Date: 2008-09-14
From: U.S. 201, Caratunk, ME

To: Moxie Pond Rd., ME
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: light rain

Beep beep yet again..alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. It was a grey and dingy dingy morning, so not looking too promising for beautiful sunny weather. Auntie Mame had moved and gotten a room with her hubby, Uncle Tom last nite, so they were outside and ready to go as we all agreed by 7:30 a.m. It was only a 25 minute drive to the trailhead, so we were hiking by 8:00 a.m., and it was sprinkling already.I figured today wouldn¢t be too hard, but you can¢t ever assume anything on the AT. Uncle Tom who has his full pack decided to hike with us, which is cool, because I¢ve heard so much about him and had never met him until yesterday. It was a gradual ascent to Pleasant Pond Lean-to over 5 miles. After 2 miles, we started hiking along Holly Brook, which was pretty beautiful. We got to Pleasant Pond Lean-to and the second we got there it started pouring down rain. Well¢¦good time for lunch even if it was 10:45 a.m.   So, A.M., Uncle Tom and I all got our lunches out and ate in the shelter while contemplating how fun it was going to be to hike up and over Pleasant Pond Mtn. in the rain. At this point, it was 63 degrees, so that¢s not so bad, but I knew it would be colder at the top of the mountain.We ate, and I took the first picture of Howard (a grown up version of Howie) at the shelter¢¦his big debut. The shelter register from this year and last year were at the shelter, so Uncle Tom actually found where he¢d signed the register last year (during his thru-hike)¢¦at EXACTLY the same time of day (10:45 a.m.) 1 year and 11 days later! Isn¢t that hilarious!? He enjoyed seeing old friends in the register as well. In the meantime, I sat there comatose, eating, wondering if the sun would come out. Finally, we all decided to don our full raingear, and head out. So it was pretty much an immediate 1 mile climb from 1250 ft up to 2470 ft.   Now normally it wouldn¢t have seemed that bad, but today, it seemed to take forever in this crappy weather, that of course, when you get higher in elevation, it becomes windier and colder. There were some very steep sections on extremely slippery rock, so we had to be careful.Basically, it was a much longer 1 mile than I expected, but mainly due to the weather. We finally got to the top though, and snapped a few pics in the wind and rain, and then hoped the descent would take us into the trees quickly. It was 57 degrees up there. You¢re not above treeline on this mountain, but you are exposed on the slick rocky slabs, so I knew it could get cold quickly.We started down now and ok, that movie Groundhog Day? I swear to you, we were caught in this hiking loop. Even though the overall topo was down for 5 miles, we would go down and then suddenly find ourselves climbing up and over another exposed rock slab bump. This happened over and over and over again, and it did not seem like we were going down in elevation at all. Sort of got on my nerves today for some reason. I think I¢m just ready to be in Monson, getting ready to go into the 100 mile wilderness with Karen and be done with this section. I try to not to be in a hurry, but I told A.M. and Uncle Tom today I felt like I¢d already sort of ¢been there and done that¢ and had proven I could climb mountains, so could we please forgo the mini mountains and just get to the end now? LOL   Can you say impatient? We kept going and looping (or so it felt) and then finally we went down in elevation enough to be in a total spruce forest and it totally felt like we were on a tree farm. There was TONS of moose scat all over, so I was just sure we¢d see a moose, but damn¢¦nothing yet. I¢m starting to believe the existence of moose in Maine is much like the UFO¢s at Area 51. There are those who have had sightings, but no proof. The rain sort of stopped, but all the left over rain drops were blowing from the trees, so it was good to remain in rain gear, although I¢d sweated going up, I knew better than to take the raingear off now, because I would surely have put myself in danger of hypothermia. We kept going and going and going and Uncle Tom has an altimeter on his watch and I swear, everytime we asked, we were still at 1800 ft. The road, Moxie Pond Rd. was at 970 ft, so I was getting a little discouraged with this altitude report. It can either serve to motivate you or just plain ole¢ piss you off.We stopped for a short break, and we all sat down on our own rocks.   Uncle Tom about fell off, but caught himself. We all ate a snack and then finally headed on. Oh¢¦I forgot. On the way up this mountain, I laughed that I had my hiking poles on the wrong hands. Uncle Tom was like what? I showed him that Leki has a distinct left and right hand pole, signified by an ¢L¢ or ¢R¢ on the wrist straps. So here we are, both seasoned hikers, I¢m unintentionally using the poles on the wrong hands, and Uncle Tom admitted he never even knew there was a distinction! LOL We¢re all freakin messes, I swear. A.M.¢s poles are either/or, so she came out looking like the smart one once again.Down and down we go, and finally it¢s obvious we¢re finally dropping in elevation¢¦thank the goddess. Karen would be at the road at 3 p.m., and it was approaching 3:30, but I didn¢t figure it would be much later than that. We all headed down a particularly slick rocky section and whooooop¢¦.down I go. We had all avoided a full-fledged fall multiple times today, but I broke that luck by falling right on my ass today. It was like hiking on ice today. Then right afterwards, A.M. almost fell in a place nearby as well. It was crazy¢¦the rain makes it so slick.I didn¢t hurt anything, and I laughed as I rated myself in Olympic style¢¦9.5----9.7----9.4 for technique. The hike ended in flatish very swampy areas¢¦I mean, if moose weren¢t here, I think they won¢t be anywhere. Well, no moose. I couldn¢t believe it. We got to Moxie Pond Rd. at 3:30 p.m. and walked about .1 to where the trail heads into the woods again and Karen was there waiting on us. Uncle Tom decided to go ahead and push on and camp for the nite. I was almost sure he¢d come back into town with us, but he seemed very excited, so that was cool. A.M. and I hopped in the car, soaked and cold. Karen drove us 1 hr back to our room at Bingham and I took the longest hot shower¢¦ahhh¢¦.warm once again. I got my pack ready for tomorrow¢¦only 2 more days till I get to Monson¢¦I¢m so freakin glad. We all sat around tonight, having ¢girl talk,¢ eating sandwiches made in A.M.¢s brand new toaster oven. You¢re not supposed to ¢cook¢ in this room, but we didn¢t really think this constituted cooking. A.M. also had a crock pot, so we warmed up some soup (no microwave in this place). Yummy dinner and now it¢s time for bed all over again.Oh, on a side note, this place (Bingham Motor Inn) is run by some interesting people (and is not considered a normal hiking town or motel by the way), but just a tiny warning, the inn keepers have a bit of an attitude issue. They talk about the wonderful hospitality they were given on their safari (where all the dead animals in the lobby came from) but seem to have a disconnect when it comes to extending that same hospitality to their customers. I¢m glad we¢re leaving tomorrow.   A.M. has described this as your typical small Maine town, where if you¢re not from here, you¢re an outsider. Interesting really, but does not warrant being yelled at and (falsely) accused of leaving a scratch on a porch post in front of the room. Whatever¢¦.we¢re gone tomorrow and headed to some new place near or in Monson.   Oh, and the offer of a hot tub¢¦well, it¢s kept in the corner of the parking lot¢¦locked up constantly. Sort of weird, but hey¢¦all part of the journey right? J Maybe my next writing project will be a review of all motels and hostels near the trail. That would be interesting huh?So time for sleep¢¦about 11 miles tomorrow, which includes getting up and over Moxie Bald. Hope the weather is a little better for us. 139.3 miles to go!!~Certain