Date: 2013-09-25
From: AMC Gorham Mountain Hut

To: Logan Brook Lean To
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: clear sky

David let us eat earlier than normal so we could get on the trail early. He was bringing us plate after plate, ¢Eat up, there¢s plenty to go around¢ he would say. We were stuffed then the chef, David, came back with our dessert he made us last night but we forgot to eat. We both looked at it with a full belly then began to eat it. ¢This is delicious!¢ It was a fruit dish with fresh raspberries. We ate the entire thing. After we put away our dishes we gave all the employees a hug. We felt at home in this hut with the workers and customers. We were treated with such respect contrary to what most people think. We went back to our cabin, grabbed our backpacks and took Bella out one last time. We enjoyed our easy walk back to the AT. We got to our first ford for the day. It was our longest one so far but luckily it was an easy current. Mom went across first taking Bella¢s bag. I went next, holding Bella so she wouldn¢t get wet. The ford was slippery. I saw a large rock in the middle of the river and decided I would rest. As I got closer to the rock, I slipped on a rock. Bella and I both fell in the water. It left my legs, part of my down puffy jacket and rain jacket wet. Bella got completely drenched but she swam the rest of the way across. I hit my knee on a rock but no other injuries. The next seven miles were fairly easy. We got to the Carl A Newhall Lean To, ate lunch and discussed our next plan. We had four peaks (Gulf Hagas, West Peak, Hay and White Cap Mountain) and it was already 2 pm. We decided we would take it one peak at a time. However, I already made up my mind that we would make it over all of them since they were our last large mountains before Katahdin. We get up and over with the first one. There was a nice campsite nestled between the first two mountains away from the wind. I told mom we should keep going even though I could tell that she would have been very happy to stay. Also we met up with Double Dare and Pathfinder there who was planning to camp. We made over the next three peaks to the top of the last one, White Cap Mountain. We both hollered for joy knowing that this was our last big 3,000 foot (besides Katahdin) climb and the trail is about to get much easier. On the top of the last peak it was extremely windy, foggy and it began to rain on the way down. We took our last picture of our last peak and hustled across all the jagged rocks and headed down towards the tree line. Once we got to the tree line, we couldn¢t feel the bad weather. I figured the shelter was going to be empty because we haven¢t had anyone pass us all day. As we approached, I could hear children¢s voices. It was Crowd Control. We were so excited to see them as we knew that this would be the last time to see them. I had 20 different questions coming from the kids all at once. The Logan Brook Lean To was crammed as Two Stents and Heart Walker was there too but we made it work by fitting eight people in a six person shelter. It became dark quickly so we all got in our sleeping bags then said goodnight. I looked at my watch, 7:00pm. The shelter was quiet. I softly announced, ¢We all know it¢s 7 o¢clock right?¢ No answers back. As I drift off to sleep, I think of all of the things that are all our "lasts" such as; this is our last 4,000 mountain to climb, this is our last 3,000 mountain, this is our last re-supply, this is our last town, this is our last hitch, this could be our last night in a shelter, etc. This makes me sad¢¦Twix