Date: 2021-07-17
From: East Branch lean-to

To: Potaywadjo Spring lean-to
Miles today: 19.49
Weather: overcast clouds

The gaggle of 16 year old hikers finally settled in at 9:30 pm so I had a fairly restful night. There was no reason to hurry out to the trail as we had a scheduled food drop at 1pm about 12 miles away. So I hit the snooze on my watch alarm for an extra 10 minutes of shut eye. Then after a visit to Le Privy I laid back down in my hammock for a 20 minute nap. But even with all my dawdling, I was hiking out at 6:15 because I couldn¢t kill anymore time. This section of the 100 mile wilderness is relatively flat with only one climb of note early in the morning. For the day it was only the equivalent of 148 flights of stairs. I had already decided that I would take a long break at Cooper Brook Falls lean-to and it was a great place to do so. The falls came down from the right and there was a large pool in front of the shelter. Very idyllic. I also saw my first newt since Vermont.  He was just a tiny little guy about half the length of my pinky. I was beginning to wonder if they lived this far north. A solo SOBO cane by after I had been there 20 minutes then Iceberg arrived just after. We chatted with her for 20 minutes and tried our best to allay her fears about the trail. Much like I had done, she was psyching herself out about the mountains of Southern Maine and then the White Mountains to follow. I didn¢t try to downplay the difficulty- it¢s hard miles - but you don¢t have to do anything physically heroic to get through. Just be safe, plan ahead, and realize it¢s a mental game, too. Iceberg was great with his calm and reasonable matter of factness.  In the end, if Grandma Gatewood managed this, almost anyone can as well. We all got to the road crossing for the food drop by noon. Mike from Shaw¢s arrived early at 12:15 when disaster struck. Quiksilver and Lamb¢s Ear were sitting on a rock by the fast moving river, when Lamb¢s Ear stood, her phone tumbled in and was gone. We tried to locate it, but it was an impossible task. Maybe it¢s her training as a trauma surgeon or just her nature, but she handled the loss well, reasoning that no one was hurt or anything dire. I would have rent my garments and gnashed my teeth while  changing religions twice and crying tears of rage. Then started lashing about wildly and screaming that I was on fire. Po-ta-to/po-tah-to, I guess. After filling my food bag with what I had sent for resupply, I hoisted my now-too-heavy pack and hiked the 3.5 miles to our planned campsite. Once we had all arrived, Lamb¢s Ear and Quiksilver went for a quick swim in Jo-Mary lake. After looking at the campsites the next few days and cogitating on the miles remaining we agreed to hike another 3.4 to this lean-to to set up the next two days. Another factor was that the only water by the lake was the lake, while the Potaywadjo lean-to has an artesian spring for a water source. This turned out to be another good decision, as the water was cold and clear and we have the whole camp to ourselves.  After dinner we sat and shot the breeze for a bit and finalized plans for tomorrow (22 mile hike) so that we¢ll have a two-day summit window. The Baxter State Park has strict rules on access and camping. Most of the campgrounds in the park are booked months in advance. They do have a 100 mile wilderness-only campsite named ¢The Birches¢ that is limited to 12 hikers per night and is first-come first-served on a daily basis. There is a daily sign-up list where the AT enters the park about 10 miles from the campground. Staying at The Birches leaves you with the five mile climb to the summit of Mt Katahdin and then the return down. If you can¢t get into The Birches, it¢s an additional 10 mile hike from the nearest campground just outside the park.With rain in the forecast the next 5 days, it looks like any summit day is as good as another. So we¢re hoping to get into The Birches Monday afternoon for a Tuesday climb. This will be fine.