Date: 2012-05-23
From: Moose Mountain Shelter

To: Firewarden's Cabin and Fire Tower
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke to a partly sunny morning. Take It Easy noticed my hands trembling during our breakfast. Hmmm. Guess that means my system hasn't refreshed itself from yesterday's heat. I'll have to be extra conscious to drink, drink, drink. Yesterday I figure I drank about 3 liters. Better keep hydrated to keep my energy up.    Had a long one-hour upward climb to start the day. Saw lots of moose tracks today, along with the usual bogs. Then downhill til noonish--glad our miles of bike riding kept our quads ready for this challenge. Around noon we made it to the blue-blazed trail leading to Trapper John Shelter. 0.2 miles off the AT. We felt good, although it was again a very dripping hot 70+ day. Since we'd hiked 5.9 miles in 4 hrs. with some breaks tossed in, we optimistically decided to hike onward the almost 7 miles to Firewarden's Cabin and Fire Tower. No, we weren't going to sleep in the glassed in lookout room at the top of the tower. If we found the cabin locked, we planned on gaining entry through an unlocked window, as we'd read others have done.   Great plan. Like many plans, easier said than done. Plan A didn't go as anticipated. The sun came out, warming the air of the already humid, wet forest. We had to take lots of breaks to lower our body temp and drink without walking. Had a stretch were we came out of the bog-spotted forest to clamber over large sections of mountain covered by long whaleback-like chains of boulders. Given the sun, most, not all, were dry and radiant with heat. Footing was decent over them, but golly did that section make our sweat pour down even faster! We climbed on steadily.    Good thing we didn't stop at Indeed Bill's house at a road crossing for the ice cream his hand-painted sign stuck next to the trail advertised. It was a little bit confusing because the sign indicated that to get to his place we were to continue ahead on the trail, when I could see his blue house across the road to the left(I'd read about his house in hikers' journals from last year). Someone must've moved his sign to point hikers down the wrong icecream path. How mean. Oh, well, we didn't pause to track down the ice cream. We knew daylight was a wastin'. Trudge on. Water up at the stream. Saw the big sign on the trail announcing we were 412 miles from Mt. Katahdin, the northern end of AT. Yippee! That's great, but right now we're focused on making the immediate miles between us and the Firewarden's Cabin.    Bogs were numerous, fallen trees required stepping over or sitting on to get to the other side, rocky "steps" to climb--some rocks were put there by trail maintainers to reduce our toil, but actually lifting feet up high to step is quite tiresome versus shuffling. All the while flute-voiced warblers and chatty chickadees accompanied by the whine of mosquitoes urged us on. Midday electrolyte drinks were in order. Yummy :-) Heat depleted our appetites, but dried fruit and nibbles of nutrition bars gave us enough fuel.    We watered up again out of necessity. By the time we reached the famed rebar-stepped wet rock face(a sheet of water cascades down the near perpendicular sheet of rock) it was after 6 p.m.. Gee, how far away was that cabin? Sure would be nice if there were signs telling us how far we had left to go. I was completely wobbly, legs unsteady when called on to balance, and stomach queasy. Oh, how I wish I could remove the hat and headnet to cool down a degree or two! But the cost in whopper itchy bites wasn't worth it. I already had many red, swollen bites from stealth mosquitoes, the ones that weren't adverse to Deet drenched limbs. Let me sit sans pack for a minute or two to gather my strength for the haul up the rebar. Besides resting, this break will be a good time to inspect for ticks. Yes, we're plagued by ticks, too, on this walk in the woods. Take It Easy has pulled off several. Good thing his infectious disease doctor Rx'd Doxycycline for him to take on the trail following tick removal. He doesn't want to experience another bout of Lyme Disease. While hunting for ticks, up the trail came a fellow, huffing and dripping. He greeted us and said that he could hardly help himself; it was a very long tiring day. He made his way up the rebar cliff. He planned on tenting near the cabin. Inspired and temporarily re-invigorated --ha--that comment really means I figured I had just enough energy left to go a smidgen further. Take It Easy climbed, followed by me. Each turn was another opportunity for positive self talk. Yes, I can make it to that boulder up the trail over there, then the next, and the next.    Nearing sundown the cabin was reached. It had a roof, wood floor, and two operable windows with screens. Dare we hope we can sleep without hats and headnets? Yes! Someone abandoned a partially empty jar of peanut butter which we used to prop one window open; the other window stayed open without props. As soon as the sun went down the breeze changed to chilly, nixing the mosquitoes that entered the cabin with us. A blissful sleep without the mosquito buzz awaited us. Off went our wet clothes to hang on nails along the walls. Maybe there's a slim chance they'll dry a smidgen before we put them on next morning. It's so wonderful to slip into dry sleeping clothes. Once my limbs quit shaking convulsively from muscle & heat exhaustion, Take It easy and I slid into our snuggly sleeping bags and slept.