Date: 2015-07-30
From: Pleasant Pond Lean To

To: West Branch of Piscataquis River
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: light rain

I set out around 7 am. It was 1.1 miles to Pleasant Pond Mountain where wild blueberries awaited!! Definitely a good morning climb to wake you up! I spied my first blueberries and within a minute set down my pack to feast. I then moved a little higher on the mountain and set my pack down again to feast and also discovered I had a little cell service. I eventually made it to the summit where I again ate blueberries and posted yesterday's trail journal. I realized I had been there for an hour so I reluctantly started to descend but kept stopping to eat one more blueberry. Eventually I tore myself away and hiked about 15 minutes when I came upon another hiker Brandon, who asked me if he was at the summit. I told him no but sat down next to him and ate a snack while we chatted. Syd the Kid walked by and asked if she was at the summit. She thought she may have recognized my name from Trail Journals. Fry walked by a few minutes later. We all moved on and I realized I had hiked less than 2 miles and it was almost 9:30. AN hour later, I met JD aka Chief Pretty Feet, Jorge, and Dreamcatcher. Hands had told me JD had also flip flopped. He had started March 27 and may have stayed at Top of Georgia Hostel the same night Side Kick and I were there. A little later, I met Sweet D who is from St Augustine, Fl. Social morning!! I started moving since I planned to hike 19 miles to a campsite Float had told me about last night. The rocks were wet and slick but also very smooth which is even worse than the ones in southern Maine. My feet flew out from under me and I landed on my butt. My pole went flying ahead of me and my hat fell off. I think my pack saves me as it keeps me upright so I don't fall on my back. I had to scoot myself to the edge of the rock to get up since it was like trying to get up on ice. Just before 1 I finally made it to the next lean to where I got some water and ate a snack. As I sat on my log about to pack up, I saw a hiker approaching . . . It was Wookie! He had left Rangeley the morning after I did and had been hiking big miles to make his August 7 deadline. Crafty, Sugar Magnolia and Uphill had planned to leave that day but then took a zero when the weather went bad. I had heard someone on Pleasant Pond Mountain but he or she had stopped before reaching where I had stopped. It was probably Wookie since he had stopped to dry his tent and eat blueberries. I sat while he ate and got some water and then we headed up Moxie Bald Mountain which didn't seem like a crazy climb until the last 0.4 miles. It was a rock scramble with debris so it wasn't always clear where the trail went. At the top, we took a break. We heard Crafty, Sugar and Uphill had made it to Caratunk.On the descent we saw more blueberries but didn't dally too much since we thought potential weather may start. I didn't want to descend on any more wet rock than I had to. We did hit a muddy bog where Wookie's pole sunk half way down. It started to sprinkle and we still had over 6 miles to go to our target campsite. We kept moving. I ran into a SOBO who told me the talk in Monson yesterday was potential hail storm. We hurried on. It rained a little harder as we had to ford the Bald Mountain Stream and I got my shoes wet when a rock moved as I stretched to reach the next one. More muddy and rocky trail. Finally it stopped raining and the trail turned nice the last couple of miles until the last half mile when we slogged through mud and a Brook and it started to rain again. As we approached the West Branch of the Piscataquis River, we saw the campsite on the left. There were two other tents already there. Fortunately the rain let up enough for us to set up our tents and eat dinner. Around 9, it really started to thunder and rain harder. Mother Nature worked with me once again!