Date: 2010-09-28
From: Moxie Pond Road

To: Moxie Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Moxie Bald Lean-to,    The weather forecast for the next four days calls for nothing but rain. Two of those days will be walking into Monson. The next two days will be the beginning of the 100 mile wilderness.   I stopped for lunch at Moxie Pond Road today. While I was there I ran into Superman, 151, Sparrow, Tarzan, Freight Train, Buzzy. Hopper and I moved on and crossed the first and only water crossing of the day. It was right after the road crossing on Moxie Pond Road. You could view the crossing from the road. Everyone was cheering Hopper on as she crossed. She stepped on one rock that was lose and she almost fell backwards into the water. I was videoing her with my camera. I was not lucky enough to get her falling in. When I crossed I got the same cheers from the group too.   I stopped at Bald Mountain Lean-to to read the register and grab a snack. We quickly move on. We wanted to be at Moxie Bald Lean-to before 4 pm to see the moose that come around 5 pm.   We stop on the back side Moxie Bald Mountain I stopped to turn my phone on to check for messages. The email I sent to Kathy did not get sent so I had to resend that also.   At the pond about 0.5 from Moxie Pond Lean-to we stood there and watched a beaver swim around and then it dived down into the water to go into its lodge.   We made it to the lean-to by 4:30 and waited around until dark but never saw a moose.   We established our spaces in the shelter before anyone else came. Next we snacked for about 1/2 and then filtered water and hung everything that needed to get hung and somewhat moose proofed to keep the mice from getting into things.While we doing all this Gorp rolled in. He said he was not staying in the shelter and was going to set up his tent and left.   About another 1/2 hour later we made our dinners. Yummy another roman dinner, with junk food for desert.    Towards the end of the evening Johnny Walker and Wondering Foot wondered in and took up two more spots in the shelter. They came in from Pierce Pond Lean-to today, that is 22.8 miles, including the ferry crossing. That is impressive to me. They told us DosXX and Birch might roll in later on.   Hopper made tea with honey in it and was in her sleeping bag with it reading and spilt it all over the shelter floor in front of her sleeping bag.   I did not get much of any sleep at all during the night because Hopper was snoring and her head was facing towards me and other than the snoring every exhale she was blowing directly at me. I woke her up several times trying to get her to roll over or do something different to get her to stop snoring but each time I woke her up and told her she was snoring she said "no I am not". I got feed up with her snoring and went down by the pond and sat for quit a while during the night. With little sleep it is going to be a pain to do the miles to get into Monson tomorrow.   It is hard to believe I have 10 days or less left out here. I am not looking forward to going back and looking for a job and all the mundane things again. Winter is coming on also and I need to get the plow truck fixed and ready for winter. I should also have three cords of wood sitting at the house waiting for me to stack when I get home. I also have no idea what kind of shape my yard is in and how well it was taken care of. I am sure I will have to take care of that as well. It is nice being out here with no much to worry about. It would also be nice to be able to stay out here but at the same time I am also tired of being out here and am ready to go home.   If I make it to Monson tomorrow I need to go to the post office and mail my laptop forward or home. I would also like to find time to go visit Vic in Aabbot. I might have to take a zero day in order to get my laptop mailed out. I was not planning on taking a zero day because that will not give me a day to spare for my upcoming summit date of 10/10/10. I don't like the idea of making it that close. I guess when I think of it that date is not really that important. I just liked the sound of it and I know a bunch of other hikers are also shooting for that date. I will still shoot for that date but will not go overboard trying to do it.   DosXX and Birch never rolled in late tonight, it is 2:30 am now. I am glad but in a way it does not really matter seeing I cannot sleep anyways because of Hoppers snoring. This is not the first time Hopper has done something like this to me. I think I am just getting more aggregated because the hike is almost over and I am getting stressed out.   It rained most of the night up until Hopper started snoring real bad. That means the trail will be wet and muddy tomorrow, imagine that. I have done this part of the trail that I am going to do tomorrow and there is one section I am not looking forward to. It is the section after an old dam crossing. It is not a uphill, downhill or something really hard. It is about a 1/2 section that is very muddy and rocky and slows you down a lot. I will try to get through it without getting my feet wet but if I do than everything from then on I will just walk right through without care. I also have two good river crossings tomorrow. I am not looking forward to the because it is a pain in the butt to stop and take my boots off to cross. If my feet get really wet from the muddy area than I will not bother. I will just walk through with my boots on.