Date: 2013-09-09
From: Banks of Bald Mountain Stream, ME

To: Wyman Road, Monson
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Last Stop Before the 100 Mile WildernessWe were very chilly camping by the Bald Mountain Stream. Some large animal kept coming up to the tent. I just asked it loudly to go away and it would, only to return within the hour. I think I finally feel asleep and don't know if it came back or not, but it left us and our stuff alone. In the morning it was so cold we again moved at a sluggish rate. It took us 2 1/2 hours to break camp. We ate lots of oatmeal and hot muscle milk. We immediately had to ford the river we slept next to. That means securing everything and preparing it for a possible swim. We then have to tuck our boots away and change into Crocs. The water was so painfully cold I was sure our toes were going to freeze and pop off. We safely crossed but my gosh did my feet hurt. It was like walking on nubs for a while. We had 3 more rivers to ford today. One we kept our boots on and tried to rock hop it. We all got our shoes wet but not soaked. We were trying to save time. One river had a rope across it in case we fell. We could have been swept downstream. I've prepared the girls a lot for this. I feel confident in their swimming skills and that they wouldn't panic. We compare it to rip tides which they've grown up being warned about. Being Floridians makes us all comfortable around water. We'd be sad to be so cold but we have clothes to change into. Also we have a huge ziplock bag in each backpack that we seal our stuff in everyday. It has kept our sleeping bags and warm clothes dry this whole time.Not only did we cross rivers, we hiked beside them almost the entire day. The sun came up and the sky was blue and clear. It made for a much warmer day. We had a relatively easy 15 miles into Monson. We had a lot of short PUDs, mud and twisting roots but no mountains!! We got to the exit road to Monson. Sherpa came and picked us up. Yeah! It's amazing how she can find us and Buddy wherever we pop out. She has to drive down all these unnamed mt roads. I love her tenacity and sense of adventure. We feel so lucky to be hiking around Buddy and his amazing support group. We get to witness a record being made and hang around a super neat kid and his kind and good parents. We are at Shaw hostel. It's an old farmhouse they converted. There are individual rooms and bunk house rooms. Blueberry splurged (an extra $3) and got us individual rooms. It will feel weird to not be right next to the girls. They are together in a room, currently watching idiocy on the TV. We have showered and put on town clothes. These are clothes Shaws has for hikers to wear since all of ours are stinky and need to be washed. I'm sure most people around us are going commando too. I am sporting a pair of flannel men's PJ bottoms and a huge tshirt with a pair of goats and a heart on it and the words, "Kazakstan is for Lovers". And yes, I will be wearing this out and around town!! Cub has on huge men's shorts and tshirt. Badonkadonk prefers her own pants and one of their more benign tshirts. Maybe we can get a photo. We are waiting for Buddy to return from his hike with D. We will all go to dinner and then grocery shopping. We plan to hike out into the 100 mile wilderness tomorrow. We won't have any service so I'll blog when we get out. It is a very remote part of Maine. It is supposed to be supremely gorgeous. We are excited. We think it will take a week. We have three mts to climb and then it levels off. After that we are about 10 miles from Katahdin. It is hard for me to absorb that we have walked so far! I am so grateful that we've made it with no real problems and In good health. The guy we met on Moxie that's hiked everything said we win the award for the happiest, healthiest hikers he's seen. He loved our enthusiasm. We have a special plan for summiting Katahdin but you'll have to wait and see. We will stay true to being Floridians so far above sea level Getting so close to seeing Blueberry and Grammie and giving them big squeezes! Yippee yeah. Ciao!