is a checklist of things to do: Thru-hike the AT (check); Negotiate World Peace (no check yet); Orbit Earth (no check)Rocky took us back to the trail where Cheeseburger and I hang out and eat breakfast. I imagined Conan and Backward would be arriving soon. Limestone and his wife get dropped off while we¢re there. Some guy looking for Fig gave us sodas. Conan and Backward come out of the woods bragging about walking faster than 2 miles per hour for the first time in a while. Cheeseburger fills them in on the hostel in Rangeley. Conan is staying in town today but Cheeseburger and I are moving on. Conan and Backwards are trying to hitchhike when we pass them and head in the direction of Saddleback Mountain! For some lame brained reason I¢m considering spending the night up on Saddleback tonight. I hadn¢t realized that it was above the tree line yet. That might have changed my plans.There were lots and lots of families all over Piazza rock. I stopped at the lean-to and couldn¢t find my journal!!! I freaked out. My first thought was that I¢d left the journal on the side of the road. My worst nightmare would have been if I dropped it in the back seat of Rocky¢s car! In a flurry of cuss words I run down the trail back towards the road crossing. As I passed Dan, the caretaker, he informed me of a few details about Saddleback that I was unaware of. Being above tree line was one of them. While I talked with him I decided to have a second more thorough look into my backpack. I¢m freaking out on the inside as I search for it. I finally see that the Ziploc bag I keep it in had slid down behind my plastic pack liner! I¢d found it! It wasn¢t where I normally put it! I¢d never put it there before. I¢d gladly give up everything except my journal or camera! Dan laughed at me as I left. Dan also straightened me out about staying on top of Saddleback. There¢s no water after the gravel road spring 2 miles below the summit. That¢s great, my platypus water container has a leak in it and I can¢t haul large quantities of water anymore. Dan also told me there are several false summits on the way up Saddleback.Now I¢m considering staying at the campsite after Horn Mtn. Dan tells me there¢s water there but it¢s a mile away from the tent site. The trail is very difficult here and it looks like it¢ll be a long day. The profile of this area is like the edge of a wood saw. Where on earth am I going to sleep tonight?I was surprised by the way the trail abruptly erupted straight up after Piazza rock. The trail evened out after about a mile. It flattened by comparison but we were still climbing rapidly. There are several grassy ponds. One of the ponds had a large sandstone boulder right in the middle. It¢d be an excellent place to swim! When I got to the gravel road the water was right where Dan had told me. This water source isn¢t mentioned in my guidebook. My platypus container has to be carried by hand instead of in my backpack. The leak is at the top by the twist cap. When you squeeze the plastic, the water squirts out of the hole. I can¢t put it inside my backpack because it¢ll get all over me. I have to carry it by hand. My fingers get tired of carrying the bag. Four pounds of water makes it harder to balance. Carrying this water uphill is fine, but keeping my balance downhill might be a problem. When I met a SOBO he told me that there was water to be had at Redington campsite. That¢s not far from here and I¢m sick of carrying this water. The SOBO looks thirsty so I share my water with him. He takes half.Saddleback Mountain is hilarious! At least 6 false summits are apparent to an imaginative mind like mine. Windy unlike anything I¢ve encountered so far on the trail. It¢s blowing harder here than at Washington! Crystal clear views though. The sky shimmers along the light blue horizon and it doesn¢t even look like it belongs on this planet. To good to be true! It¢s like an oasis or mirage that you can¢t seem to believe in.I met up with Cheeseburger at the top. He¢s talking with two older ladies. They¢re taking shelter from the violent winds by hiding behind a rock fox hole. People had been telling me there was a rock shelter from the elements up there. I¢d believed that to mean that it would be adequate for sleeping overnight. This rock barrier couldn¢t hold back sunlight much less this wind that keeps pushing me to the ground. The tiny pine trees block the wind better so I wedge myself behind them.Today¢s the first time I can see Katahdin from a vista! I pick out the farthest mountain I can see and call it Katahdin. We celebrate with hoops and cheers! I know you can¢t see it, but we¢re excited anyways. I¢m just going to make believe! Incredible view but the wind is so cold that you can¢t enjoy it. You can only stand it for a moment before the wind forces its way into the cracks of you clothing and robs you of your warmth. It¢ll knock you off balance if you¢re not bracing for it.When the