Date: 2009-09-14
From: Wilson Valley Leanto

To: Monson
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: clear sky

I got up a little late and went over to Nina's tent to tell her it was 5:20. (She had requested the wake up call.) I still got off at 6:30. Town is calling me. Shower tonight.First I came to the Big Wilson River which had to be forded. There was a taut rope across which helped a lot. I went over in bare feet holding tight to the rope. The water came up to the bottom of my shorts. I took my time and it was not too bad at all.Shortly after rock hopping Thompson Brook I met Blind Eagle, a 100 mile wilderness section hiker, packing up his tarp. After that it was uphill.I saw two interesting plants today. I think one is called Chinaberry. It was a cluster of pure white berries with a black eye on magenta stems. Interesting. The other is, I believe, Jack In The Pulpit. After it "flowers" it has a cluster of red-orange berries, also rather distinctive if not as exotic as Chinaberry.Bugman, Lumpy and Two Pounds passed me going north on a half mile long slate ridge. I like walking on the slate ridges with pointed layers up. The footing is more secure than some of the other varieties of smooth rock, sometimes made more smooth by the tred of many hiker's feet. Near or at Little Wilson Falls I met Kitchen Sink & Wingo. The falls was very pretty with water falling stairstep fashion over broken blocks of slate.Juice, Mama Llama, Nature, Robin, and Jeff from Kenmore, Wa. came by. They looked like they would be fun to hike with. Robin and Jeff are section hikers from Washington who had come out to hike with their friends. A bit later I met Chris from Monson. He had a brogue of some kind and was happy to be hiking in "his back yard."The hiking today seemed hard. I am tired from days on the trail and all of Maine's very rough trail. I found myself thinking somewhat longingly of New Jersey's flat spots of trail without the plethora of roots and rocks. I was hiking much more slowly than I wanted and having a hard time getting motivated to move faster.My knee was trying to be sore and my thinning heelpad (another of nature's gifts to the elderly) was making my heel hurt. I finally stopped and exchanged Dr Scholl's gel inserts for gel heelcups and also hooked up my MP3 player. This is the first time on the trip I have used the MP3 but today I needed it.Both measures seemed to help as the heel felt better and Judy Collins sang me down and up the trail.Frenchie and Bla and Bla passed while I was changing inserts. They are, yes, from France. We had an interesting discussion about health care in the US and their surprize that a lot of Americans do not want the government involved in healthcare.Watson and Holmes (I think Watson is the dog although it could be the other way around) came by. Fun because I had read some of her journal.Ink and Wis-bee were at the shelter where I briefly stopped. Then it was down a rock and root climby bit to the stream and back out and up the other side and up a steep hill. Judy sang me up the hill. Another lake or two was passed and before too long I was at the road, Highway 15. Yeah!I called Shaw's and they came and got me and I checked into the hostel and got my shower. Life was MUCH better! This is an interesting hostel in an interesting little Maine town. The bunk room is very cheery with pink and blue quilts on the beds and real sheets. Lovely.And they had dinner, which they only fix on Mondays as everything in town is closed on Monday. Lucky me to be here on a Monday. We had a marvelous green salad, stuffed pork chops, butternut squash, peas and carrots, and boiled potatoes and gravy. We all heaped our plates high and feasted. And for desert we had biscuits with whipped topping and blueberry sauce. My tummy was in heaven!Hikers here included Bouxdroux, Lizzy and John (Lizzie hiked the AT with Yogi, maybe the PCT too, under a trail name she does not like and I will not divulge.), Spiceman, Nutmeg, Billyhoot, Gritz (Georgia, not Alabama), and others I am having trouble remembering.Dude on Couch, whom I had met on White Cap came in after summitting Katahdin in the morning and hitch hiking all the way from Katahdin Stream to Monson where he had left his car. My, the energy of youth.Well, this old lady is tired, but clean, clothes clean, tummy full and ready for bed and LIFE IS VERY GOOD!