Date: 2019-08-21
From: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-To (ME)

To: Bemis Mountain Lean-To (ME)
Miles today: 8.3

I slept reasonably well last night. I did have a dream that my parents were looking for a new house because theirs had disappeared. Where their house had been was just an empty grass lot with a mailbox. They were looking at other houses in their neighborhood.  I went in to see one but it looked like no one had lived there in 30 years. The decor was out of date, there were huge cracks in the walls, and it was filled with snakes. I slept well last night and got out of camp around 7:15. The last time I had service, my weather app had forecast rain from 2pm today until 4am tomorrow, so we were just going to the next lean-to so we wouldn¢t have to sleep in the rain. Around 10am I hear something in the woods. I look and see a cow moose eating vegetation. I then hear nobo trekking poles. 2 young women are hiking towards me and they have their earbuds in. I try to get their attention with a loud whisper, ¢Hey, guys, a moose!¢ They see me and then the moose. We¢re all taking pictures and I hear something else and see more brown fur. ¢There¢s another one!¢ It¢s not one but 2 calves! The 3 of them just stand together eating while we take pictures. Eventually, I hike on. SC was waiting for me at the next road, and she was disappointed she missed them. The first road we cross is ME Route 17. There¢s a beautiful view there and a bench. We walk along the road for a little while and someone has covered the guardrail with stickers. The trail goes down from there, crosses a stream, and then follows a gravel road for a while. There¢s a parking spot for 2-3 cars where the trail goes back into the woods, and today there¢s trail magic! There are chairs, benches, and a cooler with food. SC and I each have a soda and a bag of carrots. She also has a chocolate covered devil dog. Then someone comes up in an ATV and drops off a can of Campbell¢s Chunky soup. It was 18 oz and only had 260 calories, and SC decides to take it!Now that we¢ve had a nice break and enjoyed some trail magic, it¢s time to make our final push for the lean-to. I look at the water situation and realize that the stream we passed .2 miles ago was the last water source until the lean-to, and the source at the lean-to is unreliable. We leave our packs by the road and go back to get water.Finally, we head up the mountain. We climb Bemis First Peak and then Second Peak. The climb is up slanted rock. Uphill is generally easier than downhill for not hurting one¢s knees and not slipping and falling. This is particularly true on slanted rock like this, so I¢m glad to be going uphill. Every once in a while, I turn around to take in the view that gets better as I climb higher. I also take my time and stop to eat the blueberries. The mountain is covered in blueberry bushes, and we appear to be in peak blueberry season. I am not in any rush to get to the lean-to because I know I¢ll get there early, and there¢s no more lean-tos between here and the next road, an additional 8.7 miles. I¢m about a quarter mile away when it starts to sprinkle. I¢m tempted to just keep walking, but I figure I might get caught in a sudden downpour, so I stop to put on my packcover. Next thing I know, I make it to the lean-to. There¢s several nobos who have just come from town. They stayed at different hostels, and they are making their cases to SC for which hostel we should stay at while we are in town. It¢s kinda funny to hear them argue about which hostel is better. I¢m happy to hear that we should have a good experience wherever we land. At 4:30, a sobo section hiker shows up. He appears to be the last person coming in, at least I hope so. It¢s 6:30pm and we are all tucked in. Looks like an early bedtime. It¢s been raining off and on since I got to the lean-to.