Date: 2004-09-16
From: Bald Mountain Lean-To

To: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-To
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Another great day to be hiking in Maine!Moxie Bald is another granite dome like early in Maine only lower and less steep. Most of the ascent is like a gentle ramp. In fact, the granite looks rather like weathered asphalt complete with broken and grown over spots so that it felt rather like parts of the Ramble in New York City's Central Park. Where the bad-weather bypass split off the Trail became a bit steeper, then veered through giant slabs of granite that had spalled off and piled up. It was like walking under the top of Aslan's Table in Narnia or through the ruins of Stonehenge.The top seemed not quite above treeline but the wide expanses of bare granite dome still gave it an alpine feel. There were blueberry bushes everywhere but hardly a berry. I took the very short sidetrail to the summit and ruins of an old firetower. I could see all around but clouds to the east blocked most of the mountains and the valleys all around were still fogbound. A different vista from either a clear day or a foggy one.Starting down I ran into a patch of big juicy sweet almost alpine blueberries! I picked a handful and ate them one at a time, popping each yummy globe and savoring its goodness. I could have swooned with happiness. There is nothing tastier than blueberries fresh picked from a Maine mountaintop! It really is the true reward for getting up here.I passed over terrace after terrace of granite, full of berryless bushes. On the east side of each I would go around a corner and find another patch of big sweet berries. They always came as a surprise, after many bare bushes.Then as I neared the sidetrail to North Peak I found an even bigger surprise! Large bushes packed with whole clusters of a new variety of blueberry. They were even bigger and sweeter, with a taste hinting of cherries, and there were LOADS of them. I ate and ate, picking with both hands at once there were so many. Life just does not get better than that. I was in berry heaven. They were even better than the oh, so refreshing juiciness of the mulberries back in Cumberland Valley PA. A father and son team by the names of Papabear and Badger caught up with me there. They had stayed at the tentsite just before the shelter I had stayed at. We ended up passing and repassing each other the rest of the day.Going down was steeper but the path was mostly soft pine needles. I stopped at Moxie Bald Lean-to for lunch and water. It is odd that it is near Bald Mountain Pond while Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to was next to Moxie Pond. Sounds backwards!Then came a fast two miles to Bald Mountain Stream. It was thirty feet or so wide, with a rough dam of drifted logs forming a pool upstream and rapids downstream. There were inches of fast water pouring over the logs so the only way across was to ford it. I dropped my poles and pack and sat on a warm sunny slab of rock. Removing my boots and socks I put the socks in the stuffsack I keep at the top of my pack for clothes I need in the day and looped my boots to the back of the pack with the bungee cord. Then I put on my sandals and tied the laces I had made. I put on my pack with the wastebelt undone so I could shrug free of it if I fell, took my poles and started across. I went upstream of the logs where it was deeper but calmer and I could see the bottom. The water was a bit cold and came up to just above my knees. Once or twice a pole slipped into a deep hole between the rocks forming the bottom but other than that crossing was easy. On the other side I reversed the process, drying each foot with the top part of a sock before putting socks and boots on, then putting away the wet sandals.The next four miles were fairly level but varied, with sections of mud and rocks that made me feel like I was back in Vermont or Pennsylvania. Then I ran into ran into Papabear and Badger filtering water and getting ready to ford the West Branch Piscataquis River. I went through the fording routine and went across ahead of them.Finally were three miles along the canyon of the Piscataquis to the Shelter. There were enough roots and irregularities to make my already tired feet sore and it seemed to take forever. Still, overall it was a really nice day.I met Papabear and Badger at the spring and a little later someone named Baloo. He came from 22 miles Pleasant Pond and warned us at least five more hikers were coming. Looks like a full shelter tonight and a stampede to get rooms in Monson tomorrow.123 Miles to go!