Date: 2005-08-27
From: Chairback Gap Lean-to

To: East Branch Lean-to
Miles today: 20.7

I got an early start today at 6:30, walking out of the shelter. I passed a few section hikers at the top of Chairback Mountain. One of them who was complaining about how hard the uphill was, and it was an extremely pleasant uphill. He came, so I¢m thinking that ¢boy, is he ever in trouble¢ because he doesn¢t know what he¢s getting himself into. I¢m thinking that they had come in on the road to the Katahdin Ironworks there.Just before the Pleasant River I ran into trail magic. Bag full of Sprites. I grabbed one and drank it there. Took another one to go into my water bottle. I had to ford the Pleasant River. On the other side was sitting King Alobar who offered me a Moon Pie that he had gotten out of the trail magic. I talked to him a few minutes. He was complaining that he was out of Vicodins. So, in exchange for the Moon Pies, I gave him four out of the five Vicodins that I was carrying.Like I think I said earlier, the day started really easy once I got down from Chairback Mountain. I stopped in at the New Hall Lean-to to cook some grits, and I ran into Gravity and DangerPee there. I cooked quickly and took off because I was planning on doing some pretty good miles today over some rough terrain. In fact, right after that, it got pretty rigorous going over Gulf Hagas Mountain, West Peak Mountain, Hay Mountain and White Cap Mountain. All totalled, between 11:00 and 2:30 I popped on about 4000 feet in elevation gain, so I was really pushing it. Really burning up some energy there.On top of White Cap Mountain was my first view ever of Katahdin, and somebody actually had to point it out to me. I turned around and there it was. Still 73 Trail miles away but, between me and it was a couple of little bumps and just a lot of flat land. That got me very, very excited to see that it looked like a real easy run to get there. The land looked almost flat, and in fact, on the elevation profiles, that¢s about what it looked like; almost flat.The top of White Cap is very similar to a lot of the White Mountain Range in New Hampshire as well, with the same kind of composition of rock, shrubbery, and stuff. It¢s only a 3,600 feet or so. It¢s above tree line. The farther north you go, the lower the tree line gets. All there was was some small brush- like evergreens. Of course, blueberries, which have been on top of every mountain since New York.I left from there and went down a pretty decent downhill to Logan Brook Shelter. I would have kept going except that Tinkerbell was there. So, I stopped and talked to him for about five minutes and then decided to haul butt because I was out of water. I figured I could hit another stream, which never happened. Regardless, because I was so excited, I took off and started running to the next shelter where I am now at East Branch. I did 3.6 miles in 50 minutes; just burning up the trail. Got in here pretty early, at twenty after three. Tinkerbell came in about an hour after, and he decided to move on four more miles, so he would be assured of getting into White House Landing early. Looks like I need to get up extra early to run 22 miles to get into White House Landing. It looks like good territory and I¢m willing to push these last few miles and push them hard just because I can.No one else in the shelter so far, except Gravity and Danger Pee were planning on coming here, but it¢s going on dark here soon and they still haven¢t showed up. There¢s just one section hiker that I ran past that showed up later and he hung a hammock. I might possibly have the shelter to myself again. That would be pretty cool. I could get up at 5 in the morning without feeling like I¢m bothering anybody.That¢s it for today.