older ladies leave, Cheeseburger and I stay for a little while longer. Cheeseburger informs me of his love of heavy metal music. He likes American heavy metal the best! His favorite metal band is Iron Maiden. He tells me stories about trying to get tickets to an AC/DC concert before it sold out in minutes. His favorite band is Sabath Day? I thought he said Black Sabbath, but he spelled it for me. Sabath Day! He shouts over the howling wind. They play WW2 inspired music and lyrics. There¢s a song about D-day and Blitzkrieg. Cheeseburger lets me listen to examples on his mp3 player. He takes one ear plug and I take the other. We¢re sitting on a rock on Saddleback listening to heavy metal. I feel kind of weird sitting with a German and listening to songs about WW2. I tell Cheeseburger that I¢m more into outlaw bluegrass but its okay. I liked the hard stuff when I was younger. The older I get the mellower I become.We resolve to get moving since we¢re shivering cold. We¢ve just got to sail over the remainder of the last two summits. By this time I¢ve decided to keep hiking until I reach Poplar Ridge lean-to. The water source is a 1000ft climb from Redington campsite. I feel like I¢m back in the Whites again. No where to sleep. No where to get water! No where to hide.Felt pretty amazing going down and hiking up the Horn. Reminded me of Franconia ridge but a little easier. Not sure what happened to me after the Horn because the decent was brutal. It beat the hell out of me. I was exhausted and stumbling before climbing up Saddleback junior. I thought ascending Saddleback Junior was one of the hardest challenges of the entire AT. Maybe I was having a bad energy day or something, but I could barely keep moving. The only reason why I got to the top quickly was because I was trying to keep up with the German hiking machine that is Cheeseburger. Saddleback junior is comparable to how I feel about Wildcat. Cheeseburger flew up the hill and I barely kept pace with him. He has long legs and he¢s young. 22 years old! It¢s chilly so I¢m not sweating but it¢s so difficult that I feel as if there¢s acid burning away at my leg muscles.When I reached the summit of Saddleback Junior I felt 90 feet tall! I looked back at the sunset silhouette of Saddleback and the Horn with so much joy in my heart! Pride swelled up behind me eyes like a raging river. I yelled at the air like a mad man. I screamed towards Katahdin until I lost my voice. I shouted and barked at the sky like a maniac. Mad man! I shouted that I¢d climb every single summit to get to Katahdin if I had to.I feel like I¢m hitting my peak enjoyment right now. I can¢t get enough. What will I do from now on? How do you go on with your life after this? I have to keep going! I¢m so excited to see where this new found confidence, bravery and determination takes us all from here! I can¢t wait to see what my trail friends do after getting home!We get to the shelter and there¢s another group of college kids there again. Even more kids this time. The Bowden group says something snarky about thru-hikers and I jeered them loudly. Bates college orientation group is there also. Bates is an opposing college and they seem to dislike their Bowden shelter neighbors. The Bates kids get a kick out of my comments towards the Bowden kids. I joke with them about the last group almost burning down a shelter.I¢m not hungry so all I eat is peanut butter. It¢s so dark and cold that I don¢t even get water. All I feel like doing is staying by the warm fire with the Bates kids. They offer me their S¢mores. The Bates kids are actually practicing to be leaders of these orientation groups. They¢re all sophomores. Part of the leaders requirements are that they have an adventure story to share around a campfire setting. One of the girls gets encouraged to practice telling her story tonight. We all cheer her along and listen while she tests it out on us. Her story was alright, but nothing about it was funny.I can¢t resist telling a story myself. I pick the story about the fat guy on the moped at Steowah Gap, NC. The guy driving up the 8% graded busy highway while nodding off from the effects of morphine pills. The one that made my day by giving me a bag of chocolate donuts! Everyone laughed at mine. I get the feeling that I finally have hilarious stories to tell about my life now. Finally I have killer stories to tell! It makes me thankful that I¢ve experienced all the crap to turn it all into gold. The volume of this world is turned down now after all the things I¢ve seen in 30 years of living. I feel old around these kids tonight. At least I¢ve got experiences and stories that make them laugh.Conan and I were talking about potential adventures after this hike. We liked the idea of becoming American tri-athletes: Hike the AT (run), Float the Mississippi (swim), and Moped from coast to coast (bike).Bet you¢d have a story or two to tell after those adventures!