Date: 2005-07-04
From: West Branch of the Pleasant River

To: Side trail to Chairback Pond
Miles today: 6.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Time for reflections:Today was the day that I put Landcruiser back on the trail and I headed back to Florida. At around noon I walked with Landcruiser and our two dogs, Mary the Black Lab and Trekker the Rottweiler, from the Gulf Hagas parking lot back to the West Branch of the Pleasant River. Landcruiser now faces the 31 miles to Monson, the end of the Hundred Mile Wilderness. This was a very difficult point in the venture, as the parting was difficult and painful. What we have experienced together thus far, as a team, has helped us to clear the cobwebs out of our relationship. The cobwebs and fog develop in the best of relationsbhps due to the stress and preoccupation with our jobs and demands life places upon us from day to day in our usual lives. We begin to take each other for granted. When you can get away like this, and have a mission to accomplish, one that requires you to work together to handle difficult and challenging tasks, you begin to see again, the things that drew you together in the first place, years ago. Hopefully, these renewed realizations will not fade with time, but rather, will continue to nourish the relationship.The following is an entry from my trail reflections on June 29;AT Support, 06/29/2005:It is Wednesday, June 29, 2005 at 11:43 AM. I am in campsite 29 at the Jo-Mary Lake Campground on Upper Jo-Mary Lake about 6 miles north of Hwy 11 between Millinocket and Brownville Junction, ME.I put Debbie (Landcruiser) back on the trail yesterday morning around 9:30 AM where Johnson Pond Rd. crosses the AT. At that point, Debbie has already completed a little more than 60 miles of the trail. When I see her again on June 30, at the Hermitage near the ruins of the old Katahdin Ironworks, she will have done another 21 miles. That will leave her approximately 30 miles to complete the Hundred-Mile Wilderness portion of the trail.Running off-trail support for an AT through-hiker is certainly not as difficult nor as stressful as actually hiking the trail, but it does have some busy moments making sure future arrangements are secured, and that supplies are replenished. An occasional day for reconnaissance is important too. It would be great if I could do this for Landcruiser for the whole hike, but in a few days I will have to return to Florida, and work. This hike is very important to us, and to some other folks whom we hope will benefit from the effort; the children of the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches.Running support for a hiker also provides some down-time, to relax and reflect. In order to make this journal of greatest benefit to other hiker ¢teams¢, and to include the significant others of current and future hikers, we decided to include some text on this.As I sit here at the campsite, enjoying some of that reflective down-time, I think of my wife and wonder about what she is actually experiencing on the trail at this very moment. I know that either late yesterday, or sometime today, she will have to negotiate the trail over White Cap Mountain. In this section of the trail there are also several other mountains to cross, but White Cap Mountain is well over three-thousand feet and, if the profile map is any indication, may have some rugged boulder crossings for her. She is hiking solo, so I can not help but worry about her tripping and falling, perhaps injuring an ankle, wrist, leg, what have you.Debbie is a pretty incredible person. I am very proud of her. She has on many occasions proven herself to be of surprising determination in achieving goals, and in setting standards. I should know better than to worry about her, but¢¦This December we will have been married nineteen years. We are hoping that her trail adventure will be completed by our anniversary, December 19th. When I met her a little over twenty years ago, she was a single mother, working three jobs, one as a school teacher, to support her two little boys. The boys were age 7 and 11. They went to Sunday School and Church every Sunday, they had chores to do to help around the house. And Debbie knew the value of teaching them responsibility, accountability, and frugality. She taught them well that the value in something, be it shoes, clothing, whatever, was in its durability and usefulness, not in its brand name.Debbie¢s college degree is in early childhood education. Her masters degree is in reading. She has spent many years working with children and has seen, first-hand, the needs of children. She has visited the Florida Sheriffs Boys Ranch and some of the other facilities of the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches, Inc. For the last four years, before retiring, she ran the Head Start and Pre-K programs for the Martin County, FL School Board. All of this experience and exposure gave her a deep feeling to do all that she can to support the causes of children. I believe that is why she has taken this adventure, her long-standing dream of thru-hiking the AT, and dedicated it as a fund raiser to benefit the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches and their many programs that help disadvantaged, at-risk, and neglected children of Florida. Knowing of the contributions which have already been received has helped her to ignore and endure the rigors of this journey. She is quite a lady, that ¢Landcruiser¢!.............GhostwriterNow...from Landcruiser's JournalI got a late start today (Noon) following a hard departure from the Gulf Hagas area and Bob. It was very hot (again!), sunny (beautiful!), and the trail was intensely UP! It was hard work up & over a major boulder field where I met two other hikers who said the terrain there reminded them of the Abol Trail up Katahdin. The Abol Trail is an alternate and shorter trail that Bob & I could have taken up Katahdin, but did not because we were concerned about the steepness. In retrospect, I think we would have been better off to take the shorter trail up & then the AT down. However, I digress¢¦Back to the trail at hand¢¦I reached the first lean-to after a 4.4 mile climb up and over Chairback Mountain, but the water source there was very poor and I felt that it was a little too early to stop. I had heard from some nobos that good water was scarce on this section of the trail. I knew that there was a stream and side trail to a pond in another mile and a half, and so I decided to push on. Water is always a critical consideration as you need it for cooking, as well as hydration. I reached the stream, filled my water bottles, and decided to follow the side trail to West Chairback Pond. There I found the perfect little campsite right on the edge of a beautiful little pond. This was my first night of ¢stealth¢ camping. I pitched my little tent, cleaned up a bit, and was preparing to cook my supper when I discovered that I had no matches and no lighter! I had switched stoves, sending my butane stove back to Florida and choosing to use my little alcohol stove, instead. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to take my matches & lighters out of the other stove case! Well, not to worry¢I have plenty of cold food to eat & will not starve. Just about the time I finished supper, a couple from Tennessee arrived. They were disappointed that I had the perfect campsite, but loaned me a lighter so I would be able to have a hot breakfast! The ankle is still sore, but I feel strong and am amazed at how well I am now able to negotiate the steep boulders, even wearing a full pack.